Here’s the thing, America was once a colony of Great Britain, so that we need to acknowledge that because American bravely fought for its freedom and its liberty from Great Britain, that for America to ever take the position and to have the attitude that it’s just fine for America to colonize other countries nearby to them or even far away, is definitely the wrong position to take, because sovereign nations deserve to be free to write their own destiny and thereby should not be exploited by other nations, especially in a way in which the people within that country are basically subjects to America, and hence are not free within their own land.
What we need to remember about Europe is that the Americas were considered to be “discovered” by European nations, and the purpose of such a discovery was to enrich and strengthen their respective homelands through that discovery. Therefore, when examining the great European powers of old, it is essential to acknowledge that Spain colonized Mexico, Peru, Florida, and California. Portugal colonized Brazil, and France colonized a significant portion of Canada as well as the Louisiana territory. Great Britain colonized a portion of Canada, along with basically being the original colonizer of the thirteen colonies, which subsequently fought for their independence and won it from Great Britain.
All of this leads to the general point that America made the right decision at the time of its governance formation, determining that it was wise not to form permanent alliances with foreign nations, particularly with European countries. Further to the point, the United States recognized the need to see that Europe was in one form or another, removed from our orbit in the Americas, so that America would not be forced to spend an inordinate amount of monies to not only to defend its own territory from encroachment from European nations, but also because it would be better for America, to be surrounded by sovereign nations that were friendly with America and thus good for trade and other considerations.
So too, the issue with European empires having a footprint in America, was the fact that to protect the sovereignty of America would necessitate not only a stronger central government, and thus preempting State rights, but also that a significant portion of the federal budget would have to be devoted to military forces, which would in its effect serve to diminish civil liberties and the necessary welfare of its citizens, because whenever such a military force found little to do around and about the United States, proper, it would have a strong tendency in order to justify those expenditures of monies on armaments and the like by seeking out other lands to essentially colonize or to exploit such, which would in its own way, make America to become what it had fought against, which was fundamentally thereby to follow in the footsteps of what that British empire had been in its heyday.
In sum, it's necessary to remember the very purpose of our Declaration of Independence as well as our Constitution, and to recognize that the principle behind the establishment of this nation was to stand for liberty, justice, and the pursuit of happiness, which should be America’s guiding light, forever, and none other.