Stealing workers from protected city states

Don't do it, unless you want to feel the hate for 300+ turns.

Elizabeth flip flopped-between friendly and hostile for the entire game. Even in the mid 1900s, she's still casting it up that I like to pick on the weak. She was the first to attack me in the game, backed up by the other CS ally, Washington.

Washington has declared on me three times, and I reckon I've been at war for about 200 turns in total. I'm not weak. I have an army of Pracinhas that have made about two golden ages purely from kicking his ass, yet he will not relent - he wants all my cities for peace. He might have had Sao Paulo's defenses bombed down to 0 for many of those turns, but he could not get near with melee.

I was also at war with Rome for a solid 200 turns since turn 60 in this game. He had 4 cities by that point, and sent a settler half way across the map to plant another city beside me, miles away from any of his current cities, having two go around Persia and America's territory just to get there. He really wanted those gems, but I wasn't giving them up, so I took the settler and battered the escort. I took the next one he sent too. It's not something you would see very often in G&K unless the AI had no space left at all. Now it is quite happy to create cities on the other side of the map early on. He refused peace for 200 turns. Insane.

Why is the AI remaining hostile for so long?

Because things that happen when the AI is hostile cause the AI to become more hostile.

If they are hostile and they denounce you it causes the other AI's to dislike you so that they denounce you. It's a hard hole to dig out of.

Because you are in this hole you are in a war that never ends and the AI will hold anything you do to defend yourself against you if they don't like you. If you take a city from the guy trying to attack you every time you make piece in hopes it will shut him up they will hate you for it so you just have to take his constant dows.

If you aren't in the hole and everyone likes you then you'll be fine often. I took most of china as brasil and no one cared because I was loved and china was hated but in other situations I cross a certain line and it's world war me forever.

Point being they stay hostile a long time because crossing a certain point makes everyone else more hostile and they spiral around getting more and more hostile every three seconds.