The creation of democracy in America was done along racial lines as European settlers began to pour into this country.  The Native Americans were considered ignorant and savage even though the White settlers had little formal education. The settlers did have a racial belief that they considered themselves superior on the basis of “race.”

There were fierce conflicts between the tribes because of tribal differences.  There were Apache, Comanche, Navajo, Pueblo, Waco, Kiowa, and many others.  However, these distinctions were made to disappear with the racialized idea that they were simply all “Indians.”

The term “Indian” did not exist prior to the coming of Columbus.  Upon his voyage to the new world, he mistakenly believed he had landed in India. Unfortunately, this mistake was beneficial for racialized settlers who desired to lump all of these various people into one category. 

This invented racial fusion permitted labels like “hostiles” and “savages” to become justifications for genocide. Fearful of colonial incursions into the Western Hemisphere by European powers, the United States initiated a policy that would become known as the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. Though the U.S. would practice its own brand of colonial domination under the Doctrine of Manifest Destiny, the Monroe Doctrine declared that the Americas were off limits to European expansion. 

This doctrine was aided by the fact that the Americas were separated from Europe by the Atlantic Ocean and could remain relatively isolated from the events there. It did not prevent the U.S. from taking Florida from the Spanish in 1821, Native American lands under the Indian Removal Act of 1830, Mexican lands in 1836, the conquest and genocide of the Hawaiian people and the taking of their land in 1890, and finally the taking of Cuba in 1898 from the Spanish.  These conquests enabled the U.S. to become a colonial power and in the case of conquest before the end of slavery to extend slave interests into new territory. 

After slavery was abolished, segregated societies flourished in the occupied areas. President Theodore Roosevelt added to the Monroe Doctrine by establishing the doctrine that became known as the Roosevelt Corollary.  This doctrine allowed for the intervention and invasion of countries in the region by so-called “civilized nations” against nations that had a majority non-White population. 

When the U.S. constructed the Panama Canal in 1914, this doctrine was used to maintain control of the canal and invade the country if the people there ever tried to exercise control over their own land.  Colonialism is the practice of economic, racial, cultural, and religious domination, which involves the subjugation of one group of people to another. Settlers are an important component to this system.

In modern times, colonialism differs from imperialism in that it implies a racialized context and settler designs.  Racism based on skin color is a relatively new phenomenon, having developed from the African slave trade.  Like colonialism, imperialism also involves political and economic control over a dependent territory.
Unlike imperialism, colonialism involves the transfer of settlers with the aim of replacing the native population or turning that population into subject people.

 The principles of colonialism are generally universal.  These principles may vary in form from place to place but include the following general approaches. 
Colonialism sought to gain and maintain power by reconstructing ethnic identities and culture through economic means, providing jobs for some and not for others, which institutionalized a higher and lower order of ethnic-based division. 

For example, Tutsi populations were placed on top of the power pyramid over the Hutu population in Rwanda, which many years later resulted in the Rwandan Genocide. This ethnic-based class structure was aligned with those that more closely resembled Europeans—physically or culturally.  
In order to maintain control of conquered areas, foreign settler populations reshaped borders over existing traditional borders thus creating disputes that will last even after the conquering colonial armies are defeated by anti-colonial national liberation movements.

American colonialism applied some of these methods using various forms.  Those desiring to replace Native Americans with White settlers, often encouraged settlers to “go west,” in that they could provide a force that would eventually replace the native population.
New Mexico, for example, was once populated with large numbers of Pueblo Indians. 

It was not until Whites outnumbered Pueblos that statehood would become a reality.  Once the native populations are removed or neutralized, the colonial power begins the influx of settlers, which can defend and hold on to the conquered territory.
The promise of free land to settlers in areas once controlled by Mexico pushed Native Americans out of existence, as they were forced onto reservations or killed.  The California Gold Rush helped to cement an occupying Anglo population upon Indian lands. 

Settler domination becomes a key component to forcibly taking land, and supplying a racist doctrine of superiority provides the justification. 
As early as the 1700s, doctrines of pseudo-scientists provided the foundations of White supremacy around the world.