One reason President George Washington called
for a policy of neutrality in the 1790s was to
(1) improve his popularity among Federalist
voters
(2) avoid United States participation in
European wars
(3) gain support for the development of a United
States navy
(4) enforce the Treaty of Alliance with France
One very good and possible reason (that was at the same time very logical from his perspective) why George Washington decided to call for a policy of neutrality was to avoid United States participation in European wars (2). And he did this with a good reason. A young nation as the US in those times couldn't afford making and drafting men into an army and then shipping them to Europe to help a possible ally, they needed to build their own nation at the time.
