Thanks for the comments Cloudy and Sojourner!
There are pro's and con's to all of the wars I mentioned and to the ones I missed. I'm sure someone with (or without) a history degree could spank me on my "generalizations".
We
were expansionistic in the 1800s. It was cause for alarm after the Spanish-America war because that peace treaty gave US the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and several smaller Spanish controlled islands for monetary compensation (yes we agreed to pay cash). The vote to accept the treaty only passed by one vote because the Senate feared we were, ourselves, becoming "colonial".
We were isolationists who had no problem taking property in North America after the Mexican-American war (although again we did pay
restitution), and our treatment of the American Indians was deplorable, but it's certainly not fair to claim the US has been a war mongering nation.
We are not the bane of the world's existance and never have been!
By the way, I went to public school (Go Raiders!), and had a bit of college,(short stays at SCC, RCC, UNC-W) but not enough. My motto is stay in school, RL can wait!
