“A people cannot be debased in a single generation; and the Spaniards under Charles V and Phillip II proved the truth of the remark, that no nation is ever so formidable to its neighbors for a time, as a nation which, after being trained in self government, passes suddenly under a despotic ruler. The energy of democratic institutions survives for a few generations, and to it are super-added the decision and certainty which are the attributes of government when all its powers are directed by a single mind. It is true that this preternatural vigor is short-lived national corruption and debasement gradually follow the loss of the national liberties; but there is an interval before their workings are felt, and in that interval the most ambitious schemes of foreign conquest are often successfully undertaken.”
Edward Shepherd Creasy
Fifteen Decisive Battles Of The Western World — pg. 206
These United States are living at the tail end of Creasy’s interval.
