(Preface: ix-xxi) This book explores the Roman imaginery of the political thinkers involved in the English Civil War of the mid-17th century and the American and French Revolutions towards the end of the 18th century. Republics may be aristocratic, democratic, or a mixture of democratic and aristocratic elements. Rome was the model of the 18th century republic, because it was recognized to be aristocratic, or a mixture of aristocratic and democratic elements that retained authority to direct public policy in its aristocratic senate. The English Civil War, the American and the French Revolutions were all expansionary movements and thus the title, Imperial Republics, indicates the main theme of this book. By empire and imperialism, I mean not territory ruled by an emperor (as in the antithesis of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire) but territorial expansion over peoples inhabiting the subjugated territories. Rome was not only a model republic but also a model imperialist, and it is largely for this reason that 18th century men and women cast themselves as Romans (and often their enemies as Carthaginians) in this era of intense imperial rivalries, which were both the setting and cause of the American and French Revolutions. (Conclusion: 182) Imperial Republics has shown that the historical record suggests that revolutionary republics of the 17th and 18th centuris have been expansionary and have used republican Rome as a model of imperialist expansion.