At 250 years old, America is a young country. Of course, some say we are not the country we were founded to be. They claim, with some credibility, that the republic ended in 1861, and that a nation rose from its ashes. Rome lasted a little less than five hundred years, Spain has existed for a little over 500, and England for perhaps 1,100. Are any of these the countries they began as, and if not, to what or whom do they make their patriotic appeals?