Thirteen months from this week, the United States will celebrate its 250th anniversary.
We are a country that has made mistakes, and has acknowledged those mistakes, but still is arguably the greatest representative democracy the world has ever seen.
But some would have the country use its semiquincentennial — that’s 250 years — to apologize for its slavery past and whatever vestiges of racism exist today.
“What I and most professional historians would object to is ‘unapologetic’ history, patriotic or otherwise,” James Grossman, the outgoing executive director of the American Historical Association, told The Washington Times. “To apologize for the harms we have done to others is gracious, generous, and a good learning experience for all of us.”
We advocate American history courses that tell the whole truth, warts and all, and believe the country’s mistakes as well as its triumphs should be taught. And we think any thorough written or broadcast treatment of the country’s first 250 years should automatically address slavery.