Created in a world of empires, the United States was to be something new: an expansive republic proclaiming commitments to liberty and equality but eager to extend its territory and influence. Yet from the beginning, Native powers, free and enslaved Black people, and foreign subjects perceived, interacted with, and resisted the young republic as if it was merely another empire. Such perspectives have driven scholars to reevaluate the early United States, as the parameters of early American history have expanded in Atlantic, continental, and global directions.

The essays gathered in The Early Imperial Republic move beyond the question of whether the new republic was an empire, investigating instead where, how, and why it was one. They use the category of empire to situate the early United States in the global context its contemporaries understood, drawing important connections between territorial conquests on the continent and American incursions. In tracing these stories, the volume's contributors bring the study of early United States imperialism down to earth, encouraging us to see the exertion of United States power on the ground as a process that drew upon the example of its imperial predecessors and was forced to grapple with their legacies. They argue that American empire was never confined to one era but is instead a thread throughout history.