What is this thing called “American exceptionalism” that surfaces periodically in political speeches, esoteric articles and books in the academic world, and an occasional mention on talk radio? The term “American exceptionalism” is of recent origin (less than 100 years) but the concept of the unique and exceptional nature of the United States has been recognized and accepted for more than 200 years.
The unique and exceptional nature of the United States was noted by numerous Founders during and after the American Revolution. However, widespread recognition of the unrivaled and exceptional nature of the United States in comparison to the rest of the world began with Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, a monumental study of America. The visiting Frenchman described what he saw during his nine-month journey across America in 1831. But for America and the concept of American exceptionalism, there are many detractors in the 21st century, both here and abroad, many of whom are of the “hate America” variety and which are especially found in academia.
Tocqueville’s Democracy in America has been called one of the most influential political texts ever written on America. Yet, Terrence McCoy in an article written for The Atlantic dismissively calls Tocqueville’s Democracy in America a “travelogue”. The title of McCoy’s article claims that Soviet leader “Joseph Stalin invented American exceptionalism.” McCoy states, “There’s only one problem with that (American exceptionalism): It’s not strictly true. Although a superiority complex has long pervaded the national psyche, the expression ‘American exceptionalism’ only became big a few years ago.” McCoy is referring to the first use of the term “American exceptionalism” in the 1920s. The phrase came from an English translation of a condemnation made in Stalin’s 1929 criticism of the Communist supporters of Jay Lovestone for their heretical belief that America was independent of the Marxist laws of history “thanks to its natural resources, industrial capacity, and absence of rigid class distinctions.” (Marxist laws flow from the humanistic worldview which says there is no creator, man is basically good, and man can establish his own laws devoid of any independent supernatural authority.)
It appears that McCoy believes that the non-existence of the label of “American exceptionalism” prior to the 1920s proves that the concept and reality of American exceptionalism since the nation’s inception did not exist. To agree with McCoy’s shallow analysis and conclusions with regard to the existence of and belief in American exceptionalism is only possible when one ignores Democracy in America and other considerable evidence of wide recognition and acceptance of the concept following publication of Tocqueville’s book in 1835.
The theme of American exceptionalism became common in the 19th century, especially in textbooks. From the 1840s to the late 19th century, 120 million copies of the McGuffey’s Reader textbooks were sold. Most American students studied the Readers which hailed American exceptionalism, manifest destiny, and America as God’s country even in the more secularized versions beginning in 1879.
For others who believe that America may have once been the greatest nation in the world, they now say that is no longer true. In an article by Tyler Gobin in the Technician Online, he states that America is no longer at the top of the heap. Our competiveness has fallen and Americans are perceived as lazy and culturally unaware. Mr. Gobin believes that, “…we ought to stop believing we are unique…and stop ignoring that we are only one part of a larger whole.” Gobin believes that, “Obama correctly recognized that exceptionalism stands for uniqueness and not superiority.”
Following Stalin’s use of “American exceptionalism,” the phrase fell into obscurity for half a century, until it was popularized by American newspapers in the 1980s to describe America’s cultural and political uniqueness. The phrase became an issue of contention between presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain in the 2008 presidential campaign. President Obama again landed in hot water during the 2012 campaign against Mitt Romney for saying that while he (Obama) “believed in ‘American exceptionalism,’ it was no different from ‘British exceptionalism,’ ‘Greek exceptionalism,’ or any other country’s brand of patriotic chest-thumping.” But if everyone is exceptional, then no one is exceptional…thus the denial of American exceptionalism and its denigration as mere “patriotic chest thumping.” President Obama’s position is understandable given a thing such as American exceptionalism would offend his radical egalitarian sensibilities.
With certainty, the Founders would not have agreed with President Obama. Rather, they would agree with James Madison. Speaking of the American Revolution and the crafting of the Constitution, Madison said, “It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of revolution.” Madison’s words echo the beliefs of many other Founders that America was an exceptional nation and the product of God’s providence.
We have examined the origins and spread of the concept of American exceptionalism as well as the claims of the deniers and detractors. In Part II we will search for that one element that made possible American exceptionalism and why its deniers and detractors are so adverse to any consideration of its reality in the history of the nation. In Part III we must consider the question, “Will America continue to be an exceptional nation, or will it succumb to the cycle of nations and have ‘Rest In Peace’ inscribed on its headstone?”
Larry G. Johnson
Sources:
Tocqueville, Alexis De, Democracy in America, Gerald E. Bevan, Trans., (London, England: Penguin Books, 2003).
Terrence McCoy, “How Joseph Stalin Invented “American Exceptionalism,” The Atlantic, May 15, 2012, http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/03/how-joseph-stalin-invented-american-exceptionalism/254534/ (accessed April 7, 2013).
Tyler Gobin, “American Exceptionalism,” Technician Online, April 2, 2013, http://www.technicianonline.com/opinion/columnists/article_c3994862-9b4b-11e2-9c65-0019bb30f31a.html (accessed April 7, 2013).
W. Cleon Skousen, The 5000 Year Leap, www.nccs.net: National Center for Constitutional Studies, 1981, p. iii.
