America's Founders were opposed to intervention and pre-emptive wars. In their view of foreign policy, America would have "Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations--entangling alliances with none." Hear them in their own words:

"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." - James Madison

"War has been avoided from a due sense of the miseries, and the demoralization it produces, and of the superior blessings of a state of peace and friendship with all mankind." - Thomas Jefferson

"Never was so much false arithmetic employed on any subject, as that which has been employed to persuade nations that it is their interest to go to war." - Thomas Jefferson

"There was never a good war or a bad peace." - Benjamin Franklin

"Preparation for war is a constant stimulus to suspicion and ill will." - James Monroe

"The fiery and destructive passions of war reign in the human breast with much more powerful sway than the mild and beneficent sentiments of peace." - Alexander Hamilton

"My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth." - George Washington

"Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debt and taxes and armies are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people...
[There is also an] inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and....degeneracy of manners and morals....No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." -- James Madison

"War is the common harvest of all those who participate in the division and expenditure of public money, in all countries. It is the art of conquering at home: the object of it is an increase of revenue: and as revenue cannot be increased without taxes, a pretence must be made for expenditures. In reviewing the history of the English Government, its wars and its taxes, a bystander, not blinded by prejudice, nor warped by interest, would declare, that taxes were not raised to carry on wars, but that wars were raised to carry on taxes." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, Part 1

"It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world... As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent Patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practise the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the Public Councils… Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences...constantly keeping in view, that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard."

-George Washington’s Farewell Address, September 17, 1796

"The United States goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is a well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. If the United States took up all foreign affairs, it would become entangled in all the wars of interest and intrigue, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own soul." -President John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams

In your terms, they couldn't afford to be "war mongers" because the US was an extremely weak country in their days, so don't try to say that they were pacifists by nature. You can't be a "war monger" when your country is weak.

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I'm saying their words are quite clear. They weren't pacifists. They believed in defending themselves, and believed that every citizen should be armed in order to do so. But they did not believe in initiating wars against other countries for the sake of expanding their sphere of influence in the world. They did not believe in spreading money around the world and paying off dictators, tyrants or any other governments to buy alliances with them.

I believe that the founders were talking about war being fought for the sake of national interests. That's what they were condemning. That makes sense on ideological grounds, as well as practical grounds. Wars of national interests are immoral and the US was too weak to fight those kinds of wars in the days of the founders anyways.

However, this has absolutely nothing to do with todays wars, as todays wars as the ideology you oppose has a large moral component, and not just national interests. Also, the US is not weak, like it was when the founders were alive. So, their words do not apply to the wars that you are linking them to.

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Then produce and present evidence of this. I believe they were talking about initiating war in general.

There is very little "moral" component on the part of the U.S. government. What is "moral" is used strictly for propaganda to increase public support for their pre-emptive wars. The bottom line is that they are simply increasing their sphere of influence and attempting to secure economic supremacy. If they were truly "moral" as you suggest, they would not be allying with evil people, like Saddam. They were giving him weapons and money and knew all the while that he was torturing and killing innocent people in his country. But that was ok as long as he told them he was their ally. As long as he didn't do anything outside of his own country, he could sacrifice children to the "ancient blood god" for all they cared. But when he invaded Kuwait, he suddenly went from ally to "the next Hitler"...

I don't need to. You've already provided them in your opening post.

"Never was so much false arithmetic employed on any subject, as that which has been employed to persuade nations that it is their interest to go to war." - Thomas Jefferson

"War is the common harvest of all those who participate in the division and expenditure of public money, in all countries. It is the art of conquering at home: the object of it is an increase of revenue: and as revenue cannot be increased without taxes, a pretence must be made for expenditures. In reviewing the history of the English Government, its wars and its taxes, a bystander, not blinded by prejudice, nor warped by interest, would declare, that taxes were not raised to carry on wars, but that wars were raised to carry on taxes." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, Part 1

"It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world... As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent Patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practise the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the Public Councils… Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences...constantly keeping in view, that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard."

-George Washington’s Farewell Address, September 17, 1796

The quotes you list seem to be referring exclusively to the wars of old, the old conquest and colonialization wars of the past. The only explicitly anti-war (unconditionally) quote that I saw was this one that you listed:

US foreign policy has been atrocious most of the time. However, there are times when it has done some good, like when we stopped the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and stopped (albeit belatedly) the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.

The US record in Iraq is mixed. There is good and bad in it. We got rid of Saddam, and stopped the games he was playing with the UN and WMD. However, the war was mismanaged from even before it was launched.

It's wiser to not throw out the good with the bad. Your approach here is, unfortunately, to do just that.

__________________
"Of course the fact that a person believes in racial equality doesn't prove that he's a communist...but it certainly makes you look twice, doesn't it? You can't get away from the fact that racial equality is part of the communist line." - Joseph McCarthy

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Try these words:

The Founding Fathers on the Constitution's War Power

Alexander Hamilton: "The President is to be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States. . . . It would amount to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces, as first General and Admiral of the Confederacy; while that of the British king extends to the declaring of war and the raising and regulating of fleets and armies, -- all of which by the Constitution under consideration, would appertain to the legislature." (The Federalist, 69, 1788.)

". . . .'The Congress shall have the power to declare war'; the plain meaning of which is, that it is the peculiar and exclusive duty of Congress, when the nation is at peace, to change that state into a state of war. . . ." (C. 1801.)

* * *

Thomas Jefferson: "We have already given in example one effectual check to the dog of war by transferring the power of letting him loose from the Executive to the Legislative body. . . ." (Letter to Madison, 1789.)

"Considering that Congress alone is constitutionally invested with the power of changing our condition from peace to war, I have thought it my duty to await their authority for using force in any degree which could be avoided." (Message to Congress, 1805.)

* * *
James Madison: ". . . The power to declare war, including the power of judging the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature . . . the executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war." (1793.)

"The constitution supposes, what the History of all Governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. It has accordingly with studied care vested the question of war to the Legislature." (Letter to Jefferson, c. 1798.)

* * *

William Paterson framer and Supreme Court justice): ". . . It is the exclusive province of congress to change a state of peace into a state of war." (United States v. Smith, 1806.)

* * *
George Washington: "The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure." (1793.)

* * * * *

James Wilson: (framer and ratifier): "This system will not hurry us into war; it is calculated to guard against it. It will not be in the power of a single man, or a single body of men, to involve us in such distress; for the important power of declaring war is vested in the legislature at large. . . ." (To the Pennsylvania ratifying convention, 1787.)

The Founding Fathers on the Constitution's War Power

Well the national interest issue is still being used - "American interests." So the Founders would condemn current U.S. foreign policy based on such alleged interests.

But the issue is, have some of our earlier actions contributed to these alleged "clean up" projects the U.S. government uses to justify its military actions? The answer is, yes.

There has been more death now than would have occurred under Saddam Hussein. Tens of thousands of people have been killed. Millions of Iraqis are now refugees - some of the women are selling themselves as prostitutes. Thousands of professionals, especially doctors, have left the country. And billions of dollars have been spent in this failing effort. In truth, it's an absolute disaster.

Perhaps the Iraqi people could have deposed Saddam on their own, if the U.S. government and the West hadn't strengthened him.

It's wise to realize there are unintended consequences when you start using military force to intervene in other countries, and when you start sending money to tyrants and thugs.

This only means that the Congress declares war, not the President. This does not prove your point about how the Founders despised the kinds of wars that we are fighting in modern times.

None of this is even related to your central premise: "America's Founders were opposed to intervention and pre-emptive wars."

__________________
"Of course the fact that a person believes in racial equality doesn't prove that he's a communist...but it certainly makes you look twice, doesn't it? You can't get away from the fact that racial equality is part of the communist line." - Joseph McCarthy

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It is indeed related. They never intended for one individual to be able to send troops to other countries and start wars.

What they didn't foresee though was that even the larger body of Congress can be corrupted and influenced to the point that it supports needless, pre-emptive wars and bends to the will of the President in foreign policy matters.