American exceptionalism

File:Statue of Liberty 7.jpg
German professor Sieglinde Lemke argues that the Statue of Liberty represents how the US sees itself as a unique nation and its mission to spread its values across the world.[1]

American exceptionalism is the belief that

  1. the US is unique and special[2]
  2. the US has a unique mission to transform the world
  3. the US is superior to other nations because of its unique history and mission

Unique nation

The US started from the American Revolutionary War. Martin Lipset calls it the "first new nation".[3] It developed an American set of ideas (Americanism) based on republicanism, democracy, laissez-faire (no government interference in economy), liberty, equality, individualism (importance of individual).[4]

Unique mission

Abraham Lincoln said in the Gettysburg address (1863), that Americans have a responsibility to make sure that the "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

American Exceptionalism Media

Related pages

References

  1. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Utilities at line 38: bad argument #1 to 'ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  2. American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword. Seymour Martin Lipset. New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc. 1996. p. 18. .
  3. Seymour Martin Lipset, The first new nation (1963).
  4. Lipset, American Exceptionalism, pp. 1, 17–19, 165–74, 197