American exceptionalism
American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is 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.
The term was coined by German Marxists in the 1920s. Focusing on the abundant natural resources in the United States, it was intended as an explanation for why the United States was not experiencing the level of class conflict that existed in Europe. However, the idea of American exceptionalism dates back much further, to French political scientist and historian Alexis de Tocqueville's observations and writings on the United States, most notably in his comparison of the United States with the United Kingdom and his native France. Tocqueville wrote about the United States as a uniquely free nation based on personal liberty and democratic ideals.
Seymour Martin Lipset, a prominent American 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.
Terminology
The concept of the United States as an exceptional society has a long history, sometimes traced back to French writer Alexis de Tocqueville or to the ideas espoused by the Founding Fathers of the United States during the American Revolution. For example, in August 1861 The Times of London alluded to "the 'exceptionalism', if one may use the word, on which the Americans rather pride themselves" in a discussion of the American Civil War.However, the specific term "American exceptionalism" appears to have originated with American communists in the late 1920s. The earliest documented usage cited by the Oxford English Dictionary is from the Daily Worker, January 29, 1929: "This American 'exceptionalism' applies to the whole tactical line of the Communist International as applied to America." In turn, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin condemned the "heresy of American exceptionalism" in a tense discussion with Jay Lovestone of the Communist Party USA, after Lovestone echoed the arguments of other American communists that the U.S. is independent of the Marxist laws of history "thanks to its natural resources, industrial capacity, and absence of rigid class distinctions." The term later moved into general use by intellectuals.
The term "American exceptionalism" was rarely used after the 1930s until U.S. newspapers popularized it in the 1980s to describe America's cultural and political uniqueness.
In 1989, the Scottish political scientist Richard Rose noted that most American historians endorse exceptionalism, and he suggested their reasoning to be as follows:
America marches to a different drummer. Its uniqueness is explained by any or all of a variety of reasons: history, size, geography, political institutions, and culture. Explanations of the growth of government in Europe are not expected to fit American experience, and vice versa.
However, postnationalist scholars reject American exceptionalism and argue the U.S. did not break from European history and accordingly has retained class-based and race-based differences as well as imperialism and willingness to wage war.
In recent years, scholars from numerous disciplines, as well as politicians and commentators in the traditional media, have debated the meaning and usefulness of the concept. Roberts and DiCuirci ask:
Some historians support the concept of American exceptionalism but avoid the terminology to avoid getting entangled in rhetorical debates. Bernard Bailyn, a leading colonial specialist at Harvard, was a believer in the distinctiveness of American civilization. Although he rarely, if ever, used the phrase "American exceptionalism," he insisted upon the "distinctive characteristics of British North American life." He argued that the process of social and cultural transmission result in peculiarly-American patterns of education in the broadest sense of the word, and he believed in the unique character of the American Revolution.
The term became an issue of contention between the presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain in the 2008 presidential campaign, with McCain criticizing Obama for allegedly disbelieving the concept.
History of concept
The earliest documented use of the specific term "American exceptionalism" is by American communists in intra-communist disputes in the late 1920s. Tocqueville was the first writer to describe the country as "exceptional" following his travels there in 1831.Alexis de Tocqueville and others (1835)
The first reference to the concept by name, and possibly its origin, was by the French writer Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1835/1840 work Democracy in America:Historian Michael Kammen says that many foreign writers commented on American exceptionalism including Karl Marx, Francis Lieber, Hermann Eduard von Holst, James Bryce, H. G. Wells, G. K. Chesterton, and Hilaire Belloc and that they did so in complimentary terms. The theme became common, especially in textbooks. From the 1840s to the late 19th century, the McGuffey Readers sold 120 million copies and were studied by most American students. Skrabec argues the Readers "hailed American exceptionalism, manifest destiny, and America as God's country.... Furthermore, McGuffey saw America as having a future mission to bring liberty and democracy to the world."File:Annexation Here to Stay.jpg|thumb|Newspaper reporting the annexation of the Republic of Hawaii in 1898. American exceptionalism has fueled American expansion through the ideology of manifest destiny.
Communist debate (1927)
In June 1927 Jay Lovestone, a leader of the Communist Party USA and who would soon be named as general secretary, described America's economic and social uniqueness. He noted the increasing strength of American capitalism and the country's "tremendous reserve power" and said that they both prevented a communist revolution. In mid-1929, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, disbelieving that America was so resistant to revolution, denounced Lovestone's ideas as "the heresy of American exceptionalism", which was likely a reference to an article published in the Daily Worker earlier that year.The Great Depression in the United States appeared to underscore Stalin's argument that American capitalism falls under the general laws of Marxism. In June 1930, during the national convention of the Communist Party USA in New York, it was declared: "The storm of the economic crisis in the United States blew down the house of cards of American exceptionalism and the whole system of opportunistic theories and illusions that had been built upon American capitalist 'prosperity'".
America in The LDS Church
believes that the Americas, including the United States, are a unique place, populated by a chosen people and the Native Americans are, at least in part, composed of Lamanites and Mormons for a singular destiny, linking the United States to the Biblical promised land in the Book of Mormon, with the Constitution of the United States being divinely inspired. Joseph Smith argued that the millennial New Jerusalem was to be built in America and reported God as saying "it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another. And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood".Although officially shunned by the LDS Church, fundamentalist Mormons believe in the White Horse Prophecy, which argues that Mormons will be the ones called upon to preserve the Constitution as it hangs "by a thread".
Uniqueness
In general, Americans have had the consideration of national "uniqueness." The historian Dorothy Ross points to three different currents regarding unique characteristics.- Some Protestants believed American progress would facilitate the return of Jesus Christ and the Christian Millennium.
- Some 19th century historians linked American liberty to the development of liberty in Anglo-Saxon England.
- Other American writers looked to the "millennial newness" of America. Henry Nash Smith stressed the theme of "virgin land" in the American frontier that promised an escape from the decay that had befallen earlier republics.
Obama administration and later
Mitt Romney attacked Obama's statement and argued it showed Obama did not believe in American exceptionalism. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said that Obama's "worldview is dramatically different from any president, Republican or Democrat, we've had... He grew up more as a globalist than an American. To deny American exceptionalism is in essence to deny the heart and soul of this nation."
In a speech on the Syria crisis on September 10, 2013, Obama said that "however, when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death, and thereby make our kids safer over the long run, I believe we should act.... That is what makes America different. That is what makes us exceptional."
In a direct response the next day, Russian President Vladimir Putin published an op-ed in The New York Times, articulating, "It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.... We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord's blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal."
Putin's views were soon endorsed by future President Donald Trump, who declared the op-ed "a masterpiece." "You think of the term as being beautiful, but all of sudden you say, what if you're in Germany or Japan or any one of 100 countries? You are not going to like that term," Trump said. "It is very insulting, and Putin put it to him about that."
Some left-wing American commentators agree with Trump's stance; one example is Sherle Schwenninger, a co-founder of the New America Foundation, who in a 2016 Nation magazine symposium remarked, "Trump would redefine American exceptionalism by bringing an end to the neoliberal/neoconservative globalist project that Hillary Clinton and many Republicans support." However, Trump has also advocated an "America First" policy, emphasizing American nationalism and unilateralism, though with a greater emphasis on non-interventionism. And in his 2025 inauguration speech, Trump stated that "America will soon be greater, stronger, and far more exceptional than ever before."
American exceptionalism has been a plank of the Republican party platform since 2012. The platform adopted in 2016 defines it as "the notion that our ideas and principles as a nation give us a unique place of moral leadership" and affirms that the U.S. therefore must "retake its natural position as leader of the free world."
The term was adopted by former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney in his 2015 book Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America.