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American Exceptionalism Essay

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The word ‘exceptional’ or ‘exceptionalism’ is normally used to connote a person or a thing that is above the ordinary, thus, extraordinary. The term ‘American Exceptionalism’ does not stray far from this ordinary connotation. It implies that the United States is a country like no other because of certain qualities that it possesses that is not found in others. This concept has its roots in French historian Alexis de Tocqueville’s observations of America. In the second volume of his book Democracy in America, de Tocqueville wrote “The position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one” (de Tocqueville 518). Ironically, it was Stalin that accidentally …show more content…

In the introductory chapter of his book, he wrote “Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions” (de Tocqueville 12). Tocqueville was particularly amaze at the American brand of equality because it did merely exist as a dogma or as a principle, but it was an element of life for the people. Thus, equality existed, according to Tocqueville, on the personal and social level. Today, the reality may be that not all American people are equal, but the equality principle had and has continued to underpin many democratic institutions. The Declaration of Independence, which sets out the foundation of American rights and freedoms, provided that ‘all men are created equal.’ Although this may not be true at all times, American institutions, especially the courts, continue to strive to attain this goal. In Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), the US Supreme Court declared segregation as unconstitutional because it violated the equality clause under the 14th Amendment. To secure that equal protection laws are effectively enforced, agencies and other institutions were created. One of these agencies is the US Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission.

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Throughout this document, Alexis De Tocqueville explained to the audience his own interpretation of Democracy in America. At some points, Tocqueville compares the American democracy to the European democracy. Tocqueville begins this document by stating that “In America, the authority exercised by the legislatures is supreme:nothing prevents them from accomplishing their wishes with celerity and with irresistible power, and they are supplied with new representatives every year. ”(Tocqueville pg 257). Tocqueville also points out that America is the country where laws last the shortest time.

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Tocqueville witnessed that even though Americans are born with the same status, certain groups still struggled with inequality. Different races and genders created a separation, thus

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American Exceptionalism was coined by Alexis de Tocqueville in his book Democracy in America. To illustrate how the American way of thought is superior to the other ways of the world, Tocqueville expresses that the American way of thought is distinctively unique and special. This distinction is exemplified through liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism, and Laissez-Faire Economics. These qualities prove America’s exceptionality and difference from other countries. Although American Exceptionalism originated in the early 1800s, the idyllic values Tocqueville paints in his book can be seen throughout American history.

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Famous French historian Alexis de Tocqueville once said, “America is great because she is good. If America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” (qtd. in Carson 651.) In “Recovering America’s Exceptionalism,” Ben Carson explains how we are losing touch with the values that once made America a great country.

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Xenophobia, the fear of socialism and American exceptionalism are what provide the scaffolding for this economic divide and the government's role in it. In 1835 Alexis De Tocqueville wrote the book Democracy in America, De Tocqueville’s book brought to light the concept of American Exceptionalism. While Alexis De Tocqueville

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By the 1950’s, America’s illusively plaid appearance was being disrupted by a growing multitude of problems: increasing visibility of poverty, rising frustrations from African American communities, and a growing angst concerning America’s position in the world. In response, the United States’ leaders sustained their constitutional promise to promote the general warfare of society, by confidently indorsing policies that directly attacked these problems-to the best of their ability. When President Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy’s successor, sworn into office, he believed in the active use of power and legislation. “Between 1963 and 1966, he compiled the most impressive legislative record of any president since Franklin Roosevelt” (Brinkley 784). Among

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“I have tried to see not differently but further…”(Tocqueville, 1835) was Alexis de Tocqueville’s conclusion to the introduction of his perennial classic text Democracy in America, and adumbrates to the reader of his modern ideas and observations that were to follow. At the same time, he measures the progress of society through its relationship with equality and liberty. In this paper, I will highlight Tocqueville’s use of equality and liberty to compare the past and the modern, and establish his views on the effects of these concepts with society and each other. Finally, I will put forth that Tocqueville does not favour one concept over the other, but notes the complex relationship between the two and the importance of the co-existence of liberty and equality for a society of people. To begin, let us build the base case to compare with and look the past as defined by Tocqueville, with emphasis on equality and liberty.

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Alexis de Tocqueville penned Democracy in America after he spent month America in the 1831, where he witnessed a new democratic system. He found it’s concepts to have unique strengths and weaknesses that he believed could be the inspiration for the new government of post-revolution France. The concepts of limiting individualism, encouraging positive associations, and moderating the tyranny of the majority that Tocqueville observed during his trip in America helped maintain the new democratic republic built after the revolution. As soon as America became free from British rule, their groundwork for their new government helped cement them as a true democracy since it contended with individualism. Tocqueville noticed that after a successful

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US Supreme Court’s Brown V. Education. In Brown v. Education, the Supreme Court established two new basic principles. First, “feelings of racial inferiority have a constitutional status.” Second, “racial integration is the remedy for these ‘feelings of inferiority.’” Therefore, “private discrimination is a constitutional evil and racial diversity is a constitutional good.”

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According to Wikipedia, “American exceptionalism is an ideology that holds that the United States is unique among nations in a positive way, particularly with respect to its ideals of democracy and personal freedom.” Textbooks tend to place America on the podium,

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