Your knowledge of history is somewhat parochial. History is determined by events, which are in turn fueled by the prevailing beliefs of the times. These beliefs reflected the reality of the period.
At the time the Constitution was written, slavery was practiced over most of the world. It was legal in most places and was an accepted part of life; viewed as a normal state of affairs. Slavery began to be seen in a bad light after the industrial revolution made slavery less profitable in many places. Capitalism, rather than morality, began the demise of slavery.
Most of the slaves in the US were brought here by Spanish, Portuguese, and especially English ships. Out of some 12 million slaves transported to the Western Hemisphere from Africa, about 600,000 ended up in what became the US. The rest went to the Caribbean, Mexico, and South and Central America.
You cannot judge people of another era by the standards of this one. Their reality was much harsher than ours, their beliefs correspondingly different. They have to be judged against the backdrop of the physical reality of the time and place in which they existed. The moral code they adhered to was one born of the times. Flogging, public executions and the stocks were also commonplace and accepted as perfectly normal. Witchcraft was the explanation for imperfectly understood scientific phenomena. A person from today who was transported back to the Spain and Portugal of Columbus, Ferdinand and Isabella would quickly find him or herself the guest of honor at an impromptu party thrown by Tomas de Torquemada and his boys.

The Founders were, by the standards of their time, quite enlightened. At a time of monarchies and dictatorships, they advocated a Republic. Liberals say that women and slaves couldn't vote. Slaves couldn't vote anywhere, and to the best of my knowledge, neither could women. The Framers were an aristocracy for the most part, but one who gave a say in government to the middle class of the time, which was property and business owners. This idea of letting the masses govern themselves was, in it's own right, revolutionary for the time and place.
The US has made mistakes. All great nations do. The treatment of the American Indian was despicable by today's standards, but commonly accepted the world over at the time it happened. I would suggest that there probably aren't 20 acres of real estate in the world, (excluding Antarctica,) with any sort of strategic or tactical value that have not been conquered and re-conquered repeatedly. I mentioned the American Indian tribes a moment ago. The fact is that many of them acquired "their" land in the same way that we "acquired" it from them. They stole it, same as us. The pre-Columbian Indian society was not a model of peaceful cooperation. The Iroquois, the Shawnee, some of the Algonquin tribes in Canada, the Lakota, along with cousins Cheyenne and Arapaho, the Navajo, Apache, Yaqui, all were conquering, warlike tribes who either killed, enslaved or drove off the original occupants of the land they claimed. Let us not forget the Aztecs and Incas, either. Both Cortez and Pizzaro were able to conquer the Aztecs and Incas respectively due to lots of help from smaller, weaker tribes that had been victimized by these "civilized" tribes.

In short, every nation had made mistakes, and some of what you think of as mistakes were not regarded as such by the standards of the times in which they happened.

It seemed so simple for so long, so black and white. America was great and good and right and just in all that it did. We were exceptional! We were God's ideal for this weary and wretched world! The true hero! I loved being an American. Dressing in the morning since I was seven was like putting on a uniform for the defense of Liberty. All Americans were warriors for Freedom. And then I read too many books, only looking to see how great our country truly was. I found that our nation is deeply flawed. Not irredeemably, for we do look and act to correct ourselves, a true marvel in any age, but grievous mistakes have been made. America is no hero by a long stretch--and that hurts.

To admit to our many mistakes as a nation is not to undermine our nation. The exceptional thing about America is that it tries, and usually does, correct its wrongs as best it can. Coming to accept my nation as weak and flawed at times, even terribly wrong, increases my respect and awe at our Constitution and governmental processes. We right those wrongs and move on. Where I need help is in not reacting to citizens who see America as having done no wrong. Those history revisionist that see our slave-holding Founders as "tirelessly working" to end slavery. They did not.

Yeah, I can help you. This country is the last best hope for man on earth. Because of the freedoms afforded the individual here in the US, no other place on planet earth offers the individual more opportunity to improve their station in life. And this includes all present and past societies.
So as far as "not reacting to citizens who see America as having done no wrong", why bother? No society is, nor has been perfect. But to repeat part of my first line, this is the best hope for man on earth.

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Well put Loki! Great Response!

Your knowledge of history is somewhat parochial. History is determined by events, which are in turn fueled by the prevailing beliefs of the times. These beliefs reflected the reality of the period.
At the time the Constitution was written, slavery was practiced over most of the world. It was legal in most places and was an accepted part of life; viewed as a normal state of affairs. Slavery began to be seen in a bad light after the industrial revolution made slavery less profitable in many places. Capitalism, rather than morality, began the demise of slavery.
Most of the slaves in the US were brought here by Spanish, Portuguese, and especially English ships. Out of some 12 million slaves transported to the Western Hemisphere from Africa, about 600,000 ended up in what became the US. The rest went to the Caribbean, Mexico, and South and Central America.
You cannot judge people of another era by the standards of this one. Their reality was much harsher than ours, their beliefs correspondingly different. They have to be judged against the backdrop of the physical reality of the time and place in which they existed. The moral code they adhered to was one born of the times. Flogging, public executions and the stocks were also commonplace and accepted as perfectly normal. Witchcraft was the explanation for imperfectly understood scientific phenomena. A person from today who was transported back to the Spain and Portugal of Columbus, Ferdinand and Isabella would quickly find him or herself the guest of honor at an impromptu party thrown by Tomas de Torquemada and his boys.

The Founders were, by the standards of their time, quite enlightened. At a time of monarchies and dictatorships, they advocated a Republic. Liberals say that women and slaves couldn't vote. Slaves couldn't vote anywhere, and to the best of my knowledge, neither could women. The Framers were an aristocracy for the most part, but one who gave a say in government to the middle class of the time, which was property and business owners. This idea of letting the masses govern themselves was, in it's own right, revolutionary for the time and place.
The US has made mistakes. All great nations do. The treatment of the American Indian was despicable by today's standards, but commonly accepted the world over at the time it happened. I would suggest that there probably aren't 20 acres of real estate in the world, (excluding Antarctica,) with any sort of strategic or tactical value that have not been conquered and re-conquered repeatedly. I mentioned the American Indian tribes a moment ago. The fact is that many of them acquired "their" land in the same way that we "acquired" it from them. They stole it, same as us. The pre-Columbian Indian society was not a model of peaceful cooperation. The Iroquois, the Shawnee, some of the Algonquin tribes in Canada, the Lakota, along with cousins Cheyenne and Arapaho, the Navajo, Apache, Yaqui, all were conquering, warlike tribes who either killed, enslaved or drove off the original occupants of the land they claimed. Let us not forget the Aztecs and Incas, either. Both Cortez and Pizzaro were able to conquer the Aztecs and Incas respectively due to lots of help from smaller, weaker tribes that had been victimized by these "civilized" tribes.

In short, every nation had made mistakes, and some of what you think of as mistakes were not regarded as such by the standards of the times in which they happened.

Your knowledge of history is somewhat parochial. History is determined by events, which are in turn fueled by the prevailing beliefs of the times. These beliefs reflected the reality of the period.
At the time the Constitution was written, slavery was practiced over most of the world. It was legal in most places and was an accepted part of life; viewed as a normal state of affairs. Slavery began to be seen in a bad light after the industrial revolution made slavery less profitable in many places. Capitalism, rather than morality, began the demise of slavery.
Most of the slaves in the US were brought here by Spanish, Portuguese, and especially English ships. Out of some 12 million slaves transported to the Western Hemisphere from Africa, about 600,000 ended up in what became the US. The rest went to the Caribbean, Mexico, and South and Central America.
You cannot judge people of another era by the standards of this one. Their reality was much harsher than ours, their beliefs correspondingly different. They have to be judged against the backdrop of the physical reality of the time and place in which they existed. The moral code they adhered to was one born of the times. Flogging, public executions and the stocks were also commonplace and accepted as perfectly normal. Witchcraft was the explanation for imperfectly understood scientific phenomena. A person from today who was transported back to the Spain and Portugal of Columbus, Ferdinand and Isabella would quickly find him or herself the guest of honor at an impromptu party thrown by Tomas de Torquemada and his boys.

The Founders were, by the standards of their time, quite enlightened. At a time of monarchies and dictatorships, they advocated a Republic. Liberals say that women and slaves couldn't vote. Slaves couldn't vote anywhere, and to the best of my knowledge, neither could women. The Framers were an aristocracy for the most part, but one who gave a say in government to the middle class of the time, which was property and business owners. This idea of letting the masses govern themselves was, in it's own right, revolutionary for the time and place.
The US has made mistakes. All great nations do. The treatment of the American Indian was despicable by today's standards, but commonly accepted the world over at the time it happened. I would suggest that there probably aren't 20 acres of real estate in the world, (excluding Antarctica,) with any sort of strategic or tactical value that have not been conquered and re-conquered repeatedly. I mentioned the American Indian tribes a moment ago. The fact is that many of them acquired "their" land in the same way that we "acquired" it from them. They stole it, same as us. The pre-Columbian Indian society was not a model of peaceful cooperation. The Iroquois, the Shawnee, some of the Algonquin tribes in Canada, the Lakota, along with cousins Cheyenne and Arapaho, the Navajo, Apache, Yaqui, all were conquering, warlike tribes who either killed, enslaved or drove off the original occupants of the land they claimed. Let us not forget the Aztecs and Incas, either. Both Cortez and Pizzaro were able to conquer the Aztecs and Incas respectively due to lots of help from smaller, weaker tribes that had been victimized by these "civilized" tribes.

In short, every nation had made mistakes, and some of what you think of as mistakes were not regarded as such by the standards of the times in which they happened.

It seemed so simple for so long, so black and white. America was great and good and right and just in all that it did. We were exceptional! We were God's ideal for this weary and wretched world! The true hero! I loved being an American. Dressing in the morning since I was seven was like putting on a uniform for the defense of Liberty. All Americans were warriors for Freedom. And then I read too many books, only looking to see how great our country truly was. I found that our nation is deeply flawed. Not irredeemably, for we do look and act to correct ourselves, a true marvel in any age, but grievous mistakes have been made. America is no hero by a long stretch--and that hurts.

To admit to our many mistakes as a nation is not to undermine our nation. The exceptional thing about America is that it tries, and usually does, correct its wrongs as best it can. Coming to accept my nation as weak and flawed at times, even terribly wrong, increases my respect and awe at our Constitution and governmental processes. We right those wrongs and move on. Where I need help is in not reacting to citizens who see America as having done no wrong. Those history revisionist that see our slave-holding Founders as "tirelessly working" to end slavery. They did not.

It seemed so simple for so long, so black and white. America was great and good and right and just in all that it did. We were exceptional! We were God's ideal for this weary and wretched world! The true hero! I loved being an American. Dressing in the morning since I was seven was like putting on a uniform for the defense of Liberty. All Americans were warriors for Freedom. And then I read too many books, only looking to see how great our country truly was. I found that our nation is deeply flawed. Not irredeemably, for we do look and act to correct ourselves, a true marvel in any age, but grievous mistakes have been made. America is no hero by a long stretch--and that hurts.

To admit to our many mistakes as a nation is not to undermine our nation. The exceptional thing about America is that it tries, and usually does, correct its wrongs as best it can. Coming to accept my nation as weak and flawed at times, even terribly wrong, increases my respect and awe at our Constitution and governmental processes. We right those wrongs and move on. Where I need help is in not reacting to citizens who see America as having done no wrong. Those history revisionist that see our slave-holding Founders as "tirelessly working" to end slavery. They did not.

It seemed so simple for so long, so black and white. America was great and good and right and just in all that it did. We were exceptional! We were God's ideal for this weary and wretched world! The true hero! I loved being an American. Dressing in the morning since I was seven was like putting on a uniform for the defense of Liberty. All Americans were warriors for Freedom. And then I read too many books, only looking to see how great our country truly was. I found that our nation is deeply flawed. Not irredeemably, for we do look and act to correct ourselves, a true marvel in any age, but grievous mistakes have been made. America is no hero by a long stretch--and that hurts.

To admit to our many mistakes as a nation is not to undermine our nation. The exceptional thing about America is that it tries, and usually does, correct its wrongs as best it can. Coming to accept my nation as weak and flawed at times, even terribly wrong, increases my respect and awe at our Constitution and governmental processes. We right those wrongs and move on. Where I need help is in not reacting to citizens who see America as having done no wrong. Those history revisionist that see our slave-holding Founders as "tirelessly working" to end slavery. They did not.

Your knowledge of history is somewhat parochial. History is determined by events, which are in turn fueled by the prevailing beliefs of the times. These beliefs reflected the reality of the period.
At the time the Constitution was written, slavery was practiced over most of the world. It was legal in most places and was an accepted part of life; viewed as a normal state of affairs. Slavery began to be seen in a bad light after the industrial revolution made slavery less profitable in many places. Capitalism, rather than morality, began the demise of slavery.
Most of the slaves in the US were brought here by Spanish, Portuguese, and especially English ships. Out of some 12 million slaves transported to the Western Hemisphere from Africa, about 600,000 ended up in what became the US. The rest went to the Caribbean, Mexico, and South and Central America.
You cannot judge people of another era by the standards of this one. Their reality was much harsher than ours, their beliefs correspondingly different. They have to be judged against the backdrop of the physical reality of the time and place in which they existed. The moral code they adhered to was one born of the times. Flogging, public executions and the stocks were also commonplace and accepted as perfectly normal. Witchcraft was the explanation for imperfectly understood scientific phenomena. A person from today who was transported back to the Spain and Portugal of Columbus, Ferdinand and Isabella would quickly find him or herself the guest of honor at an impromptu party thrown by Tomas de Torquemada and his boys.

The Founders were, by the standards of their time, quite enlightened. At a time of monarchies and dictatorships, they advocated a Republic. Liberals say that women and slaves couldn't vote. Slaves couldn't vote anywhere, and to the best of my knowledge, neither could women. The Framers were an aristocracy for the most part, but one who gave a say in government to the middle class of the time, which was property and business owners. This idea of letting the masses govern themselves was, in it's own right, revolutionary for the time and place.
The US has made mistakes. All great nations do. The treatment of the American Indian was despicable by today's standards, but commonly accepted the world over at the time it happened. I would suggest that there probably aren't 20 acres of real estate in the world, (excluding Antarctica,) with any sort of strategic or tactical value that have not been conquered and re-conquered repeatedly. I mentioned the American Indian tribes a moment ago. The fact is that many of them acquired "their" land in the same way that we "acquired" it from them. They stole it, same as us. The pre-Columbian Indian society was not a model of peaceful cooperation. The Iroquois, the Shawnee, some of the Algonquin tribes in Canada, the Lakota, along with cousins Cheyenne and Arapaho, the Navajo, Apache, Yaqui, all were conquering, warlike tribes who either killed, enslaved or drove off the original occupants of the land they claimed. Let us not forget the Aztecs and Incas, either. Both Cortez and Pizzaro were able to conquer the Aztecs and Incas respectively due to lots of help from smaller, weaker tribes that had been victimized by these "civilized" tribes.

In short, every nation had made mistakes, and some of what you think of as mistakes were not regarded as such by the standards of the times in which they happened.