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Many things claimed as uniquely American, a devotion to individual freedom, for example, or social opportunity, exist in other countries. But birthright citizenship does make the United States unique in the developed world. No European nation recognizes the principle.

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More quotes by Eric Foner

History, however, is not a linear narrative of progress. Rights may be won and taken away; gains are never complete or uncontested, and popular movements generate their own countervailing pressures.

The Century: A Nation's-Eye View (2002)

The more fiercely the Confederacy fought for its independence, the more bitterly divided it became.

The South's Inner Civil War (1989)

Essentially what Lincoln said is slavery is a form of theft, the theft of labor, one person stealing another person's labor without that person’s permission.

The vast majority of white southerners, supported vociferously by the Democratic Party of the north, were deeply opposed to any equality for the former slaves.

If Lincoln Hadn't Died (2009)

The Confederate government increasingly molded its policies in the interest of the planter class.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Eric Foner (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.