Among his accomplishments:
He issued a Proclamation of Neutrality on April 22, 1793 which largely declared the U.S. neutral in the ongoing war between France and Britain. He said in the Proclamation that the U.S. would remain:
friendly and impartial toward the belligerent powers
Special envoy John Jay negotiated the Jay Treaty with Great Britain in 1794 which resolved issues remaining from the Revolutionary War and led to British evacuation of forts in the Northwest Territories.The Pinckney Treaty with Spain secured free navigation of the Mississippi River for Americans and the right to ship goods to and from New Orleans. Famously, Washington in his farewell address advised the nation to remain free of foreign alliances:Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests." The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. 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
As a result of Washington's advice, American foriegn policy was largely isolationist for many years into the future.
