The philosopher William James argued that all humans suffer from a blindness toward those who are different from them; it would forever be impossible for man, he warned, to fully sympathize with the “Other.” But the Americans, as they had from the beginning, had reason to believe in their own unique abilities to bring civilization to the uncivilized. As Christians they possessed a messianic faith in the purpose of their Promised Land to guide the rest of the world to heaven.
