Posted by
C-Hayes on Wednesday, October 08, 2008 6:43:01 PM
"Americans had many reasons to congratulate themselves as they approached their great centennial celebration. They had declared their independence and made it stick in a long but ultimately successful revolution against the British monarchy. They had accepted a French alliance but had been relieved to see the large and powerful French army peacefully sail away. They had drafted and ratified a Constitution unprecedented in the world that established a 'new order of the ages.' Their new federal republic in 1789 stretched from the Maine woods to the Florida border and west to the Mississippi River. They negotiated the greatest land deal in history - the Louisiana Purchase. Americans fought the War of 1812. They had repulsed the British invasion from Canada, withstood the enemy burning their capital city, and finally they had triumphed over the most serious British threat at New Orleans. Following an extraordinary period of national expansion, Americans carried their democratic institutions across the continent, as far as the Pacific Ocean. And they had saved their Union, with liberty, after a harrowing four years of civil war. They freed four million slaves. By constitutional amendment, Americans abolished slavery, pronounced equal protection of the laws, and proposed votes for men newly freed from bondage. America, it seemed, had truly seen 'a new birth of freedom.' Following the Civil War, Americans referred to their united nation as a singular noun: the United States is, not the United States are."
I wonder how many high schoolers - or, college kids, for that matter - OR GROWNUPS for that matter - would say of our first 100 years as a nation: "We oppressed Blacks, Native Americans, and women. Thomas Jefferson slept around with his slaves. Abraham Lincoln owned slaves so he was a hypocrite. We invaded Mexico. Lots of people died."
Criticism of our history is vital - yet a PATRIOTIC understanding of it is the best way to ensure good citizenship.
A great building block towards a patriotic citizenry is Bill Bennett's book - pick it up and take time to engross yourself in it.
It should be required reading.
It'd be nice to see the "Spirit of 1876" reinvigorated today...