"But she [America] goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own...She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication [removal], in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice [greed], envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom." This is isolationism because Adams is trying to convince the people that America doesn't value war and therefore shouldn't participate.
