The United States of the American Empire, Empire of the Americans, or just the United States was a former English colony which gained independence in 1682 from the young British Empire. Primarily of English culture, the American state also has a significant Dutch, Spanish, Norse, Greek, French, and Native minority within; it is bordered by French Louisiana and Nordic Great Lakes territory to the west, as well as Quebec and British North America to the north.
The United States and it's founding fathers were well known Romanophiles, who held a great deal of respect tot he Roman Empire and its institutions, not only of the classical Latin west, but of their contemporary Greek east. The Roman Empire does not consider itself a monarchy, which was a common point made when they dismissed the legitimacy of the HRE (Among other things.), "Romans don't have Kings." after all. The idea of the Roman Emperor being a dictator, rather than an explicit monarch is often questionable, but has historically held true, but the Emperor requiring to be confirmed to their office rather than just inheriting it outright has gone to support their reasoning.
It is because of this history that the American,s being the Romanophiles they are, decided to heavily take after the Romans, with of course a bit of their own ideas and corrections thrown in. The American government takes inspiration from both the Roman Empire, and the former HRE in how it's government is structured; the Emperor is elected from among the eligible land-owner class, and does not only nay territory in his own name. He is elected by an Electoral College made up of Electorates (The top 5 strongest States in the Union) whoa re appointed by the states Governors. The Emperor is also conferred the title President in his style, rather than the Roman title fo Autocrat, as the American Emperor and President does not have near total control of the nation, and is restricted as the executive leader (With minimal Judicial and legislative influence.)
The American Congress is more directly democratic, all eligible land owning men are able to vote for their senators and Representatives; this was at first very restricted, essentially being nobles voting for nobles in a way, but by 1769 the franchise had expanded considerably to include much of the population, although it wouldn't be until the civil war in early 19th century where minorities could vote. The Imperial Presidency of the United States would come to end in the mid 20th century when the offices of Emperor and President were separated, with the Emperor becoming the elected head of state by the Electoral College, while the President became the elected head of government by the people.
Because the American concept of Empire and thus Emperor were divorced from Monarchy, American emperors were not elected for life, instead they reigned for a term; the term limit imposed upon the Imperial office was split between either 4 years (In which they could then run again at a later date.) or 8 years (If they win an election seeking that length, in which case they may not run again. These term limits have been challenged before, particularly by the Roosevelt "dynasty", but have more or less run true for countless Emperors and Empresses. George Washington I was the first of the American Emperors, his family having strong reasons to have rebelled against the British Monarchy, Washington was the only Emperor from his line, ruling for a 8 straight years before retiring in his humble home at Mount Vernon.
The American state has a diverse amount of faiths within, although primarily Protestant, it has a massive population of western and eastern orthodox followers, which combined nearly equal the Protestants in many ways. Following the massive Roman-Jurchen War, which saw the Roman Empire under Ioannes X face of against the Persianized Jurchen Empire of the Khurasanids, many Romans would emigrate from the devastated eastern territories and into various parts of the Empire, but among them nay also went to other countries, with a small percentage arriving to America, which was still a British colony at the time, although one which was about to rebel. These immigrants brought with them their religion, and this was expanded upon by the exodus of Romans from the Empire after the War of the Roman Succession.
1. The George Washington of this America is not the same as OTL, just shares the same name and some attributes.
2. The British Empire forms earlier in this history, with the American revolution being a major set back in it;s history. England began colonization of the Americas much earlier, in fact other European countries have begun colonizing North America sooner than OTL.
3. No idea how realistic any of this is, but it's just for fun, a major play on the term Imperial Presidency.