The world and the U.S. were drastically different at that time. The only major countries the U.S. was likely to become "entangled" with were Britain and France, who were involved in warfare almost continuously for decades at a time, particulary in the time period of Washington, Adams, & Jefferson. There were factions in this country who advocating siding with Britain or France. That's the context in which those founders made their statements. Had they meant an absolute, enduring ban on "entanglements," they could have specified it in the Constitution. Taking Washington out of context is like the liberals' endlessly citing Jefferson out of context as allegedly advocating a "wall of separation between church & state."
In fact we did entangle with them. We had a mutual defence treaty with France obligating to support them militarily against the Brits, withdrew from that, negotiated a treaty with the Brits, ended up in a war with France in the late 1790s, and, of course, later the War of 1812. Not to mention attacking the Spanish out West and in Florida. All the while warring against the Barbary Pirates. We were a heck of a warlike country in our youth, entangled all over the place.