The American democratic republic, a modest British colony that transformed itself into the world’s richest country and greatest military power, has died.

It was 236 years old.

No official announcement was made of the end of the long-enduring republic, which was launched in 1789. No autopsy was scheduled.

The proximate cause of death was America’s rapid decline in democratic governance. In March 2025, the director of Varieties of Democracy, a Sweden-based think tank, cautioned that the U.S. was on the verge of losing its status as a democratic republic.

The American democratic republic is survived by a country of the same name, the United States of America, now a presidential dictatorship.

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