Jack, prior to its conquest by Europeans, the country now known as the USA was actually a number of nations-- made of people more than land.

Pied Noire, yeah. The bottom line seems always to have been, "Let us help you/don't look now you're getting screwed again." Amid the out-and-out profiteers, even the well-meaning totally underestimated all the forces that would be in play and could not fix what had been broken.

~Susan