The Rise and Decline of the American Empire: Revealing the Truth

By M. Y. Demeri

The United States rose from a modest colonial power to a formidable world superpower, but then it went into decline.

M. Y. Demeri traces the major events that allowed a loosely held league of thirteen British colonies to become a union of fifty states spanning the North American continent as well as Alaska and Hawaii. The nation would revolutionize world arts, science, technology, space exploration, and lead the digital revolutionall while promoting the ideals of democracy, freedom, and liberty.

But it also contributed to global conflicts, a nuclear arms race, political upheavals, and the financial collapse of world markets. To this day, it has failed to live up to its promise of turning economic success and prosperity into social progress.

With more than two hundred charts and tables, this book examines where America has been, what led to its decline, and how a rising deficit, soaring health care and Social Security costs, national security concerns, and miscarriages of social justice pushed it into decline. More importantly, however, it offers solutions to reverse course before we witness the end of The Rise and Decline of the American Empire.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Mar 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781480815704

M. Y. Demeri

M. Y. Demeri, Ph.D., holds a doctorate in metallurgical engineering. He held positions at Ford Scientific Research Labs, served as chairman and council member for various scientific committees, and taught in academic institutions. He has authored more than a hundred technical papers and four scientific books. www.riseanddeclineofamerica.com

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Copyright © 2015 M. Y. Demeri, Ph.D..

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-1569-8 (sc)

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 Establishment Of Colonial America

1.1 Settlements And Colonies

1.2 Economic And Political Development

1.3 Colonial Territorial Expansion

1.4 Dissatisfaction And Resistance

1.5 The American Revolution

1.6 Declaration Of Independence

1.7 End Of Conflict With Britain

Chapter 2 Emergence Of The United States Of America

2.1 The Articles Of Confederation

2.2 The American Constitution

2.3 Building The American Nation

2.4 Social, Political And Industrial Developments

2.5 Union Expansion And Land Acquisition

2.6 The Civil War

2.7 American Indians

Chapter 3 Rise Of The American Empire

3.1 Discoveries And Inventions

3.2 Populating The West

3.3 Completing The Union

3.4 Labor And Immigration

3.5 Cultural And Social Changes

3.6 Imperial Actions

3.7 Domestic Affairs

3.8 World War I

3.9 Foreign Affairs

3.10 The Great Depression And Recovery

3.11 World War Ii

3.12 Outcome Of World War Ii

Chapter 4 American Age

4.1 Post World War Ii

4.2 America As A Superpower

4.3 Korean And Vietnam Wars

4.4 Militarization Of America

4.5 Post World War Ii Economy

4.6 Progress And Challenges In The 1960S And 70S

4.7 Recovery And Prosperity In The 1980S And 90S

4.8 The Lone Superpower

4.9 America’s Gulf War (1990-1991)

4.10 Space Exploration

4.11 The Digital Revolution

Chapter 5 Decade Of Upheaval

5.1 The 9/11 Attacks On America

5.2 America’s Afghanistan And Iraq Wars

5.3 The Global Financial Crisis

5.4 Emerging Markets And Developing Economies

5.5 The Rise Of China

5.6 Technological Advances

5.7 Transition From Manufacturing To Services Economy

Chapter 6 Indicators Of America’s Decline

6.1 Economic Policy

6.2 Gross Domestic Product (Gdp)

6.3 Economic Growth

6.4 Trade Balance

6.5 Annual Budget

6.6 National And Public Debt

6.7 Social Security And Healthcare

6.8 Military Spending

6.9 Manufacturing And Productivity

6.10 Labor And Unemployment

6.11 Household Income And Net Worth

6.12 Taxes And Revenues

6.13 Consumer Prices And Inflation

6.14 Wealth Concentration, Income Inequality, And Gender Gap

6.15 Energy And Environment

6.16 Secondary And Higher Education

6.17 Research And Development

6.18 Traditional And Digital Infrastructure

6.19 Money And Politics

6.20 Foreign Policy

6.21 Social Progress Index

6.22 Global Competitiveness Index

Chapter 7 Indicators And Trends Analysis

7.1 Performance Matrix

7.2 The Emerging Superpower

Chapter 8 Averting The Downfall

8.1 Political Reforms

8.2 Economic Reforms

8.3 Social Reforms

References

Dedicated to the memory of my parents

Introduction

THIS BOOK EXAMINES WHERE America came from and where it is going. It follows the transformation of America from colonial to imperial and finally to a world superpower. The book reviews major milestones on the road to the establishment, growth, rise and decline of the American Empire. Some of the major events spanning American history include: Establishment of Colonial America, the Declaration of Independence, the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War I, the Pearl Harbor Attack, World War II, The Korean and Vietnam Wars, The Cold War, the 911 Terrorist Attack, the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, and the Global Financial Crisis.

America’s growth and expansion was incredibly large and amazingly fast. In seventy years (1783 to 1853), the territory of the United States extended from the western shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the eastern shores of the Pacific Ocean. The extent and speed by which America grew and prospered has led some Americans to believe that their success was blessed and preordained by providence.

In his book Seizing Destiny, Richard Kluger believed that America’s growth and progress was due to the fact that its supercharged people overlooked no opportunity to maximize every advantage that nature, geography, history, economics, and, yes, dumb luck presented to them. He also believed that land accumulation was the nurturing engine and compelling impulse in ruthlessly transforming a spectacular wilderness into a mighty state. Americans manifested their destiny by seizing other people’s land and gained a continental expanse by means of daring, cunning, bullying, bluff and bluster, treachery, robbery, quick talk, double talk, noble principles, stubborn resolve, low-down expediency, cash on the barrelhead, and spilled blood when deemed necessary. According to Kluger, Americans stopped expanding when they were satisfied that they needed no more physical space to ensure their prosperity and security ¹²³.

America is a stark example of controversy. It brought to the world arts, sciences, technology, innovation, space exploration, the digital revolution, and the ideals of democracy, freedom, and liberty. It also brought global conflicts, nuclear weapons, world dominance, political upheavals, economic disarray, and financial collapse of the world markets. In spite of America’s prosperity and richness, it failed to turn its economic success into social progress. Some of the major issues confronting America today include rising budget deficit, spiraling national debt, soaring costs of social security and healthcare, stagnating unemployment rate, increasing national security concerns, eluding social justice, and mounting challenges to its dominance.

America dug itself into a deep hole by its irresponsible and limitless spending. Budget deficit and the national debt remain the central problems plaguing America. Saving the American Empire entails the adoption of serious measures to balance the budget and curtail spending. It also requires the fair distribution of wealth, eliminating government dysfunction, and the upholding of the principles of freedom, justice and democracy.

After World War II, America realized the benefits of controlling other countries informally and indirectly; hence, adopted imperialism instead of colonialism to achieve its objectives. America’s exceptionalism is used as a pretext for foreign intervention and hegemony. America must be strong, but it must differentiate between wars of choice and wars of necessity. America must be powerful, but it does not need to be stronger than the next 10 major military powers combined.

Some analysts are still optimistic about America’s future and believe that it will continue to be the most powerful nation, but that its relative power will be diminished. In his book The Post American World, Fareed Zakaria believes that the issue is not the decline of America, but rather the rise of emerging countries like China and India. Although he defended America from indicators that suggest its decline, he warns about the weakening effect of factors such as internal partisan politics, domestic ideological groups, special interest power, and the effect of media on the federal government ability to cope with global realities ¹¹⁴.

In another book, The Myth of America’s Decline, Josef Joffee believes that America will continue to be the lone superpower for a long time. His beliefs were based on what he called key indicators of America’s strength and success. He listed two major factors and four drivers of future American superiority to support his claim. Those were great possession of assets, deployment of the most powerful navy, outstanding higher education, elevated R&D spending, a large share of issued patents, and a liberal immigration policy ¹¹⁵. This is all fine, but when one realizes that all of that was accomplished, not on the basis of real wealth and earned income, but on the basis of borrowed money and spiraling national debt exceeding $18 trillion. This level of national debt constitutes a serious and unprecedented situation for the United States.

This book questions the survivability of America as the lone superpower. It claims that careful analysis point to America’s decline as an established superpower and the rise of China as a competing power. Some analysts believe that the evolving relationship between the United States and China will have a profound effect on international relations in the 21st century.

In this book, America’s decline is based on the cumulative assessment of 22 economic, social and political indicators and metrics. The greatness of America is questioned when one realizes that its government and Congress failed to create or enact legislation and laws needed to achieve progress and efficiency in many crucial areas such as, controlling spending, reducing national debt, repealing tax expenditures, improving infrastructure, enhancing secondary education, curtailing college tuition inflation, protecting the environment, reclaiming manufacturing, cutting military spending, regulating lobbying, addressing wealth distribution, upholding equality, passing immigration reforms, securing U.S. borders, safeguarding democracy, ending political discourse, achieving social progress, and ceasing imperialist ambitions.

This book does not reflect conservative or liberal views. It opens a national dialogue on America’s policy, economy and culture. It explores the causes, and offers remedies for America’s decline. The book is divided into eight chapters and follows a textbook style and organization. It is also educational and well documented in the sense that it explains and defines the 22 indicators, measures, and metrics used to assess America’s performance. Over 200 charts and tables were embedded throughout the book to make it enjoyable to read and easier to understand the reasons behind America’s decline as a world superpower.

CHAPTER 1

Establishment of Colonial America

1607-1783

IN 1492 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS set sail westward from Spain to what he believed to be a shorter route to Asia than the Portuguese route around South Africa. At the end of his journey, he landed in the Caribbean upon an island in the Bahamas believing that he reached the shores of Asia. Although Columbus made four voyages to the west, he never set foot on the North American continent. The new lands to the west were named "America", after a merchant named Amerigo Vespucci published an account of his voyage to the New World.

At the end of the period of discovery and exploration, the known lands of North America were held by four major European nations: Spain, France, England and the Netherlands. Spain held the southwest while France occupied most of the central land. The Netherlands held the territory around the New York area while England held a narrow strip along the Atlantic coast of what is now known as the eastern United States of America. Spain and France established settlements around trading posts, forts and missions but did not establish colonies to accommodate families to settle down and stay.

Spain and France came to the New World in search of riches and planned to return to Europe after achieving their goal. The lack of densely populated towns in Spanish and French held territories led to a weak hold on their American land possessions. England, on the other hand, encouraged families to emigrate and settle down in more densely populated towns. The great number of English colonists ensured the overwhelming control of much of North America and the firm establishment of the English colonies.

1.1 Settlements and Colonies

Early settlers came to the New World for various reasons: economic, religious and political. The first successful English colony, known as the Virginia colony, was established in 1607 by the London Company

Fig1.jpg

Fig. 1 Map of the first settlement on the eastern coast of North America (Adapted from Ref. 10)

to become a base for English colonial activity. The London Company was a corporation of merchants who ran expeditions, acquired land, and provided supplies for English adventurers and freedom seekers in return for their work for the company. Jamestown was the first settlement in the Virginia Colony to be established. The first settlers endured hard physical labor, disease, harsh natural conditions, and the hostility of native Indians who resented the presence of strangers on their ancestral land. The arrival of food supplies and families from England ensured the survival of Jamestown as the first settlement on the eastern cost of North America (Figure 1).

The Virginia colony flourished economically after the establishment of the tobacco plantations. The settlers prospered by selling their tobacco to English merchants, satisfying the growing demand for tobacco in England. In 1619, the need for labor to plant and process tobacco led to the transport of African slaves to the Virginia colony to work on the tobacco and other plantations. The success and expansion of the Virginia colony allowed for the establishment of self-government to administer and make laws to the colony. In 1624, the charter given to the London Company was cancelled and Virginia became a royal colony with its governors appointed by the King of England. During the next fifty years, Virginia grew and prospered and its government outgrew Jamestown and moved to a new site at Williamsburg. This later became the main city in colonial America.

Southern Atlantic Seaboard Colonies

From 1692 to 1753, four other royal colonies were established south of Virginia, along the Southern Atlantic Seaboard: Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Maryland was carved out of Virginia and its first settlement was established in 1630. In 1649, its legislature passed a law concerning religious toleration. In 1653, a group of settlers from Virginia moved south, seeking better living conditions. Over the next ten years, they founded the colony of Carolina with Raleigh as its central city.

Dissatisfaction among the Carolinians towards their government led the King of England to separate the Carolina colony into two separate royal colonies: North Carolina and South Carolina. In 1672, Charleston was founded in South Carolina. In 1732, Georgia was carved from South Carolina to establish a strong colony that would protect northern settlers from Spanish colonies and settlements to the south. In 1733, Savannah was established in Georgia. The creation of Georgia proved to be justified when the Georgians defeated a Spanish expedition that entered their land. The conflict ended with Georgia claiming most of the Spanish-held North Florida. Figure 2 shows Southern Colonies in 1740.

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Fig. 2 Southern Colonies in 1740 (Ref. 8)

Middle Atlantic Seaboard Colonies

From 1624 to 1702, four middle colonies were established in the middle part of the North Atlantic Seaboard: New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Many of the settlers were of non-English descent consisting mainly of Germans, Dutch and Irish. The New York colony was first settled by the Dutch in 1614 under the name of New

Fig3.jpg

Fig. 3 Map of the City of New Amsterdam (New York) in 1660 (Ref. 8)

Netherland, with New Amsterdam as its major settlement (Figure 3). In 1638, in the nearby Delaware Bay area, Swedes settled and named their land New Sweden. By 1660, however, the Dutch took this region from the Swedes and incorporated it into New Netherland. In 1664, England captured the New Netherland colony from the Dutch and divided it into three colonies: New York, New Jersey and Delaware.

In 1691, New York was made a royal colony and because of its location, became an important shipping and trade center in the middle colonies. A decade later, New Jersey became a royal colony. In 1681, Pennsylvania was settled by the Quakers who migrated to the New World to escape persecution in England for their belief in peace and non-violence. Many German and Irish Protestants also suffered religious persecution had left their countries to settle in Pennsylvania. The Delaware colony was then leased to Pennsylvania before it was granted a separate legislature in 1703. It did not get its own governor until after the colonies separated from England in 1776. The New Jersey colony was established in 1623 by the Swedes and then the Dutch. The English took it from the Dutch in 1664, transferred it to royal control in 1702 and got its own governor in 1738.

Northern Atlantic Seaboard Colonies

The first successful English attempt to settle the Northern Atlantic Seaboard occurred in 1620 when English Puritans, known as Pilgrims, boarded the Mayflower and landed in what is now known as Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Puritans established the Plymouth Colony in 1630, and made Boston its capital. In 1691, the self-governing Plymouth Colony was annexed to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Many groups from the colony, seeking religious freedom or commercial gains, founded the other New England Colonies of Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine. Connecticut was established in 1638 as a self-governing colony and as a charter in 1662. Rhode Island was established, as a self-governing charter by discontented Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1636. Maine was established in 1623 and was joined to Massachusetts in 1691. New Hampshire was established in 1623, became a charter in 1629, incorporated into the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1644 and became a separate royal colony in 1679.

1.2 Economic and Political Development

Economic development in the colonies was motivated by profit-seeking corporations who founded and supported the colonists with the expectation of getting sizable returns on their investment. The methods used by the colonies to prosper and grow depended mainly on their geographic location. Plantations were established around 1615 in the southern colonies where major crops, such as tobacco and rice, were grown and exported mainly to England. The need for cheap labor to run such large plantations encouraged the importation of slaves from Africa and, after 1700, slavery spread throughout the southern colonies. Figure 4 shows major exports of the Southern States in 1750.

Weather and terrain prevented the New England colonies from establishing large scale land cultivation. They sought making their living from the sea. Hence, fishing and ship building industries flourished. Boston and other harbors became important trade centers; shipping goods and products to and from Europe and along the Atlantic coast to the northern and southern American colonies.

Weather and terrain allowed the middle colonies to establish farms to raise tobacco as well as a thriving port in New York. Their economy, therefore, was a combination of the economies of the southern and the New England colonies. By 1750, the colonies prospered and they were able to produce and export flour, grain, fish, pork, beef, livestock and tobacco to many parts of the world. The abundance of lumber in the American forests allowed the shipbuilding industry to flourish and, by 1760, one-third of all English ships were built in the American colonies. Fishing and fur trades provided another source of prosperity to the thirteen colonies.

Fig4.jpg

Fig. 4 Major exports of the Southern States in 1750 (Ref. 8)

Although the types of government in the thirteen colonies passed through different stages of administration (ranging from charter, proprietary, royal and self-governing), the eventual aim of all of the colonies was the establishment of some form of representative rule. Colonial popular assemblies, consisting of an upper house and a lower house, were established in Virginia and Plymouth. Such assemblies had no power to make laws and the legislative power remained with the British appointed royal governors of the colonies. The power of the royal governors in most colonies was openly challenged after independence was declared in 1776.

1.3 Colonial Territorial Expansion

As the population of the original English colonies grew and prospered, expansion from the Atlantic coast line towards the mainland ensued. Many English colonial charters granted land west of the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi river and beyond. The territorial expansion of the British encroached on the interests of both the French and the Indians. The English colonies