I still suspect that the U.S. was original non-imperial. It was the super-liberal theologies that came along to try to pound the government into something it was not intended to be. The stars above the eagle's head weren't originally in the form of a star. The preferred great seal had to do with escaping Pharaoh. Come 1865, the Scottish Rite system seems to have nested in the city on the Potomac. The evidence is that the original founders were looking to escape the extreme liberal ideologies that were sweeping Europe. Consider that the Constitution wasn't properly ratified under the Articles of Confederation and that Patrick Henry said he smelled a rat.

While many books suggest America to have been founded for some secret sauce purpose ala Francis Bacon, etc. There is sufficient evidence to show intense efforts to hijack the Simple Plan. 1862-1865 would be quite revealing. Albert Pike + Scottish Rite + KKK and the new Roman look D.C. got says a lot.