When the United States was founded the very idea of a nation premised on democratic principles of freedom and tolerance was viewed by the vast majority of the world as an experiment doomed to fail. Dictatorships monarchies and theocracies had for many centuries ruled the world.
We used to root for the Indians against the cavalry because we didn't think it was fair in the history books that when the cavalry won it was a great victory and when the Indians won it was a massacre.
