It’s a question with a seemingly simple answer: No. The United States of America, post-1776, never had a king, emperor, or monarch as head of state. Yet, the story of American power is far more complex than its political structure, and its shadow stretched across the Atlantic to create what can be considered America’s first—and only—colony in Africa: Liberia.
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American Imperial Ambitions and Overseas Territories
While the U.S. never formally adopted the title of “empire,” its imperialist ambitions and acquisitions are undeniable.
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Formal Territories: The U.S. gained key territories following the Spanish-American War, including the Philippines, Cuba (under Platt Amendment provisions), and Puerto Rico.
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Pacific Relics: The U.S. still holds various uninhabited islands in the Pacific, relics of its crucial military presence during World War II.
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Unofficial Adventurers: Even before official expansion, splinter groups and self-funded adventurers—such as former Confederates attempting to conquer Latin America—demonstrated localized imperial desires.
Correcting the African Narrative: Ethiopia and the Scramble
The 19th-century Scramble for Africa saw virtually the entire continent fall under European control. When discussing African independence, two nations are often cited as exceptions, but the history is more nuanced.
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Liberia: The Uncolonized Exception: The West African nation of Liberia was never formally colonized by a European power. This fact makes it truly unique.
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Ethiopia: Annexation, Not Colonization: Many mistakenly assert that Ethiopia was never colonized by Europeans. This is technically incorrect. While Ethiopia famously repelled Italy’s first invasion in 1896 and maintained its sovereignty for decades, it was annexed by Italy as part of Italian East Africa (along with Somalia and Eritrea) from 1936 to 1941. Italy invaded and occupied the country, forcing the Emperor into exile, until its liberation by Allied forces.
Liberia: America’s Unique Colony
The fascinating story of Liberia—the “Land of Liberty”—is inextricably linked to the United States through the institution of slavery.
The American Colonization Society (ACS)
The nation’s founding was driven by the American Colonization Society (ACS), established in 1816. The ACS, supported by a mix of abolitionists with altruistic motives (like the Quakers) and those who sought to repatriate free Black people to avoid competition with native-born white Americans (like Henry Clay), sought to move Black Americans away from the United States.
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Repatriation: Small numbers of free people of color and emancipated slaves began arriving on the Windward Coast after 1821.
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Monrovia: The largest settlement was named Monrovia after U.S. President James Monroe, a strong supporter of the ACS.
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De Facto Territory: For decades, these settlements were de facto U.S. territories—important bastions of American culture, individualism, and classical liberalism. Liberia gained full independence in 1847.
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The Americo-Liberian Elite
The settlers—collectively known as the Americo-Liberians (a group with internal class divisions based on European ancestry and former status)—regarded themselves as more sophisticated than the indigenous West African tribes.
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Elite Minority Rule: This led to a massive rift, with the Americo-Liberians dominating politics for over a century. From 1878, Liberia effectively became a one-party state dominated by the True Whig Party.
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A “South Africa” Parallel: Very similarly to South Africa, where the Afrikaners were the ruling elite, Liberia was dominated by an elite minority who disenfranchised the indigenous majority.
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Cultural Legacy: The Americo-Liberian culture is heavily derivative of the 19th-century antebellum Southern United States (as many colonists came from states like Virginia, Maryland, and Georgia), with a strong influence from Caribbean settlers (from Barbados and Jamaica).
From Stability to Strife: The Civil Wars
For much of the 20th century, especially during the Cold War, Liberia was considered a strong American ally that received billions of dollars in U.S. development aid, making it one of Africa’s most economically prosperous nations.
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Military Coup (1980): The indigenous population remained widely disenfranchised. This ended in 1980 when Samuel Doe, a Native Liberian soldier, led a military coup, assassinating President William Tolbert and establishing a military dictatorship.
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The Civil Wars: The long-standing ethnic and political tensions erupted into two of the deadliest conflicts in African history—the Liberian Civil Wars.
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Doe’s Demise: Doe was kidnapped, tortured, and publicly executed by members of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia in 1989, setting the stage for decades of turmoil and destabilization.
Americo-Liberian Demographics
The Americo-Liberian monopoly on politics dissolved almost overnight. The group’s numbers have shrunk considerably due to various factors:
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Current Percentage: Americo-Liberians currently make up only about 2% to 5% of the Liberian population, a significant decline from nearly 10% in 1980.
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Reasons for Decline: This reduction is due to a higher emigration rate (their relatively better financial status allows easier escape from chaos), a considerably lower birth rate (due to their urbanized nature), and increasing intermarriage with other groups.
Liberia’s decline in economic growth, life expectancy, and living standards following the civil wars (combined with natural disasters like Ebola) has been one of the steepest in recent history.
Did the United States ever have an empire? The question is not one of titles, but of influence. By creating and backing the Americo-Liberian state, the U.S. founded a power structure that, for over a century, functioned as its proxy on the African continent. Liberia stands as a testament to the complicated and often tragic nature of American global reach.