American Exceptionalism: Term Definition Essay

Introduction

Such concept as American exceptionalism has always been a subject of heated discussion. There are various interpretations of this notion, but it seems that the most appropriate definition has been given by Michael Ignatieff, according to him, it is the belief that this country “differs from others in terms of its unique origins, national credo, historical evolution and distinctive political system” (Ignatieff, p 112).

Main body

This approach reflects all the complexity of this phenomenon and its constituent parts. However, this term takes its origins in the works of a prominent French sociologist Alexis de Tocqueville, in particular, in his book Democracy in America, in which the author explores the peculiarities of social system in the United States. It should be borne in mind that this book was written at the beginning of the nineteenth century, namely in 1835 and since that time American community has undergone drastic changes, but the main structural principles, described by the scholar, are still noticeable. Prior to analyzing this work in connection with American exceptionalism, we need to say that the author actually never uses this tern. Certainly, he describes democracy in the United States as something unprecedented, but he never claims that this country is superior to others. From his point of view, this political system also has some shortcomings.

Alexis de Tocqueville focuses on several aspects of the democracy in America; in particular, he explores the common denominators that unite people of various cultural, racial and ethnic origins. In his opinion, the most distinctive feature of the US citizens, is their patriotism, he says, “In the United States, patriotic sentiment is persuasive, whether at the village level, or the level of the Union as a whole; the public interest is a matter of concern. People care about their countrys interests as though they were their own” (Tocqueville, p 106). The scholar argues that such behavior can be partly ascribed to the citizens belief that this country is a land of promise, where every person has equal opportunities. In addition to that, he states that such patriotism was untypical of European superpowers, because in France or in the United Kingdom the authority belonged to the elite group, aristocracy, whereas in the United States, the power was the privilege of the majority. Thus, we may assume that in part, American exceptionalism is derived from the attitude of people towards the state and government.

Apart from that, Alexis de Tocqueville discusses the functioning of religion in the United States. It should be taken into consideration that the vast majority of the English immigrants, who came to America, were Puritans or those, who rejected the dominance of Catholicism and placed special emphasis on the private study of the Holy Scripture (Gutfeld, p 56). In other worlds, they were more independent from the Church, unlike many people in the Old World. The author points out a very interesting characteristic in the behavior of American clergymen. He says “they do not seek to divert and focus all of man’s attention on the life to come. They are quite willing to allow his heart to dwell in part on the concerns of the present” (Tocqueville, p 509). According to the sociologist, the church in the country was always in agreement with the opinion of the majority; it ceased to be an obstacle to the progress. Certainly, it does not necessarily mean that British colonists were not religious people; on the contrary, devotion to God was the inseparable part of their lives, but the Church as an institution did not possess such great power as it did in the Western Europe.

His overarching thesis is that Christianity proved to be more applicable in the United States, than it was in Europe. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that America was one of the first countries that introduced strict division between the state and the church, namely we should speak about the First Amendment to the Constitution. Furthermore, we may say that the Founding Fathers attempted to incorporate religion into the legislation of the country.

Nonetheless, Tocqueville indicates that under some circumstances, such laisser-faire attitude of the church may have rather detrimental effects. The thing is that the main function which clergymen must perform is to attract peoples attention to the most follies and vices of the society(Tocqueville, p 509). It would not be an exaggeration for us to say that at that moment, clergymen did not quite cope with this task. Naturally, they promoted Christian teaching among the countrys citizens, but they carefully avoided the problem of slavery. Thus, we may conclude that patriotism and the docility of religious institutions were those factors that partly contributed to the development of democracy in the United States.

As it has been noted before, Alexis de Tocqueville does not regard American democracy as flawless. He says that “it is often mistaken in the choice of man whom it entrusts with power” (Alexis de Tocqueville, p 268). Additionally, the author suggests that aristocratic societies are much more versed in this aspect. It is quite possible to raise objections to this statement, because in aristocratic societies, such as for example in France, the authority was handed down from one generation to another. To some extent, it turned into a hereditary title. But one can hardly state that it belonged to “men of merit” (Tocqueville, p 226).

Nevertheless, the author is not pessimistic about the development of democracy in the United States. Despite the fact that American people can often be mistaken, the country is almost bound to prosper in the future, because “its laws emanate from the majority of all citizens, who may be mistaken but cannot be in conflict of interest with themselves”(Alexis de Tocqueville, p 265).

It has to be admitted that such political system as democracy has its drawbacks, and very often those, who are in power, may not meet the requirements for this position. Yet, the major advantage of a democratic society is that such a man of power is always restricted by certain checks and balances, or legislative acts. Alexis de Tocqueville acknowledges this fact and says that in the United States, an official even if he is corrupt, cannot do much harm, because he has to resign himself to the will of the majority.

As regards the major downsides of American democracy, Tocqueville places special emphasis on the “tyranny of the majority”. At first glance, this statement may seem rather unusual, to say the least, because there is much more dangerous thing, the tyranny of the minority. In this case, the sociologist pays extra attention to individual freedom of thought. He says, “I know of no country, where there is in general less independence of mind and true freedom of discussion than in America” (Tocqueville, p 293). The essence of this phenomenon lies in the following: any person, willingly or unwillingly, tends to conform oneself to other people. If the majority has made some decision, no one dare disagree with it. The major problem is that this majority can be gravely mistaken, and probably it goes to its own destruction, but nobody can prevent it.

On the whole, we should say that Alexis de Tocqueville does not want to make any predictions about further evolvement of the American society, because in his view the Revolution, which officially ended in 1783, was just the tip of the iceberg. He states that the remnants of the old world were still very palpable. The author acknowledges that it was the first attempt to put the principles of Enlightenment into practice, but he does not know what results this attempt will yield.

Conclusion

Therefore, we can arrive at the conclusion that the essence of American exceptionalism can be best observed from historic perspective. Naturally, some patterns or principles of the US political system has been modified but they still lay foundations for effective functioning of American society. In particular, we may speak about the patriotism of the country’s citizens, who believe that the United States is the land of opportunity and liberty; consequently, they are deeply involved with its interests. Secondly, as Alexis de Tocqueville suggests, that religious institutions in the country were different from their Western-European counterparts, because they encouraged people to focus on the concerns of the present day. As for the downsides of American political system, we need to mention the so-called “tyranny of the majority”, and the lack of individual freedom. Perhaps, the United States is so often viewed as exceptional is because it was the first country to implement democratic principles but even now this process is not complete.

Bibliography

Alexis de Tocqueville, Arthur Goldhammer (2004). “Democracy in America”. Library of America.

Arnon Gutfeld (2002). “American exceptionalism: the effects of plenty on the American experience”. Sussex Academic Press.

Charles Lockhart (2003). “The roots of American exceptionalism: history, institutions, and culture”. Palgrave Macmillan.

Deborah L. Madsen, British Association for American Studies (1998). “American exceptionalism”. Edinburgh University Press.

Elisabeth Gläser, Hermann Wellenreuther, German Historical Institute (2002).

“Bridging the Atlantic: the question of American exceptionalism in perspective”. Cambridge University Press.

Lawrence C. Dodd, Calvin C. Jillson (1994). “The Dynamics of American politics: approaches and interpretations”. Westview Press.

Michael Ignatieff (2005). “American exceptionalism and human rights”. Princeton University Press.

Robert Singh (2003). “American Government and Politics: A Concise Introduction”. SAGE.

Seymour Martin Lipset (1997). “American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword”. W.W. Norton.

William V. Spanos (2008). “American exceptionalism in the age of globalization: the specter of Vietnam”. SUNY Press.