American exceptionalism

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

Protestantism

The earliest ideologies of English colonists in the country were the protestants of the Pilgrim and Puritan settlers of New England. Many Puritans with Arminian leanings embraced a middle ground between strict predestination and looser theology. They believed God had made a covenant with their people and had chosen them to lead the other nations of the earth. One Puritan leader, John Winthrop, expressed this idea with the metaphor of a "City on a Hill" - that the Puritan community of New England should serve as a model community for the rest of the world.

Related Topics:
Protestants - Pilgrim - Puritan - New England - Arminian - Predestination - God - John Winthrop - City on a Hill

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Although the Protestant worldview of the United State's New England ancestors were later mixed with those of the Middle Colonies and the South, their deep moralistic and paternalistic values remained part of the national identity for centuries and arguably remain so today. Although American exceptionalism is now secular in nature, a portion of it stems from America's Protestant roots.

Related Topics:
New England - Moralistic - Paternalistic - Secular

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