Grading time!

I have no idea how well you all did on yesterday's quiz because you left no comments with answers. Therefore, you all flunked.

1. Pick all that apply... The American Civil War:
c) was about states' rights
d) decided the issue of slavery in America

The "state's right" involved was the right to secede from the Union. An implied right because there was no specific prohibition against it.


2. The American Revolution was supported by a majority of the colonists.
b) False

Only about a third supported separation from the Crown, another third appeared to oppose it.

3. Abraham Lincoln freed all the slaves with his Emancipation Proclamation.
b) False

Only the slaves held in states in rebellion. It was the successful conclusion to the war that actually freed all slaves.

4. The Spanish-American War resulted in our being ceded what lands? (select all that apply)
a) Cuba
b) Puerto Rico
g) Philippines
h) Guam


5. Of the above, which ones are still under US control?
Puerto Rico and Guam

We have other territories or protectorates. I failed to mention American Samoa as one of those we gained in 1898.

6. What year was the US Constitution ratified?
c) 1789

Prior to that we had the Articles of Confederation. It didn't work.

7. In the early days of automobiles, what methods were used to power them?
g) all of the above

Yup, nothing new about electric automobiles. We've "been there, done that". Maybe we should try steam powered by small nuclear power plants...

8. America is a:
b) Republic

You knew that, though, didn't you?

9. The United Nations was started by:
e) No specific person or nation

You might say the idea was planted by Woodrow Wilson and his vision for a League of Nations.

10. Frogs cause warts.
b) False

I'm just guessing here but that's what I have been told.

I am wondering, though, how people view the US. Is it really the cause of misery in the modern world? If so, when did this begin?

I am engaged in a discussion with someone who seems to feel that the Western nations are a problem. That they cause, through something he calls "economic colonial exploitation", misery that may be worse than warfare. That is an old term, one I have not read or heard since the 60's. Back then, it meant "Western Imperialism." That always turned me off... intellectually. It smacked, to me, of Soviet propaganda. But, then, I am an unrepentant capitalist running dog.