The turn toward empire and intervention began with the Spanish American War.
On April 9, 1942, 12,000 U.S. troops paid the price of U.S. empire and intervention when they surrendered to Japanese forces at Bataan, Philippines. During the resulting “Bataan death march,” 600 of them died, and then another 1,000 died after they were transported to Japanese POW camps.
The Constitution called into existence a limited-government republic. No Pentagon, no CIA, and no NSA. Just a relatively small military force. No foreign military empire, no foreign colonies, and no U.S. military bases in foreign countries. That system lasted for more than a century.
By the same token, the original foreign policy of the United States was one of nonintervention in the affairs of other nations. No coups, foreign wars of aggression, foreign aid, state-sponsored assassinations, alliances with foreign regimes, or regime-change operations. That system too lasted about a century.
Notwithstanding the horrors of slavery, America’s limited-government structure and its nonimperialist, non-interventionist foreign policy were among the factors that led to the greatest and longest surge in liberty, peace, prosperity, and standards of living in history.
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Hidden History -- In The Making 