[tsimionescu]

Slavery, abundant natural resources, a commitment to not listening to 'sound economic policy' of its times (which would have had the colonies be strictly agrarian, shipping raw cotton to the English industry - look at Egypt and India for how well that worked out), genocide of the indigenous population, many years of exerting soft and hard power to control the continent, etc.

'Liberty or death' is a nice slogan, but it is in no way a core part of what made the US the most powerful empire in history.