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Joseph Dobis
History 134
Professor Errin Stegich
17 November 2014
The Fall of an Empire
The United States has been described as the greatest experiment in self governance the
world has ever known. This is perhaps true, but there have been others throughout history.
Rome was once a republic with elected government, and it was also an empire. Rome is often
times compared to the United States; to compare the greatness of the two, the power, and perhaps
the inevitable fall. We know that many factors led to the collapse of Rome.
Over-expansion and military spending was one of them. At its height, Rome spanned
from the Atlantic Ocean all the way into the Middle East. It had a vast territory to govern, and
this was a logistical nightmare even with the quasi-postal system in place. There were rebellions,
outside attacks and it proved too much to keep track of. Military expansion may be the only
parallel that I can draw on to compare it to the United States. America is not expanding it's
empire. The land on the earth is spoken for, and any annexation would cause war, or even
world war.
Corruption at the highest levels of government also led to Rome's downfall. Being the
Roman Emperor, or ruler of any nation at this time was a dangerous job. Others wanted the job,
and invaders would love to have been responsible for the death of the emperor. However, toward
Rome's end, the job became even more dangerous, with Emperors being assassinated, and
replaced. Even the royal body guards couldn't be trusted at times, being responsible for
assassinations. America has a different form of corruption in it's government. More often than
not it can be seen that those in elected office are becoming beyond what would be considered

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wealthy.
These officials come out of government far richer than when they entered. Having not only
secured hundreds of billions in pork for their state or district, but plenty of cash for themselves.
While members will not be actively trying to kill each other, they may bring about America's
downfall by spending it into oblivion.
The death blow for Rome, many scholars have claimed, came in the fourth century.
Outside attacks from Germanic and Barbarians such as the Goths put the final nail in the coffin
of the empire. A final uprising by a Germanic leader, deposed the emperor, and no Roman
Emperor would again rule from Italy. The United States faces a different kind of threat.
America doesn't look at a threat from a specific nation or government. It faces a threat from
international terrorism. These are people who willingly die in the cause of bringing the U.S. to
its knees. Suicide attacks are frightening because the thought that someone would go on a one
way mission, to kill as many people and strike fear, is incomprehensible to most Americans.
This could be one way that America's decline is triggered.
The United States will eventually fall, but the circumstances will be different. It will not
be a precipitous fall, or even terribly noticeable. It will be a slow decline into irrelevance.
America will see it's influence decreasing around the world. America says things, but not many
places around the world take it seriously. She speaks of red lines, and when they are crossed, the
political ramifications of enacting consequences are too great for America to keep it's word.
America has been tied to two unpopular wars and the country is war weary, and the rest of the
world knows it. It could be a dangerous time.

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Joseph Dobis
History 134
Professor Errin Stegich
24 November 2014
Legalism VS Confucianism
Legalism as it applies to ancient China was used by the authoritarian Qin state, led by Qin
Shi Huangdi, which was a violent and oppressive regime, and also known as the first Chinese
Empire. It essentially followed that the law was supreme. The law was even superior to the
Emperor. The idea was that even a weak ruler could be made strong because the law would be
supreme in any case. (History 134: Ancient World)
Confucianism was the system used by the Han dynasty after the Qin, when legalism was
abandoned. It was a complex system of education in art, history, cosmos, ethics, and religion. It
imbued on its followers morals and the beneficence of the ruler would spread throughout the
society. It was effective to a degree, just like legalism was effective to a degree. When the
subjects were highly educated and ethics were stressed every day, maybe there wasn't much of a
place for legalism any longer, because the ethics became stronger and people tended to follow
the right and wrong voluntarily. (History 134: Ancient World)
In America there is a form of governance that is mostly Legalism, with a little
Confucianism thrown in. American society is so complex that Confucianism alone would not do
any good. It would require an entire overhaul of the education system that would never happen
in any dream scenario that one could come up with. However, America does teach ethics, and
they do have religion as a basis for morals and what is considered good. These are beneficial
to society, but as a buffer to that a nation has to have the legalism system in place. America has a
supreme law of the land in the country called the Constitution, and also have local laws with the

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basic laws that are known too well: one can not kill someone, one can not steal, one can not
assault our neighbor, etc. For many of people, they wouldn't kill, steal, or commit crimes
because they believe it to be wrong in their hearts. Their conscience is their guide, and that is
Confucian in nature. However, the law is there for those who might break the law. A broken law
has consequences tied to it, and that is generally a deterrent in society. Murdering someone may
be something only the smallest percentage of society might do, but the law is there for that small
percentage. Confucian ideals are what keep the other large percentage from committing that
same crime.
In conclusion, the current system of legalism and a little Confucianism thrown in has
worked pretty well. It is not perfect by any means, but it gets the job done.