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The interesting thing about the US spelling of words ending in "-our" is that their way, "-or", was the dominant spelling when the American colonies were settled.
In the years after this, the fashionability of French things increased in England, which led people in England to modify their spelling to a more French style, hence "-our" and the adoption of many French phrases into standard english.
so, strictly speaking, the Americans are correct, and we are the victims of fashion who debased the mother tongue.
edit: erm... actually, that could be completely wrong or only partially right. wiki "Noah Webster", the man who wrote the eponymous dictionary. He didn't like the rules of spelling, so he wrote a spelling guide that changed them. It looks like a lot of the differences between American English and English are due to the subsequent popularity of his spelling guide.
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