Kathy Diekelman's assertion, that children should be taught "only historically correct information" ignores that history is written by the victors. The truth is usually far more ambiguous and murky. July 4th could be seen as a celebration of a massive land grab. The British, sweating under the debt of the Seven Year's War, were terrified that the defeated French would ally themselves with the Native Americans already furious at the constant intrusion of white settlers into their land and start another costly war. This explains the lukewarm resistance in the so-called American War of Independence. Once free of British control and George's half-hearted attempt to protect his Native Americans, the aristocracies of the Colonies set about the process of colonization. Money was to be made. Land was to be seized. Fortunes were to be made. Slavery was to be the tool of agricultural and economic expansion. Stealing British industrial secrets allowed for the American industrial revolution. We all live in that shadow. The original Constitution stated the "pursuit of property" not "happiness." Greed and self interest were masked with a cheerful idealism. Which version do you prefer?