The Imperial Republic addresses the enduring relationship that the American constitution has with the concept of "empire". Early activists frequently used the word to describe the nation they wished to create through revolution and later reform. The book examines what the Framers of the Constitution meant when they used the term "empire" and what such self-conscious empire building tells Americans about the underlying goals of their constitutional system. Utilizing the author's extensive research from colonial times to the turn of the twentieth century, the book concludes that imperial ambition has profoundly influenced American constitutional law, theory, and politics.