You're hung-up on dates Marty... After the war of independence, Europe mostly considered America a bunch of unruly colonists... While the Brits were writing laws, America wrote its Constitution and was still forming states. America had to fight a Civil War before it could even build its own infrastructure. America didn't even have a railroad to the West until after the war.

America was the first to Constitutionally oppose the global tyranny of the day... Then, America had to "clean house". Keep the FACTS in context... and, yes, give credit where CREDIT IS DUE!

Politics be damned! GOD GIVEN LIBERTY IS THE ONLY REASON AMERICA EXISTS.