As seen in 1876 (#1)

I found these two articles in copies of our local small-town newspaper from 1876:

"Warren Gazette, Friday Evening, March 3, 1876"

“Nothing in European affairs is more gratifying than the condition of France. The French are a remarkable people. There exists in the majority a steadfast determination not to forgo the advantages of a liberal government; and whether Republican or Imperial, the “Great Nation” can never more be enslaved. The Revolution near the close of the last century gave kingcraft through all of Europe a blow from which it has never recovered; and we presume that the people of France, forever rid of their old and imbecile line of tyrants, have little choice between Republicanism and Bonapartism, since each of these in turn so added to the national glory…”

1876 was the year of our Centennial Exhibition, when the assistance of the French, in the persons of Lafayette, Rochambeau, and De Grasse, was remembered and lauded. That the three of them, with their troops and ships, were sent by the last of the "old and imbecile line of tyrants", and that without his help, there most likely would not be a Centennial Exhibition, seems to have escaped the minds of the editors.

Wendy wrote:
1876 was the year of our Centennial Exhibition, when the assistance of the French, in the persons of Lafayette, Rochambeau, and De Grasse, was remembered and lauded. That the three of them, with their troops and ships, were sent by the last of the "old and imbecile line of tyrants", and that without his help, there most likely would not be a Centennial Exhibition, seems to have escaped the minds of the editors.

Yes, indeed, if not for the "old and imbecile" line of tyrants the USA would never have come into being. Thanks for the quote!