How to Bring Down an Empire: Benjamin Franklin’s Forgotten Rules
“Empires, by Pride & Folly & Extravagance, ruin themselves like Individuals”
Benjamin Franklin knew the pattern all through history: Collapse is self-inflicted. In 1773, he wrote a masterpiece of biting satire detailing 20 rules for how a great empire destroys itself from within. The formula is simple: make the government so detestable that the people want secession at any cost.
It was supposed to be a warning, but the British ignored it and learned their lesson the hard way.
Read his rules and judge for yourself. Is this just another history lesson? Or is it an instruction manual still being followed by the empire we live under today?
WEAPONIZED SATIRE
Benjamin Franklin spent years trying to reason with the British government. But, as he wrote to his sister Jane Mecom, he finally realized that being polite to politicians is a waste of time.
“I had us’d all the smooth Words I could muster, and I grew tir’d of Meekness when I saw it without Effect. Of late therefore I have been saucy.”
On September 11, 1773 – just months after the Tea Act was passed – that “sauciness” took the form of a brilliant essay anonymously published in a London paper: Rules By Which A Great Empire May Be Reduced To A Small One. He took the worst abuses inflicted on the American colonies, and repackaged them as twenty “helpful tips” for the British government to convince the people to hate it. The result? An empire chopped down to size by secession, guaranteed.
He wasn’t just shaming them. As he told Mecom, he was forcing them to look in the mirror.
“I have held up a Looking-Glass in which some Ministers may see their ugly Faces, and the Nation its Injustice.”
He opened the essay by framing it as a leaked government memo – a direct shot at Lord Hillsborough, the former Secretary of State for the Colonies.
“Presented privately to a late Minister, when he entered upon his Administration; and now first published.”
Franklin then drew a sharp contrast. He started with the ancient Greek leader Themistocles – a man who didn’t waste time on trivial politics because he was too busy doing the hard work of building a society. Then, he flipped the script with some self-deprecating humor.
“An ancient Sage valued himself upon this, that tho’ he could not fiddle, he knew how to make a great City of a little one.”
“The Science that I, a modern Simpleton, am about to communicate is the very reverse.”
He framed it like a self-help guide. Managing a massive empire is simply too much work for politicians who just want more leisure time.
“I address myself to all Ministers who have the Management of extensive Dominions, which from their very Greatness are become troublesome to govern, because the Multiplicity of their Affairs leaves no Time for fiddling.”
THE RULES
Franklin started his rules with simple geography. Start at the edges and let the implosion work its way in from there.
“In the first Place, Gentlemen, you are to consider, that a great Empire, like a great Cake, is most easily diminished at the Edges. Turn your Attention therefore first to your remotest Provinces; that as you get rid of them, the next may follow in Order.”
The best way to accelerate that process is to treat the people as second-class citizens. Make sure they have no real representation. Use “law” as a weapon to attack their rights. And cut off free trade.
“Take special Care the Provinces are never incorporated with the Mother Country, that they do not enjoy the same common Rights, the same Privileges in Commerce, and that they are governed by severer Laws, all of your enacting, without allowing them any Share in the Choice of the Legislators.”
Despite all the blood, sweat and tears the people spent building the colonies, the government must adopt an arrogant “you didn’t build that” mentality. That also means rejecting any foundational principles from their own revolution.
“You are therefore to forget it all, or resent it as if they had done you Injury. If they happen to be zealous Whigs, Friends of Liberty, nurtur’d in Revolution Principles, remember all that to their Prejudice, and contrive to punish it: For such Principles, after a Revolution is thoroughly established, are of no more Use, they are even odious and abominable.”
A bloated government is inherently paranoid. Therefore, it must operate on a single, cynical premise: Always treat your own people like the enemy.
“However peaceably your Colonies have submitted to your Government, shewn their Affection to your Interest, and patiently borne their Grievances, you are to suppose them always inclined to revolt, and treat them accordingly.”
To increase the hostility, deploy militarized enforcers directly into the communities. The goal is to actively provoke the very rebellion the government pretends it wants to prevent.
“Quarter Troops among them, who by their Insolence may provoke the rising of Mobs, and by their Bullets and Bayonets suppress them. By this Means, like the Husband who uses his Wife ill from Suspicion, you may in Time convert your Suspicions into Realities.”
Competent leadership fosters stability. To destroy an empire, establish a reverse meritocracy. Elevate the absolute worst of the worst, filling the government with corrupt, incompetent, petty hacks at every level.
“You are therefore to be careful who you recommend for those Offices. If you can find Prodigals who have ruined their Fortunes, broken Gamesters or Stock-Jobbers, these may do well as Governors; for they will probably be rapacious, and provoke the People by their Extortions. Wrangling Proctors and petty-fogging Lawyers too are not amiss, for they will be for ever disputing and quarrelling with their little Parliaments, if withal they should be ignorant, wrong-headed and insolent, so much the better. Attorneys Clerks and Newgate Solicitors will do for Chief-Justices, especially if they hold their Places during your Pleasure: And all will contribute to impress those ideas of your Government that are proper for a People you would wish to renounce it.”
To protect these corrupt hacks, the government must maintain a monopoly on accountability. Always make sure the government investigates itself. And naturally, the government must never find that the government broke the rules for the government.
“To confirm these Impressions, and strike them deeper, whenever the Injured come to the Capital with Complaints of Mal-administration, Oppression, or Injustice, punish such Suitors with long Delay, enormous Expence, and a final Judgment in Favour of the Oppressor.”
This results in two predictable outcomes. First, it actively incentivizes even more corruption from the ruling class. Second, it pushes the public right to the edge of their breaking point.
“This will have an admirable Effect every Way. The Trouble of future Complaints will be prevented, and Governors and Judges will be encouraged to farther Acts of Oppression and Injustice; and thence the People may become more disaffected, and at length desperate.”
In a free society, these government people would be in prison. Franklin instructed the empire to reward them instead.
“When such Governors have crammed their Coffers, and made themselves so odious to the People that they can no longer remain among them with Safety to their Persons, recall and reward them with Pensions. You may make them Baronets too,8 if that respectable Order should not think fit to resent it. All will contribute to encourage new Governors in the same Practices, and make the supreme Government detestable.”
Even when the public voluntarily sacrifices everything for national defense – as the colonists did during the Seven Years’ War – the government must reject their generosity. An arrogant empire prefers extorting its citizens by force – even after the war is over – rather than accepting their voluntary support.
“If when you are engaged in War, your Colonies should vie in liberal Aids of Men and Money against the common Enemy, upon your simple Requisition, and give far beyond their Abilities, reflect, that a Penny taken from them by your Power is more honourable to you than a Pound presented by their Benevolence. Despise therefore their voluntary Grants, and resolve to harrass them with novel Taxes.”
When the public inevitably complains, the government must not simply decline these requests. It must reject them, ignore them, and insult them. The people might eventually forgive a government that robs them. But absolute contempt from the political class guarantees permanent hatred.
“They will probably complain to your Parliaments that they are taxed by a Body in which they have no Representative, and that this is contrary to common Right. They will petition for Redress. Let the Parliaments flout their Claims, reject their Petitions, refuse even to suffer the reading of them, and treat the Petitioners with the utmost Contempt. Nothing can have a better Effect, in producing the Alienation proposed; for though many can forgive Injuries, none ever forgave Contempt.”
To truly crush the spirit of the people, the government must destroy the very concept of private property. It must ignore everything the people are already funding – from local infrastructure to the empire’s bloated welfare state. Instead, it must arrogantly remind them of a brutal reality: If the government can take one percent of your wealth without your consent, it inherently has the right to take the other 99 percent.
“Remember to make your arbitrary Tax more grievous to your Provinces, by public Declarations importing that your Power of taxing them has no limits, so that when you take from them without their Consent a Shilling in the Pound, you have a clear Right to the other nineteen. This will probably weaken every Idea of Security in their Property, and convince them that under such a Government they have nothing they can call their own; which can scarce fail of producing the happiest Consequences!”
Once property rights are destroyed, the government must never allow the people the comforting illusion that their remaining rights are safe. The weapon of choice is the administrative state. Drown them in mountains of regulations, eliminate trial by jury, pack the courts with corrupt judges, and weaponize asset forfeiture to plunder whatever they have left.
“To annihilate this Comfort, begin by Laws to perplex their Commerce with infinite Regulations impossible to be remembered and observed; ordain Seizures of their Property for every Failure; take away the Trial of such Property by Jury, and give it to arbitrary Judges of your own appointing, and of the lowest Characters in the Country, whose Salaries and Emoluments are to arise out of the Duties or Condemnations, and whose Appointments are during Pleasure.”
To eliminate dissent, simply redefine it. Ensure that anyone who dares to oppose the government is labeled a traitor, and use every weapon at your disposal to punish them as such.
“Then let there be a formal Declaration of both Houses, that Opposition to your Edicts is Treason, and that Persons suspected of Treason in the Provinces may, according to some obsolete Law, be seized and sent to the Metropolis of the Empire for Trial.”
Once dissent is viewed as treason, the government must make sure the entire “justice” system is stacked against the individual. Even without a conviction, it can secure its victory simply by making the legal process and the exorbitant cost of a defense the actual punishment.
“And pass an Act that those there charged with certain other Offences shall be sent away in Chains from their Friends and Country to be tried in the same Manner for Felony. Then erect a new Court of Inquisition among them, accompanied by an armed Force, with Instructions to transport all such suspected Persons, to be ruined by the Expence if they bring over Evidences to prove their Innocence, or be found guilty and hanged if they can’t afford it.”
Just when the people think the government has pushed as far as it possibly can, it must take things even further and claim unlimited power. In 1766, the British called it the Declaratory Act. Today, Washington D.C. treats the Supremacy Clause exactly the same way.
“And lest the People should think you cannot possibly go any farther, pass another solemn declaratory Act, that “King, Lords, and Commons had, hath, and of Right ought to have, full Power and Authority to make Statutes of sufficient Force and Validity to bind the unrepresented Provinces IN ALL CASES WHATSOEVER.”
The result is the complete destruction of any illusion of freedom. The government drops the polite facade and reveals a cold, hard truth: the empire claims absolute ownership over your property, your liberty, and your very life.
“This will include Spiritual with temporal; and taken together, must operate wonderfully to your Purpose, by convincing them, that they are at present under a Power something like that spoken of in the Scriptures, which can not only kill their Bodies, but damn their Souls to all Eternity, by compelling them, if it pleases, to worship the Devil.”
To enforce this absolute power, the government must deploy a massive tax enforcement army. The method is pure extortion: pay these bureaucratic enforcers lavishly with stolen loot, and unleash them to harass the citizens who actually do the real work.
“To make your Taxes more odious, and more likely to procure Resistance, send from the Capital a Board of Officers to superintend the Collection, composed of the most indiscreet, ill-bred and insolent you can find. Let these have large Salaries out of the extorted Revenue, and live in open grating Luxury upon the Sweat and Blood of the Industrious, whom they are to worry continually with groundless and expensive Prosecutions before the above-mentioned arbitrary Revenue-Judges, all at the Cost of the Party prosecuted tho’ acquitted, because the King is to pay no Costs.”
Take the money collected under the guise of national security and blatantly misapply all of it. Use the bloated defense budget as nothing more than a slush fund to enrich the swamp – the contractors, the insiders, and the political loyalists.
“Another Way to make your Tax odious, is to misapply the Produce of it. If it was originally appropriated for the Defence of the Provinces and the better Support of Government, and the Administration of Justice where it may be necessary, then apply none of it to that Defence, but bestow it where it is not necessary, in augmented Salaries or Pensions to every Governor who has distinguished himself by his Enmity to the People, and by calumniating them to their Sovereign.”
The ultimate endgame isn’t just the money. It is about manufacturing constant hostility and driving the people straight toward an inevitable crisis.
“This will make them pay it more unwillingly, and be more apt to quarrel with those that collect it, and those that imposed it, who will quarrel again with them, and all shall contribute to your main Purpose of making them weary of your Government.”
When the people complain or resist, the government must simply dismiss their concerns as fringe extremism. And most importantly, it must never, ever admit fault or change its course.
“If you are told of Discontents in your Colonies, never believe that they are general, or that you have given Occasion for them; therefore do not think of applying any Remedy, or of changing any offensive Measure. Redress no Grievance, lest they should be encouraged to demand the Redress of some other Grievance.”
To avoid accountability, the government must always blame public outrage on its political rivals. Then, to remind the people exactly who holds the monopoly on violence, throw in a public execution or two just to make a point.
“Believe nothing you hear from the Friends of the People. Suppose all their Complaints to be invented and promoted by a few factious Demagogues, whom if you could catch and hang, all would be quiet. Catch and hang a few of them accordingly; and the Blood of the Martyrs shall work Miracles in favour of your Purpose.”
If the people ever acquire enough firepower for their own genuine self-defense, the government must act swiftly to confiscate their weapons.
“If they should have lodged in such Fortress the very Arms they bought and used to aid you in your Conquests, seize them all, ’twill provoke like Ingratitude added to Robbery.”
Disarming the public is a masterstroke for destroying an empire. Gun control doesn’t just guarantee domestic tyranny; it ensures the country is left completely defenseless against foreign invaders.
“One admirable Effect of these Operations will be, to discourage every other Colony from erecting such Defences, and so their and your Enemies may more easily invade them, to the great Disgrace of your Government, and of course the Furtherance of your Project.”
Use the promise of military “protection” as a Trojan horse. Swear to defend the people from outside threats, but intentionally leave them completely exposed and move the troops directly into their neighborhoods instead.
“Send Armies into their Country under Pretence of protecting the Inhabitants; but instead of garrisoning the Forts on their Frontiers with those Troops, to prevent Incursions, demolish those Forts, and order the Troops into the Heart of the Country, that the Savages may be encouraged to attack the Frontiers, and that the Troops may be protected by the Inhabitants.”
It doesn’t matter whether the public concludes the ruling class is dangerously incompetent or actively malicious. Either way, the government loses all moral authority, convincing the people that those in charge are unfit for office.
“This will seem to proceed from your Ill will or your Ignorance, and contribute farther to produce and strengthen an Opinion among them, that you are no longer fit to govern them.”
Finally, make sure the commander-in-chief is armed with sweeping, unconstitutional powers and absolutely zero oversight. Give him everything he needs to rule by his will alone.
“Lastly, Invest the General of your Army in the Provinces with great and unconstitutional Powers, and free him from the Controul of even your own Civil Governors. Let him have Troops enow under his Command, with all the Fortresses in his Possession; and who knows but (like some provincial Generals in the Roman Empire, and encouraged by the universal Discontent you have produced) he may take it into his Head to set up for himself.”
CASE CLOSED
Follow this blueprint to the letter, and the political class will achieve its ultimate goal: the complete collapse of its own empire. The productive people will permanently sever ties, and the government will finally be free of the “burden” of ruling a free people.
“If he should, and you have carefully practised these few excellent Rules of mine, take my Word for it, all the Provinces will immediately join him, and you will that Day (if you have not done it sooner) get rid of the Trouble of governing them, and all the Plagues attending their Commerce and Connection from thenceforth and for ever.”
While Franklin detailed twenty rules in his essay, these core examples more than prove his point. He signed off with the letters Q.E.D. – the mathematical shorthand for “case closed.” The essay hit London like a sledgehammer, and as he wrote to his sister, he was completely prepared for the backlash.
“Those Papers have been much taken Notice of, many are pleased with them, and a few very angry, who I am told will make me feel their Resentment, which I must bear as well as I can, and shall bear the better if any publick Good is done, whatever the Consequence to myself.”
Franklin understood a cold truth about human nature: bullies, whether in the streets or in the government, prey on easy targets. Sometimes, simply standing your ground and kicking back is the only way to convince them to reconsider.
“In my own private Concerns with Mankind, I have observ’d that to kick a little when under Imposition, has a good Effect. A little Sturdiness when Superiors are much in the Wrong, sometimes occasions Consideration.”
The reverse is equally true: absolute submission invites absolute destruction. If a people chooses cowardice over resistance, they shouldn’t be surprised when the empire finally takes everything – their property, their liberty, and their lives.
“And there is Truth in the Old Saying, That if you make yourself a Sheep, the Wolves will eat you.”
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