What about American exceptionalism

What about American exceptionalism

One of the outstanding myths in the American mythology is American exceptionalism. American exceptionalism is the idea that puts Americans above all giving them the right to think decide and take action instead of others. In other words, the peculiarity of the creation of America, led to creation of a notion that gives America the priority over other countries in nearly every field. To what extent non-Americans believe it to be true, I don’t know but it has strong rot in the American identity itself. When we look at the historical root for this idea we sometimes come up with a confusion that is: was the advance in technology, industry and science what gave rise to American exceptionalism or just the other way, American exceptionalism motivated America into big technological and scientific advances?

If we observe the information history gives us we understand that the notion of American exceptionalism was created long before America’s turning into a big power. In 1782, Crevecoeur, a French New Yorker in his book “Letters from an American writer” describes America as a truly exceptional place. And in1835, Alexis de Tocqueville, another French man stresses upon the idea in his book “Democracy in America”. Later it was John O’Sullivan who spoke of the concept of “manifest destiny” which was rooted in American exceptionalism, giving America the responsibility to spread democracy to the world. May be it was from his suggestions that Americans really felt exceptional. They exercised their belief in this idea in many fields, the most important of which in their relations with other countries. The first encounters they had were with Indians whom they thought of as inferior and barbaric. Although at first it was decided to make Indians similar to Americans, in every ways of life, then it was said that they couldn’t apply American lifestyle so they should be pushed away. The whole expansion of American territory beyond the Mississippi river was in a way an emphasis on the superiority of the Americans. Then when the blacks entered into America as slaves the way they were treated also suggested their inferiority to the Americans. Annexation of Texas, Florida and California was based on the feeling of responsibility to liberate and democratize in some ways.

But we can’t say that only it was American exceptionalism that caused advances. The advances also influenced the idea. When America began to becoming known to the rest of the world many decided to go there and test their chance. When they arrived in America they began working hard because they thought of it as a dreamland in which they can make their dreams turn into reality. And thus the hard works of the settlers cause America to advance in technology and science, imposing the idea of American exceptionalism to the rest of the world.

Having said all that, today as statistics show, people in America are not that much proud of their being Americans as their fathers and ancestors have been. The mansion of exceptionality is being shattered by the wrongdoings of the American government throughout the world, and also by the advances made by other countries. The idea of democracy, liberty and technology is no longer exclusive to the American identity.