American Exceptionalism
It is a term heard frequently these days, conservatives hold a belief in it as their default position. Liberals or progressives don’t really believe it. But what is “American Exceptionalism?”
It is, by definition, a subjective term. Each individual will have a somewhat different view. I hold the belief that America is an exceptional nation and Americans are an exceptional people. I have thought about the “why” of that belief and come to some conclusions. Perhaps they will match yours or provide food for your own thoughts on the subject.
On July 4th, 1776, the Continental Congress announced to the world that “…that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states…” and in so doing they began an experiment in government, the likes of which had not been seen before in all of human history. The singular idea that would form the tap root of that experiment is contained earlier in the same document, The Declaration of Independence.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
Never before in all of human history had a people sought to lay the foundation of government on the idea that all power for that government was vested in the people by God. Think about it. The idea that human beings, by the simple nature of their existing, were endowed by their Creator with rights. Not granted rights by a parliament or a king, but by their Creator, by God. Can a right given by God be taken by anyone but God. No. That simple, but revolutionary idea, would astound the world and shake governments of lesser incarnations to the core. It was more dangerous to their existence than even the Magna Carta.
The Magna Carta, signed by King John of England in 1215, granted rights to English citizens, but read the text. “JOHN, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou…” King John was thought to rule by “divine right” all ot the monarchs ruled by the same imaginary power. But read further and you find “TO ALL FREE MEN OF OUR KINGDOM we have also granted, for us and our heirs for ever, all the liberties written out below, to have and to keep for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs:” What follows is a listing of the rights and freedoms King John is granting to Englishmen. King John was granting these rights and freedoms, 63 in all. What they are is not important. The Magna Carta was considered a watershed document in the push for freedom and indeed it was. But it fell far short of the revolutionary ideals of the Declaration of Independence.
The singular idea that a human beings rights were not “granted” by a king or any other ruler but were natural rights, endowed in him by his creator, owing to him by his simple existence, unable to be removed from him by any king, parliament, prince or other government was unique. This idea formed the basis for a whole new formulation of government. A government where all power rested in THE PEOPLE, and such power as government had was merely loaned or granted by THE PEOPLE to the government to accomplish certain things. Such power, thus granted to government, could and would be reclaimed by THE PEOPLE at any time of their chosing.
Never before had such a radical construct of government appeared on earth and it would shake the world to its core. When these people set about to draft a constitution to formalize this government into a working equation, the first three words of that constitution would codify the source of government’s power: “We The People…” To be sure, the execution of this ideal was imperfect. People being flawed, some denied this liberty to whole races. But the ideals were there, the seed was sown, and over the next two centuries Americans would continue to work to perfect the execution of that ideal.
So too would that ideal inspire others. People from all over the world, seeking liberty, would flock to America. As God had planted these people on a narrow strip on the eastern edge of a largely empty continent, there was room for this immigration. It was not without pain. Taming a wilderness is dangerous. Accident, disease and conflict with a native population, that was after all here first, would follow. Murderous attrocities would occur on both sides. A civil war would be fought to free the slaves. But the ideal, that ideal, would continue to beckon, like a holy grail of liberty. Daring all from around the world to risk all to seek it.
Those that would come, those that would risk all, had an inborn love of liberty and an inborn streak of courage. Such seeking was not for the faint of heart. The meek, the scared, those unwilling to risk all, including life, did not come. They stayed in their native lands. Those that came were the most daring, the most creative, the most liberty-loving.
These people, whether born here or traveling from another land, combined to create a new race of people. A people so predisposed toward liberty they were almost unable, by nature of their DNA, to accept tyranny. A people so predisposed to chance and striving that they created a nation of inventors, entrepreneurs, and adventurers. These people would tame a continent, then the skys, and reach the moon.
These are an exceptional people. Citizens of an exceptional nation. Created by an exceptional idea.
