"Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially
foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by
artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and
collisions of her friendships or enmities... Our detached and distant situation invites and
enables us to pursue a different course." -George Washington, 1796

Rewrite the excerpt in your own words.