After America had won its independence, Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea (the 10th Count of Aranda) wrote a letter to his Spanish king in which he uttered this prophecy about America:
1. Bill of Rights — Essential freedoms and a bold beginning which would allow this "pygmy" to become a "colossus".
2. Territorial acquisitions west of Mississippi River & of Alaska / The Westward Expansion / Homesteading — Securing and populating the continent, including both coasts.
3. The Patent Act of 1790 — For the promotion of the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.
4. The Emancipation Proclamation — For whatever reason, America was slow relative to the rest of the world to recognize this basic human right in all people.
5. The first manned landing on the moon -OR- The first use of nuclear weapons on people — A massive, stunning and first-time-a-success scientific endeavor unique to America and yet to be duplicated by any other country for at least 40 years. One we wish other nations all the best in attempting, the other we wish never again to do or even to witness.
This federal republic is born a pygmy. A day will come when it will be a giant, even a colossus, formidable in these countries. Liberty of conscience, the facility for establishing a new population on immense lands, as well as the advantages of the new government...
1. Bill of Rights — Essential freedoms and a bold beginning which would allow this "pygmy" to become a "colossus".
2. Territorial acquisitions west of Mississippi River & of Alaska / The Westward Expansion / Homesteading — Securing and populating the continent, including both coasts.
3. The Patent Act of 1790 — For the promotion of the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.
4. The Emancipation Proclamation — For whatever reason, America was slow relative to the rest of the world to recognize this basic human right in all people.
5. The first manned landing on the moon -OR- The first use of nuclear weapons on people — A massive, stunning and first-time-a-success scientific endeavor unique to America and yet to be duplicated by any other country for at least 40 years. One we wish other nations all the best in attempting, the other we wish never again to do or even to witness.