Why Did Some People in the 1890s, and Even Today

Why did some people in the 1890s, and even today, consider late-nineteenth-century American foreign policy an aberration?

A) As a democratic republic founded on the idea of freedom, the United States had no right to deny independence to other countries by annexation.
B) The United States had once been a colony itself, so creating other colonies around the world was part of its history and legacy.
C) The United States had once been a small country of just thirteen states, so expanding to new lands and creating new states was an aberration.
D) As a democratic republic founded on the idea of freedom, the United States had the obligation to seek the same rights for countries around the world.
E) As a former colony, the United States understood the challenges of gaining independence and could better assist new nations than Europe could.