Everyone Contributed

 There is a bit of a debate concerning how this country became great.  Who is responsible and what does that mean for our future.  

The simple answer is that it was everyone.  From our frontier days to our modern days it took all of us to build this country.

The Native Americans who were here were displaced by colonists so you might argue they suffered more than they benefitted but as time passed they became part of the country.  The colonists from Europe whether Spanish, French, English, Dutch  or Swedish  started colonies some lasting longer than others.  

The Africans brought here as slaves were important, if unwilling participants in building this country.

After we became independent wave after wave of immigrants, Irish, German, Italian, Slavic, Scandinavian came to build a future and they did.  We expanded via purchase or war until we reached from sea to shining sea and the lure of land, gold, silver or other wealth led to the population spreading.

The transition from a farming population to an industrial one led to the growth of our cities and the rise of the industrialists who started great companies.  Those companies depended on workers but it took Unions to develop some of the basic rights we now take for granted. 

Everyone contributed by building a life here as our economy became the modern one based on consumer spending. 

If you want to celebrate out past celebrate all of it.  If you want to build our future use everyone.