The policy of isolating ourselves is a policy for the refusal of both duties and opportunities--duties to foreign nations and to civilization, which cannot be respectably evaded; opportunities for the development of our power on the Pacific in the Twentieth Century, which it would be craven to abandon.
Reid argues against isolationism, framing it as a refusal of responsibilities and opportunities.
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Congress is supreme, and, for all the purposes of this department, has all the powers of the people of the United States, except such as have been expressly or by implication reserved in the prohibitions of the Constitution.
No matter what we wish, the old continental isolation is gone forever.
They have covered many phases of the subject, but have preserved a singular uniformity of purpose and consistency of ideas throughout.
Above all, if there is a trace of politics in their work, or of seeking for political effect at home, they will fail, and deserve to fail.