June 18, 2022 By Francis P. Sempa  

Empires usually collapse from internal forces which are sometimes exacerbated by international events.  When the great British historian Arnold Toynbee cataloged the rise and fall of civilizations in his monumental multi-volume A Study of History, he studied how different civilizations responded to internal and external challenges.  The key to understanding why some civilizations grew and prospered and others declined and died was "challenge and response."  The rise and fall of empires — including the American empire — are subject to similar analyses.

America rose to imperial power by effectively responding to internal and external challenges.  At its birth, the American republic first defeated Great Britain in a war, then overcame internal division by erecting a constitutional structure that imperfectly combined unity and division.  It then responded well to another challenge from Britain in the War of 1812 and launched its effort to occupy and politically appropriate a continent, known as "Manifest Destiny."...........To Read More....