Jingoistic celebrations can’t hide the fact that the party is over for the US empire. John Clarke traces the continuous territorial and global expansion has always been a driving force from the Declaration of Independence onward

On July 4, the US will mark the passing of 250 years since the first Independence Day. Over that period, a long road has been travelled from British colonial possession to hegemonic global power. Yet, no matter how enthusiastically the celebrations are conducted, US imperialism is an ageing giant in a state of decline for which there is no remedy. 

This is a moment to consider the emergence and growth of US capitalism, the role it has played as an imperialist power and the implications of its decline at this extraordinarily dangerous and unstable point in time.

The American Revolution presented the capitalist society it was establishing as a model of freedom and universal rights. The WashU Libraries notes that ‘though the Declaration of Independence states all men are created equal, one-fifth of the population were enslaved people, and one-third of the Declaration’s signers were personally enslavers.’ 

This is not some moral inconsistency that we should regard as a footnote. Slavery played a vital role in generating a mass of foundational wealth for US capitalism. In 2019, an article in Vox explained that ‘slavery, particularly the cotton slavery that existed from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the Civil War, was a thoroughly modern business, one that was continuously changing to maximize profits.’ The legacy of slavery and the struggle against it remain defining features of US society to this day.

The newly formed republic had to expand beyond the coastal strip it initially occupied to become a major capitalist power. The drive westward involved taking up the project of Indigenous dispossession on a continental basis and the economic powerhouse that the US would become was built up stolen land. Data compiled in 2021, shows that ‘Indigenous people across the contiguous United States have lost 98.9% of their historical lands, or 93.9% of the total geographic area they once occupied.’ 

We should not forget that a huge portion of what is now the United States was secured by force of arms. On 2 February, 2024, the Mexico News Daily News pointed out that ‘…one hundred and seventy-six years ago today, at the end of the Mexican-American war, Mexico’s territory became 55% percent smaller and the United States’ territory grew by more than half a million square miles.’ Conquest was an indispensable part of the process of US ascendancy.

System of exploitation

The leading role of US capitalism was attained, during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries through a brutal and efficient exploitation of human labour. In this regard, the US benefitted from its capacity to attract a mass of desperate and vulnerable immigrants from Europe.

As the National Museum of American History acknowledges, ‘From 1880 to 1924, more than 26 million people came to the United States seeking greater freedom and economic opportunity. Most arrived with little money and took whatever jobs they could find. By 1910, the majority of residents in America’s largest cities were foreign-born or children of immigrants. These massive waves of immigrants supplied much of the labor for the nation’s industrial growth.’

Though the US took the lead among global powers in the period between the world wars, it was immediately after World War Two that it became the undisputed global hegemony. For decades to come, US imperialism would retain supremacy over its Cold War rivals, those nations it dominated and exploited and the lesser imperialist powers.

The Council of Foreign Relations informs us that, in the aftermath of war, ‘…in addition to towering as the world’s military heavyweight, the United States boasted the most valuable currency—the dollar—to which all other major currencies had become fixed. In addition, the country’s economy had taken off during the war, nearly doubling in size between 1939 and 1945. In stark contrast, Western Europe’s economy contracted by 18 percent and Japan’s was cut in half.’ 

This vast superiority allowed the US to forge a world order in its own image. Though military aggression and a massive capacity to unleash it were central considerations, subjugation by force was only one side of the matter. The US became the economic and political cornerstone of the global system.

Global networks

International regulatory bodies were dominated by US power and influence and global trade was regulated in its interests. It retained a unique ability to dominate the multilateral institutions while preserving the freedom to act unilaterally when the need arose. The old European empires gave way to a more dynamic and efficient global system of exploitation that may be described as the ‘indirect empire’ of the United States.

Though it remains the leading imperialist power, a long process of US decline has unfolded. The Spectator notes that ‘…post World War II, America produced over 50 percent of all goods utilized worldwide and maintained nearly 40 percent of the global GDP. However, America now maintains only 16.6 percent of global manufacturing capacity and roughly 25 percent of the planet’s GDP.’

This economic reversal, moreover, reflects the ground that has been lost to economic rivals, particularly China, ‘which has utilized its immense population, incredibly low regulatory compliance, and its status as a massively attractive destination for foreign capital to build up insanely insanely high industrial productivity.’

In this context of decline, the Trump administration’s America First turn represents a rupturing of the ‘rules based’ world order that the US has overseen for decades. As John Rees has argued in Counterfire, this strategic shift seeks ‘a world in which America remains the most powerful state but no longer seeks to control the world order unilaterally as it did in the post Cold War period.’ Trump ‘wants to force his allies to pick up the bill for retooling the American economy and for financing the American military, at least in part.’ 

Gangster imperialism

The hopes and dreams of right-wing US isolationists notwithstanding, Trump is fully committed to preserving the role of leading imperialist power. As we have seen in his dealings with a number of countries, notably Venezuela and Cuba, the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ seeks submission, compliance and domination, enforced by a brutal brand of ‘gangster imperialism.’

The turn away from the post-war leadership role of the US isn’t the quirky choice of one administration. Canadian prime minister Mark Carney was not wrong when said of the discarded world order that ‘this bargain no longer works. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.’

The America First strategy is driven, then, by factors that make the whole post-war arrangement unviable. This is not to say that it represents a viable solution to the enormous problems confronting US imperialism. It is unlikely that an attempt to ride roughshod over the wreckage of the previous world order, in pursuit of immediate gain, would have gone well under a more tactically nimble administration. Trump, however, has certainly made a mess of things. He has been ready to use coercion and direct force but has consistently not thought through how to deal with the risk that his bluffs may be called.

He wants to strengthen his executive powers but the has not been able to bully the judiciary into complete submission. Even the deeply conservative Supreme Court has sometimes blocked his path. His hideous persecution of immigrant communities has produced terrible suffering but he was forced into a partial retreat by the magnificent resistance he faced, especially in Minneapolis.

Protectionist tariff measures have been central to the attempt to Make America Great Again but mainstream US media outlets openly declare that the erratic attempts to implement them have failed on their own terms. China has not been forced into submission and the whole strategy has been marked by legal challenges and retreats. 

The attack on Iran offers the most clear-cut example of the shortcomings of the Trump administration. With the global economy shuddering, Trump has blustered, threatened and retreated his way through the whole humiliating episode. What has been revealed is much more than the failings of one administration, however.

At root, the miscalculation in Iran flowed from the reduced capacities of the US. The refocused global domination the administration pursues is based on obtaining compliance through threats or limited deployment of military power. In Venezuela, such submission was obtained by these means but, in Iran, the assassination of leaders and the bombardment of the country was met with effective and economically devastating forms of retaliation. Trump simply wasn’t ready for this.

With US bases, Israel and Gulf allies coming under attack, very real questions emerged as to the capacities of the US military. As Al Jazeera noted in May, it had become clear ‘that US forces had heavily used seven critical ammunitions, and for four of them expended more than half of the pre-war inventory.’ US decline extends to its military power and even its ability to engage in ‘asymmetrical wars’ with lesser powers is now being called into question. 

As we see from the dangerous conduct of the Trump administration, we can’t expect US imperialism to grow old gracefully. The role of cornerstone of the world order has been relinquished but that of global predator is still very much in evidence. 

The long years that followed the Declaration of Independence have been marked by innumerable examples across the world of resistance to US expansion and domination. The US working-class, moreover, must be recognised as a vital component of that resistance. Indeed, it was a struggle of US workers in Chicago that led to the annual Celebration of International Workers’ Day

Doubtless, the 4^th of July will see a massive display of jingoism but this won’t conceal the reality that US hegemony is tottering and that the entire system of global capitalism is being rendered all the more unstable for it. The future lies, not with any replacement for the role of dominant imperialist power but in struggle to defeat what remains of the world order that the US has played a central role in shaping.