Absolutely there are more. Critiques of Native American ways of life  
spring to mind from the Garden of Eden crowd.

The appropriate context to apply presentism is when folks project back  
onto actions in the past the mores of the present. Value judgments  
rather than the dry dusty pages separate the two nicely.

Lyle Browning, RPA


On Oct 23, 2008, at 1:19 PM, Henry Wiencek wrote:

> When we heap praise and gratitude on the people of the past for the  
> legacy
> they bequeathed us, we are making a judgement; and yet no one yells
> "Presentism!"
>
> It seems to me that the cry of "Presentism! -- Watch your mouth!" is
> bellowed only when the subject of slavery comes up. Using TJ as an  
> example,
> one may investigate, analyze, and critique his politicking, his  
> exercise of
> presidential power, his views on religion, his personal finances, his
> down-and-dirty conflicts with other founding gods such as Washington  
> and
> Hamilton; and no one will complain. But if you bring up slavery (or
> H*m*ings), the rafters resound with "dirty Presentist, you must hate
> America."  It seems that slavery is the only subject on which the  
> present is
> not allowed to express a judgement on the past, unless you are saying,
> "those slave owners--what a great bunch they were." Perhaps I'm  
> wrong – is
> any other historical issue off-limits?
>
> Henry Wiencek
>
> Patrick Henry Fellow
> C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience at  
> Washington College
> Chestertown, MD
>
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