Paulites have always had a very selective reading of US history. The read it like a Chinese menu pick out the parts they like to buttress whatever crackpot claims they wish to make. People need to remember for most of the US’s early history Great Britain's Imperial policy and US foreign policy were mostly compatible, so we got the benefit of the Royal Navy. Freedom of the seas (the right to trade our goods anywhere we could sail a ship!)and minimal foreign intervention in the New World were UK Imperial policies which we benefited from. If we had had the naval forces early I guarantee we would have flexed our muscles more. Look at Perry's expedition, we had finally reached a point where we could project power to promote and protect American trade & lives, so we told Late Shogunate Japan open your ports and trade, don't kill shipwrecked sailors or we shell your ports. Also did that to Korea in the late 1860s.