Truman's chief negotiator of the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and Egypt, Lebanon, Jordon, and Syria was African American Ralph Bunche -- for which he became the first black to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1696, King William granted freedoms to Dutch Church in New York with the Charter: "William the third, By the grace of God, King of England ... Our said loving subjects ... to preserve to them and their successors that liberty of worshiping God according to the constitutions and directions of the Reformed Churches in Holland ..."
Noted religious critic and anti-theist Christopher Hitchens admitted in his work Jefferson Versus the Muslim Pirates (2007): "Of course, those secularists like myself who like to cite this Treaty must concede that its conciliatory language was part of America's attempt to come to terms with Barbary demands"
One of France's greatest writers, Victor Hugo, wrote in his Preface to Cromwell, 1827: "Lastly, this threefold poetry flows from three great sources -- the Bible, Homer, Shakespeare ... The Bible before the Iliad, the Iliad before Shakespeare." Victor Hugo stated: "England has two books, the Bible and Shakespeare. England made Shakespeare, but the Bible made England."
Santa Anna rose to power. In his 40 year career, called by some historians the Age of Santa Anna, he ruled as Mexico's President for 12 non-consecutive terms.
He finally laid aside Mexico's Constitution and made himself a despoticdictator. Santa Anna told the U.S. minister to Mexico Joel R. Poinsett: "A hundred years to come my people will not be fit for liberty ... A despotism is the proper government for them, but there is no reason why it should not be a wise and virtuous one."
