Why Is America Exceptional

The term “American Exceptionalism” means that the United States has held on to great stability throughout its 230 years in contrast with other nations, who have succumb to civil unrest and revolution more frequently throughout their respective national histories. The term arose in the 1830s and was coined by Alexis DeTocqueville. As DeTocqueville traveled throughout the nation, he discerned America was quite exceptional due in part to it being founded on democracy, liberty, particularly individual liberties, and equality.

American Exceptionalism is a term used to define the ideal that America is far superior to all other countries. It has been used to justify unfair actions and used to cover up flaws. Children are taught from a young age that America is the model country, and the people living there can do no wrong. In school, each bad thing that America has done in history is skimmed over, yet the accomplishments and victories are taught in great detail. For years, Americans have hid behind the phrase American exceptionalism as a way to not only avoid taking responsibility for their actions but to not push themselves to be better, as they already consider themselves perfect. The concept of this exceptionalism impedes the progress and evolution of mankind as they give up caring and trying to better themselves.

Throughout American history, idealists and materialists have changed the theme of exceptionalism. In our readings, we see the idea of american exceptionalism come to life from the writings of John Winthrop, Juan Jose Arevalo, and George W. Bush. Exceptionalism is when one depicts something, especially a nation, as unique and different from others. Winthrop expresses exceptionalism to his Puritan followers as the belief that they are special and above all others, while Arevalo, being a part of Latin America, offers an outsider’s perspective on the greed and corruption that comes with the idea of exceptionalism in the United States. Then Bush gives off the idea that America is exceptional and others were out to get

\Throughout the 20th century, the United States has built and maintained hegemonic superpower status. Since its birth, America has transformed from a limited constitutional republic based on protecting and respecting individual rights, to a modern day empire based on majority rule, seeking to dictate to the rest of the world. The testament of history is that empires do not and cannot last indefinitely. The graveyard of empires is littered with great powers who did not understand this very fact. The most recent empire to join this historical path to failure was the Soviet Empire, and the American Empire is well on its way. Many Americans are oblivious to this fact and think that somehow America is inherently different and protected from all of the ills that have come to other nations throughout history. They speak of American exceptionalism, the idea that America is the greatest nation ever conceived in history, the superior exception in the world; however, this is a flawed definition of American exceptionalism, and the very psychological atmosphere is what leads to the collapse of empires. America was exceptional, not because of a superiority complex, but because it recognized its human nature, the fact that it was not an exception to historical, natural, or economic laws to which all nations are subject to. This lack of proper understanding of American exceptionalism is leading America towards a collapse. America will cease to be exceptional if it joins other nations

One line of thought holds that American Exceptionalism is very real and has had a profound impact on the United States. There are two related threads involved in this argument. First is the idea that because the United States was created as, what one might call, the first new nation, emerging out of an explosive revolutionary event that severed all connections between America and Europe. Under these circumstances,

I think the term “American exceptionalism” is projection of the American patriotism and pride because every individual enjoys to be unique and that’s the way it’s done in America. United States is a super power due to a lot of historic events that made it center of the world and that’s why that term was invented because America did things differently and exceptionally which resulted in outstanding economic performance and standard of living. But if we look to American exceptionalism today the term is not valid anymore because economically speaking, based on human development index America ranking is the 8th United States is still the world highest GDP and strongest military but how good the size of your car if doesn’t take you to where you

The meaning of American exceptionalism has evolved from the two definitions of “unique” and “special” to include an appointed mission and has been used to justify action and consolidate people around ideas. The U.S. went from identifying itself as an exemplar nation for the world to emulate, to creating an interventionist mission of exceptionalism. Today “American exceptionalism” is a term of polarization that divides the right and the left in America.

This then bring us to the ideological stance regarding empire, here again we are confronted with two sides. Firstly, the ideological stance of the American people is very much inclined with that of an empire. This is what we would call ‘American Exceptionalism’, the belief that we must put ‘America first’ and there has never been anything like it in the past. Of course, this is a myth. There is nothing particularly exceptional about American exceptionalism. It is not unique for great powers to believe themselves superior to their rivals, indeed, among great powers of the past and present, thinking your nation is ‘special’ is simply the norm. It is a self-destructive ideology, an ideology of ignorance even. However, ideology is certainly an

It would appear that many people share a common belief when it comes to American exceptionalism. The belief that America has been, and still is, the greatest and most important ally to have in the world, and has been for centuries. Based on the resources, allies, its place in the world, and its government, The United States has been noted as one of the most, if not the most, exceptional countries in the world. Along with the individuals who are likely to agree with this idea, there are some that oppose it. Beyond the fight between whether American Exceptionalism is good or bad for the rest of the world, American exceptionalism has deep roots showing how it got to the status it is in today.

The American exceptionalism ideology began in 1835 by French writer, Alexis de Tocqueville. He first used the term in his work Democracy in America. The term was first expressed by Tocqueville stating “position of the Americans” is “quite exceptional, it may be believed that no democratic

The United States of America is not a perfect Nation, but it is a Grand Nation one of Exceptionalism. What is Exceptionalism, it is being uncommon, unusual, rare, unprecedented, unexpected, remarkable, special, excellent, phenomenal, extraordinary.

Allow me to briefly expand on this concept of “American Exceptionalism” which goes back to the begging of the founding of our nation. The founding fathers dreamed of a shining city upon a hill. They meant that not in a sense of arrogance and hubris, but that our democratic values and certainly our constitution were based on higher values such as freedom, self-determination, democratic governance, and the pursuit of happiness. Following our disastrous defeat in Vietnam in 1975, this “American Exceptionalism” concept had a resurgence in 1980 when President Reagan came to power with his advertisement slogan, “It’s a new morning in America” as a deeply needed morale booster.

The abolishment of slavery has never made America Exceptional because the systematic oppression of African Americans occurred for decades after they were freed. American Exceptionalism is the belief that Americans are superior because the United States follows a different set of laws and norms that govern other countries. Supposedly, these differences account for the freedom that Americans have, which other countries lack. However, not all Americans have had been able to practice this freedom, such as African Americans. Even though slavery was abolished, African Americans never received the same rights as other Americans for decades. Even after receiving the same rights, African Americans were still oppressed. A country that can not guarantee the same rights to everyone is not exceptional.

As John Winthrop once described what would become the United States as a city upon a hill, American Exceptionalism was born on enlightenment principles of political liberty and equality. This political foundation of liberty and equality for the United States in the new world was founded on the idea of natural, God given rights, and these enlightenment principles seen the Declaration of Independence became the core of American political thought would survive and evolve through nineteenth century Hegelism culminating in the American Civil War.

American leaders always talks and refer to the "unique" responsibilities of the United States According to them their nation is different from other nations