:amerikkka: :heart-sickle:
Yes and no. US imperial ambitions don’t really begin until the late 19th century in terms of protecting world trade, taking over lands outside of North America, ruling over foreign populations, etc etc. By the early 20th century it was indisputable that the United States was an imperial power, despite most folks in the US specifically avoiding that term. However, the US clearly had imperial ambitions within the North American continent from the start, and almost immediately began genociding natives and taking foreign lands with impunity. The amount of treaties the United States broke with both Native Americans and Central Americans is too numerous to count, most often for sheer territorial and economic gain. If that counts as an empire then sure, it was from the beginning.
The robbing of agency, life, and lands from native americans is an ongoing aspect of the American empire, perhaps its core aspect.
Yeah in a lot of ways that initial experience of totally eradicating a native population and settling their lands help set up the United States (and subsequent colonial nations, looking at you Nazi Germany) to be very effective at imperial projects elsewhere. The US’s handling of the native populations of places like Hawaii and the Philippines was directly inspired by their dealings with Amerindians.
