American exceptionalism

Extracted Attributes

• Criticisms

  Can suggest superiority, a unique mission to transform the world, self-congratulatory, national hubris, closed-mindedness, and an excuse for ignorance about other societies.

• Core Belief

  The United States is unique, distinct, or exemplary compared to other nations, often implying a special destiny and entitlement to play a positive role on the world stage.

• Vulnerabilities

  Vulnerable to a rise in populism and stands in contrast to authoritarianism.

• Religious Significance

  A prominent feature in Mormonism, with adherents believing the Americas to be a promised land.

• Modern Context (as a strength)

  Rooted in ambition and entrepreneurship, powering innovation (e.g., AI).

• Key Principles (Lipset's 'Americanism')

  Liberty, individualism, republicanism, democracy, meritocracy, and laissez-faire economics.

Timeline

• French political scientist and historian Alexis de Tocqueville describes the United States as "exceptional" following his travels. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1831-XX-XX

• The specific term "American exceptionalism" first appears in documented use among American communists in intra-communist disputes. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1920s-XX-XX

American exceptionalism

American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is either distinctive, unique, or exemplary compared to other nations. Proponents argue that the values, political system, and historical development of the U.S. are unique in human history, often with the implication that it is both destined and entitled to play a distinct and positive role on the world stage. It originates in the observations and writings of French political scientist and historian Alexis de Tocqueville, most notably in his comparison of the United States with Great Britain and his native France. Tocqueville was the first writer to describe the country as "exceptional" following his travels there in 1831. The earliest documented use of the specific term "American exceptionalism" is by American communists in intra-communist disputes in the late 1920s. Seymour Martin Lipset, a prominent political scientist and sociologist, argued that the United States is exceptional in that it started from a revolutionary event. He therefore traces the origins of American exceptionalism to the American Revolution, from which the U.S. emerged as "the first new nation" with a distinct ideology, and having a unique mission to transform the world. This ideology, which Lipset called "Americanism", but is often also referred to as "American exceptionalism", is based on liberty, individualism, republicanism, democracy, meritocracy, and laissez-faire economics; these principles are sometimes collectively referred to as "American exceptionalism". As a term in political science, American exceptionalism refers to the United States' status as a global outlier both in good and bad ways. Critics of the concept say that the idea of American exceptionalism suggests that the US is better than other countries, has a superior culture, or has a unique mission to transform the planet and its inhabitants. American exceptionalism is a prominent feature of Mormonism. Mormons believe that North and South America is the "promised land" that was settled by Lehi and his fellow Israelites.

Web Search Results

• American exceptionalism - Wikipedia

  American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is either distinctive, unique, or exemplary compared to other nations.

• The Problems With American Exceptionalism - Inquiries Journal

  America was different from other Western nations, the modern view of American exceptionalism is something completely different. As Stephen M. Walt puts it, American exceptionalism today is the “self-congratulatory” belief that America is the world’s superpower and is “worthy of universal admiration.”4 New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s (R-NJ) recent words at the Ronald Reagan library are a prime example of this modern view of American exceptionalism. In his speech, Christie not only called [...] As Stephen M. Walt puts it, American exceptionalism today is the “self-congratulatory” belief that America is the world’s superpower and is “worthy of universal admiration.”4 New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s (R-NJ) recent words at the Ronald Reagan library are a prime example of this modern view of American exceptionalism. In his speech, Christie not only called Americans “better” than other countries’ citizens, but also proclaimed that the US is “a beacon of hope for the world.”5 [...] As Stephen M. Walt puts it, American exceptionalism today is the “self-congratulatory” belief that America is the world’s superpower and is “worthy of universal admiration.”4

• What Is American Exceptionalism? | Ethics & International Affairs

  At its best, the idea of American exceptionalism carries with it healthy pride in the freedoms Americans enjoy. But overall, the insistent claim for exceptionalism goes along with national hubris and closed-mindedness, and offers an excuse for ignorance about the rest of the world. Since the United States is so exceptional, there is no point in learning about other societies, as their histories have no bearing on ours. [...] Long before the term itself existed, the idea of American exceptionalism was built into our culture. It has always been linked to the idea of freedom. The identification of the United States as a unique embodiment of liberty in a world overrun by oppression goes back to the American Revolution. Tom Paine, in his clarion call for independence, Common Sense, called America an "asylum for mankind," a place where people fleeing Old World tyranny could find freedom. Thomas Jefferson spoke of the new [...] To a considerable degree, the essence of American exceptionalism–a nation state with a special mission to bring freedom to all mankind–depends on the "otherness" of the outside world, so often expressed in the manichean categories of New World versus Old or free world vs slave. Yet, at the heart of the idea lies an odd contradiction. American freedom is generally held to derive from a specific national history and unique historical circumstances–the frontier, the qualities of the Anglo-Saxon

• America, the Exceptional? - The Hedgehog Review

  American exceptionalism is an honorable idea that deserves to be put on a stretcher and carried back to the intellectual world where it was born and where it may still live a long and productive life. That is where it enjoyed a relatively quiet existence until the first rumblings of war erupted around the beginning of this century. In 2008, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, injected exceptionalism into the presidential campaign. “We are an exceptional nation,” she [...] While Phillips and Rahv embraced much of what would come to be called American exceptionalism, they made no mention of one of its most important (and troublesome) currents, the religiously inspired notion of the United States as a “redeemer nation.” The belief that America enjoyed God’s special favor was present before the nation’s creation, articulated in the words of Cotton Mather and other preachers and thoroughly woven into the nation’s everyday fabric and mythology, helped with the passage [...] The word exceptionalism by itself is too much to handle. To many supporters and critics alike, the word sounds like a claim to superiority and privilege. But the first people to use the term “American exceptionalism” thought of the United States as anything but virtuous. For the Communist International in the 1920s (and for Marx and Engels before it), the United States posed a vexing problem. According to Marxist theory, as the world’s most advanced industrial nation it should have been leading

• American exceptionalism | Meaning, Definition, Examples ...

  American exceptionalism, idea that the United States of America is a unique and even morally superior country for historical, ideological, or religious reasons. Proponents of American exceptionalism generally pair the belief with the claim that the United States is obligated to play a special role in global politics. [...] Although 19th-century French political scientist and historian Alexis de Tocqueville is widely cited as the first writer to have referred to the United States as “exceptional” and is thus considered by many to be the origin point of American exceptionalism as a term, his use of the phrase is largely incidental to the concept as it is now understood. Rather, American exceptionalism was coined by communist activists in the United States in the 1920s and ’30s. They argued that while [...] Assertions of American exceptionalism are generally made on the basis of the country’s founding. Proponents of the concept argue that the United States was uniquely founded on republican ideals rather than centring on a historical community or ruling elite (though much has been written about the privileged backgrounds of the Founding Fathers, who included slaveholders). These principles for good governance are laid out in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, both of which

• Country

  United States

• Instance Of

  Q12909644

American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is inherently different from other nations. Proponents of it argue that the values, political system, and historical development of the U.S. are unique in human history, often with the implication that it is both destined and entitled to play a distinct and positive role on the world stage. Political scientist Seymour Martin Lipset traces the origins of American exceptionalism to the American Revolution, from which the U.S. emerged as "the first new nation" with a distinct ideology. This ideology, which Lipset called Americanism, but is often also referred to as American exceptionalism, is based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, republicanism, democracy and laissez-faire economics; these principles are sometimes collectively referred to as "American exceptionalism", and entail the U.S. being perceived both domestically and internationally as superior to other nations or having a unique mission to transform the world. The theory of exceptionalism in the U.S. developed over time and can be traced to many sources. French political scientist and historian Alexis de Tocqueville was the first writer to describe the country as "exceptional" following his travels there in 1831. The earliest documented use of the specific term "American exceptionalism" is by American communists in intra-communist disputes in the late 1920s.