American exceptionalism

:Amerocentrism redirects here. For the generalised topic, see Ethnocentrism

Arguments for American exceptionalism

Those who believe in American exceptionalism argue that there are many ways that the United States clearly differs from the European world that it emerged from.

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Political ethos and ideas about nationhood

Proponents of American exceptionalism argue that the U.S. is unique in that it was founded on a set of ideals, rather than on a common heritage, ethnicity, or ruler. In the words of President Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address, America is a nation "conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal". In this view, being American is inextricably connected with loving and defending freedom and equal opportunity. As such, America has often acted to promote these ideals abroad, most notably in the First and Second World Wars and in the Cold War. Critics argue that the U.S. Government's policy in these conflicts was more motivated by economic or military self-interest (see Zimmerman telegram and Pearl Harbor); most observers admit both the idealistic and the self-interested motivations, to varying degrees.

Related Topics:
Ideals - Abraham Lincoln - Gettysburg Address - First - Second - World Wars - Cold War - Zimmerman telegram - Pearl Harbor

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The United States's polity have been characterized since their inception by system of federalism and checks and balances, which were designed to prevent any person, faction, region, or government organ from becoming too powerful. Some American exceptionalists argue that this system and the accompanying distrust of concentrated power prevent the United States from suffering a "tyranny of the majority", and also that it allows citizens to live in a locality whose laws reflect that citizen's values. A consequence of this political system is that laws can vary greatly across the country, with some states' laws being more progressive and other states' laws being more conservative than the values of the nation as a whole. For instance, the rather libertarian state of Vermont legalized homosexual civil unions, a rather progressive move, before homosexual sex was decriminalized (by autocratic, not democratic action) in several other more conservative states. Critics of American exceptionalism maintain that this system merely replaces the power of the national majority over states with power by the states over local entities. On balance, the American political system arguably allows more local dominance but prevents more national dominance than does a more unitary system.

Related Topics:
Federalism - Checks and balances - Tyranny of the majority - Libertarian - Vermont - Civil unions - Conservative - Unitary

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Opportunity and meritocracy

The United States of America is nicknamed the "Land of Opportunity". It has traditionally had less rigid social classes than other nations, and has no system of nobility. Americans have tended to believe that a strong work ethic and personal fortitude is the key to success, rather than being born to the right family or making the right friends. Critics argue that while America may have no formal aristocracy, one does exist in practice, and while it may have as part of its national character a myth of meritocracy, privilege and social stratification are just as strong there as anywhere else.

Related Topics:
Nobility - Work ethic

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Political rights

A common claim is that the United States is unique in that it has from its founding guaranteed political civil rights to its citizens – such as freedom of speech, the right to vote, and the presumption of innocence, and that respect for these rights is a uniquely strong component of American political culture. Critics of this position argue that these rights are not especially American features anymore, as all modern Western countries have such rights presently, and that some of these civil rights have been granted unequally or late during America's history (for instance, some US states had Jim Crow laws that prevented suffrage among African-Americans until the 1960s; the Comstock Law criminalized speech dealing with contraception).

Related Topics:
Civil rights - Freedom of speech - Right to vote - Presumption of innocence - Jim Crow laws - African-Americans - 1960s - Comstock Law - Contraception

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Frontier spirit

Proponents of American exceptionalism often claim that the "American spirit" or the "American identity" was created at the frontier (following Frederick Jackson Turner's Frontier Thesis), where rugged and untamed conditions gave birth to American national vitality. However, critics of this view believe that American expansion westwards in some ways was more a conquest of Native Americans than a cultivation of wilderness.

Related Topics:
Frederick Jackson Turner - Frontier Thesis - Native Americans

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The American Revolution

The American Revolutionary War is the claimed ideological territory of "exceptionalists". The intellectuals of the Revolution, such as Thomas Paine, arguably shaped America into a nation fundamentally different from its European ancestry, creating modern democracy as we know it.

Related Topics:
American Revolutionary War - Thomas Paine - Democracy

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