Essay On American Exceptionalism

Words: 733
Pages: 3
Open Document
American Exceptionalism Many people would define American exceptionalism as the feeling or belief that America and its inhabitants are superior to the rest of the world. This however is incorrect, American exceptionalism accounts for the unique circumstances that influenced the founding of the United States and made it different from other comparable countries. Many things contributed to American exceptionalism, for one, the new world was not bound by any preexisting political systems or social structures, giving settlers the rare chance to start from scratch and create a system that best benefited them. The new world was also effected by its population of like minds and similar social standings. These various factors lead to the creation …show more content…
For example “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” (US 1776). The declaration of independence also states that “it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its power in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.” In other words, the government exists to serve the people and that all laws will be made with the best interest of the people in mind. As pointed out by de Tocqueville, colonists had implemented a republic democracy at a time when Europe was governed by absolute monarchies. “Never was there less political activity among the people; never were the principles of true freedom less widely circulated; and at that very time those principles, which were scorned or unknown by the nations of Europe, were proclaimed in the deserts of the New World” (de Tocqueville, pg. 60). In other words, it was not only the ideals of political equality and individual sovereignty that made colonial government’s unique but, the time period in which it
Show More

Related Documents: Essay On American Exceptionalism

Secondary Source Analysis: Southern Exceptionalism

Analysis In McPherson’s analysis of the essay “Southern Exceptionalism”, McPherson is quick to explain the thesis of the essay. Starting in the third paragraph, it is stated "Many antebellum Americans certainly thought that North and South had evolved separate societies with institutions, interests, values, and ideologies so incompatible, so much in deadly conflict that they could no longer live together in the same nation." (McPherson, 41). Throughout the essay McPherson notably explains the differences…

Words 215 - Pages 1

Summary Of James West Davidson's 'Where Trouble Comes'

In James West Davidson’s book, “After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection,” Chapter 16, “Where Trouble Comes” takes a look at the notion of American exceptionalism’s change over time as reflected in the changing role of the American GI in Vietnam War movies. Davidson begins the chapter explaining what POV is in movies and how different angles of POV affect how the story is told. When he takes a look at how movies about or including the Vietnam War, he discusses that most of them are misconstrued…

Words 608 - Pages 3

American Immigration 19th Century

Americans, especially during the nineteenth century, glorified the idea of Manifest Destiny, which proclaimed that they were destined by God to settle land in the West and beyond. Having this idea in mind affected the American population, and caused them to work to fulfill it. People moved in masses to the West looking for better opportunities. The concept of American Exceptionalism, stating that America is unique and greater than other nations, grew as a result of a better economy. By the second…

Words 1498 - Pages 6

Noam Chomsky Research Paper

problems from semiotics and metaphysics to the philosophy of science and conceptions of love. Compared to the other two so called "classical Pragmatists" William James and John Dewy, Peirce's work has played an understated role throughout the history of American philosophy and is still relevant in many respects to the contemporary philosophical issues in these fields. Among the issues that Peirce concerns himself with is the investigation into the fundamental epistemological questions: What are the limits…

Words 943 - Pages 4

compare and contrast the predominant cultural characteristics of the U.S. with those of the European Union Essay

This essay will discuss how the cultural domains of Religion, Ethnicity/Nationalism, Development and Geography (REND-G) compare and contrast the predominant cultural characteristics of the U.S. with those of the European Union. Specifically, we will discuss how the different characteristics of Religion manifests in the way the U.S. and Europe deal with security concerns. Searching for a new beginning and seeking religious freedom, early Pilgrims travelled to the New World (America)…

Words 899 - Pages 4

Elizabeth Dale's Essay 'Getting Away With Murder'

In her essay, “Getting Away with Murder,” Elizabeth Dale explores Eric Monkkonen’s suggestion that the legal system in American has historically been tolerant of homicide to an extent. More specifically, she decides to look at the verdict and sentencing of several homicide cases in antebellum South Carolina. She concludes that the level of legal toleration for murder was affected by the killer’s class and gender, and she suggests that further research should be made into extralegal punishments that…

Words 873 - Pages 4

puritan dissent essay

Puritan Dissent Essay John Winthrop, Roger Williams, and Anne Hutchinson all hoped to accomplish great things in the New World and did accomplish many great things. Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson were both opposition of John Winthrop in the fact that they were Puritan dissenters. John Winthrop believed in the combined power of church and state, whereas, Roger Williams believed in the separation of the power of church and state, and Anne Hutchinson was an Antinomian teacher who taught salvation…

Words 632 - Pages 3

Manifest Destiny Analysis

that expresses the belief that the United States was destined to expand the entirety of the North American continent, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. Promoters of Manifest Destiny believed that expansion was not only good, but that it was obvious (manifest) and certain (destiny).99 The term combined a belief in expansionism with other popular ideas of the era such as: American exceptionalism, Romantic nationalism, and a belief in the natural superiority of what was then called the “Anglo-Saxon…

Words 1499 - Pages 6

History 3260 MIDTERM PART ONE Essay

its own future. Robbins and Malone both describe how the west, and by a large extent Utah is a part of the great narrative of the American West and sometimes differing from it entirely. By exploring the different facets and predominant activities of 1850's and beyond we can find clues as to the origins and ultimate fate of the region . By exploring Western American capitalism, various functions of manifest destiny, and how settlers adhered to the frontier pioneer spirit we can learn the overall…

Words 2234 - Pages 9

Department of English Spring 2014 Course Descriptions Essays

89S. Imagining War. Instructor M. Maiwald. WF 8:30-9:45 In this course, we will consider how the experience of war has been represented in American fiction, non-fiction, and film. We will investigate how attitudes toward war have evolved throughout American history: our timeline begins with the Civil War—the traumatic event that birthed the modern American state—and ends with the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. In particular, we will attend to the ethics of representation, asking who…

Words 9501 - Pages 39