In fact, when slavery was eventually abolished in the US, emancipation was presented as the logical conclusion to the principles laid down by the Founding Fathers. A century later, when Martin Luther King campaigned for civil rights, he spoke about cashing a cheque written by the Founding Fathers – a ‘promissory note’ about the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that in his time were clearly not universal.

It’s natural to feel revulsion at the racism in America’s history. But unlike King, today’s anti-racists do not have an inspiring ‘dream’ for an egalitarian, post-racial future. Instead, they view people of colour as forever chained to a past they cannot escape.

None of this is to deny the horrors of slavery. Nor is it to deny that slavery had a huge impact on the development of the US. Arguably the dream of the free and equal American republic has still not been realised for tens of millions of Americans.

But that doesn’t mean that Americans should abandon their national story, their national soul. The aim now should be to overcome the ills of the past, rather than insisting on being defined by them.