I feel like there are four reasons:
ONE -- This is going to come as a surprise to hear to many of you but the USA generally loathed European style Imperialism. This statement might leave some of you cross-eyed and there's a fine hair to split here that is worthy of digging in to another time. Per American attitudes: The USA was a colonized nation who threw off the shackles of an imperious overlord. We were the underdogs who beat the Goliath and secured our independence. The USA simply didn't like that kind of imperialism.
And here's where the hair-splitting gets interesting. The USA -- of course -- conquered the land within its territory (belonging to the Natives). Later on it invaded Japan but never attempted to conquer the Islands. The US simply wanted open markets for trade (which is a window into the American imperial mentality and sets the framework for the next century). The USA did assume control over Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines, and Guam after clobbering those Flamenco Dancing Spaniards, but Cuba was given independence in 1902 (and meddled with, but that's another story for another time).
The USA did conquer the Kingdom of Hawai'i and did invade Colombia . . . er, Panama to build the canal, but again, all of these (admittedly) really hypocritical double-standards really did make sense to the US back in the "White Man's Burden" days. I'm not legitimizing it, but the USA truthfully saw itself as the dismantler of European Empires and the protector of the colonized nations of the Americas.
But here's a really big thing to remember: Americans absolutely loathed European imperialism. Various anti-imperial organizations and groups were founded. The US's really notable non-American Continent imperialism is the Philippines. The US liked having it as a base of operations and an economic outpost, but even that was a thorn in the side of the US government and (back when people cared about these things) it was a huge hypocritical statement while the USA was actively campaigning to get European colonial powers out of the Americas.
TWO -- by the time the USA reached sufficient military and economic strength to effectively extend its influence overseas (no earlier than 1890 but more likely about 1900), China had been gobbled up by Europeans as spheres of influence. China proper was never really colonized the way Indonesia, Indochina or India were, but there were economic spheres of influence dominated by Japan, Russia, Germany, France and Britain. The US was sitting comfortably in the Philippines watching the Europeans scramble for China, smugly thinking that she was doing better by the Philippines.
THREE -- The USA saw that European Empires were in their twilight. There was little doubt at the time that most European Empires were going to collapse within the century. The USA didn't want to spend its blooming years engaging in overseas empire-building. Having seen what Europeans invested and sunk into these empires, the USA preferred (here's this again) economic trade to enrich itself and the economic imperialism that came with it (which is cheaper to maintain and a shit-ton more profitable). And the USA was proved right. By the end of World War I, the cracks had set in and by the end of the Second World War, they'd all but collapsed.
FOUR -- the USA had pretty much everything it needed at home -- frankly, there just wasn't a need to go looking for it anywhere. By 1890, the size and shape of the USA had solidified. The USA was the largest single economy (unless you count the entire British Empire). The USA was the world's largest industrial producer, largest agricultural producer and largest petrol producer. Moreover, the USA was largely under-populated with vast, VAST amounts of land — more than sufficient for the nation's needs in terms of resources, agricultural and living space (76 million people in 1900 compared with 315 million today).
Take a look at this map. The United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland (sorry, Domhnall . . . you were still a subject of the British Crown back then) had a population of 38 million (half the USA) but with something like 30 times less land and certainly much fewer native resources:
Over the next generation (1890-1910) the USA took its place at the table of great powers. By 1910, the USA passed the British Empire in economic size. The US navy was the second largest in tonnage and numbers (Britain, USA, Germany). The USA was riding high on economic growth and growing global influence. It just saw no need to engage in European style global imperialism.
Img Source Wikipedia
Tnq4 ♥️
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