When America Chose Empire

Tags: Democracy, Europe, Paternalism, War and Foreign Policy

05/05/2026 George Ford Smith

In the late 1800s, American finally went in search of empire abroad, taking land by force and subjugating people who simply wanted their captors to leave.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/when-america-chose-empire

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.