Essay On American Exceptionalism

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American Exceptionalism Many people would define American exceptionalism as the feeling or belief that America and its inhabitants are superior to the rest of the world. This however is incorrect, American exceptionalism accounts for the unique circumstances that influenced the founding of the United States and made it different from other comparable countries. Many things contributed to American exceptionalism, for one, the new world was not bound by any preexisting political systems or social structures, giving settlers the rare chance to start from scratch and create a system that best benefited them. The new world was also effected by its population of like minds and similar social standings. These various factors lead to the creation …show more content…
For example “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” (US 1776). The declaration of independence also states that “it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its power in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.” In other words, the government exists to serve the people and that all laws will be made with the best interest of the people in mind. As pointed out by de Tocqueville, colonists had implemented a republic democracy at a time when Europe was governed by absolute monarchies. “Never was there less political activity among the people; never were the principles of true freedom less widely circulated; and at that very time those principles, which were scorned or unknown by the nations of Europe, were proclaimed in the deserts of the New World” (de Tocqueville, pg. 60). In other words, it was not only the ideals of political equality and individual sovereignty that made colonial government’s unique but, the time period in which it
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