[Porterville]

Here is a summary of a book that may open your eyes.

Spain and the Independence of the United States

" The role of Spain in the birth of the United States is a little known and little understood aspect of U.S. independence. Through actual fighting, provision of supplies, and money, Spain helped the young British colonies succeed in becoming an independent nation. Soldiers were recruited from all over the Spanish empire, from Spain itself and from throughout Spanish America. Many died fighting British soldiers and their allies in Central America, the Caribbean, along the Mississippi River from New Orleans to St. Louis and as far north as Michigan, along the Gulf Coast to Mobile and Pensacola, as well as in Europe.

Based on primary research in the archives of Spain, this book is about United States history at its very inception, placing the war in its broadest international context. In short, the information in this book should provide a clearer understanding of the independence of the United States, correct a longstanding omission in its history, and enrich its patrimony. It will appeal to anyone interested in the history of the Revolutionary War and in Spain's role in the development of the Americas. "

[Ohioan]

Let us say, for the sake of argument, that the Spanish help was everything that you say. It is certainly no greater than that rendered by the Bourbon Monarchy in France, whose navy showed up at the key moment to win the war at Yorktown. Does anything in that event make us more French than the influence of the Huguenots, whom that same Bourbon Monarchy had expelled, had made us earlier by settling in key States, and influencing the behavior and culture of their neighbors?

Having allies is very important. But allies do not become part of your nation. You will not find me hostile to Spain, France or any other country on the face of the earth, except at times when they are hostile to us. But there is a unique American ethnicity, which grew out of the settlers of the original 13 colonies--each of which had its own separate ethnicity, by the way--and it is that unique American nation, whose values are represented in our common doctuments.

Those Spanish and French settlers in areas later acquired are also rooted citizens of equally sovereign American States. I do not disparage them in the slightest; and have always opposed attempts to impose uniform value systems on the several States. But there is one uniform value system, that is limited to those matters agreed upon in 1776, recognized in 1783, and codified in 1787 to 1789. And that is the fundament of Americanism, as distinct from Virginianism, Massachusettsism, etc..

I would never suggest that the rooted, old settler Spanish or French elements in the regions they settled first, need to adopt to the predominant Anglo-Saxon culture, other than in a recognition of the origins of their being a Federal system in the United States. It should not be threatening to any of them. But as they seek respect, they need to accord it. The fact that we have old diversity, does not entitle the Left to destroy any of our ethnic values, nor change the ongoing character of the American Union; and that is precisely what is at issue with the tremendous increase in Third World immigration.

William Flax