American Exceptionalism Essay

Is America better than every other country in the world? We live in a country that is probably one of the freest nations in the world where our constitutional rights are focused on our freedom politically and on a personal level. However does that make us better than everyone else in every way? Most Americans would like to think so even as egocentric as it is; more and more Americans are starting to see that America might be flawed compared to other countries. American exceptionalism has been a part of American history pretty much since the beginning.

I believe that it is quite hypocritical from the US to possess a constitution, which is addressed to everyone, but not applied to everyone. For example, the fourteenth amendment, which clearly tackles the equal protection of the laws, only truly applies to the whites rather than all peoples in the United States. Therefore, I believe that the latter aspect confirms Harris’s claims of the privilege of being white. Currently, the US has made gigantic improvements in terms of race classification and property. However, according to Harris, the white privilege is almost impossible to remove because the Whites have never gone through the humiliation in history as the

How has the American Dream changed from the 1920’s to now and how has the theme of the American Dream been supported by works of American Literature. We will see how the American Dream though time did not follow what the founding fathers set out for us in the declaration of independence and when they said, “The authors of the United States’ Declaration of Independence held certain truths to be self-evident: that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness". We will see how the American Dream suffers, what an American Dream is centered on, and how, for some, the American Dream is unattainable. In "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman and in "Harlem" by Langston Hughes we see the American dream depicted, as the loss and utter death of a distracted corrupt American Dream, as the love of the American dream, and as the American Dream for Blacks in a time of segregation and discrimination. In "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we see the

Reed, he defines his own personal interpretation of what is and what is not a true patriot. To Reed an American is someone who is encouraged by the ideals in the Declaration of Independence such as “All men are created equal.” I agree with Reed because my interpretation of an American is someone who follows the rights that our forefathers left us. For example people who know their rights are true Americans because they know that the Government cannot take their rights away from them an example is when someone goes to court they don't have to tell the judge anything if they don't feel like it because the judge cannot make them speak or take their rights. But some people may think different on what an American is and don't know what it really means to be an

In what ways is contemporary American Society still dealing with the same problems? W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963) was very progressive for his time. He thought that being both black and American made for a unique identity. He began to push for the federal government to outlaw lynching, he also supported labor laws, women’s right to vote, and interracial marriage.

America is the land of the free and home of the brave, but has it always been? If someone were to reference old documents like The Declaration of Independence or even The Constitution they would think so, but American history itself says otherwise. During the mid 1770’s slavery was an almost unquestioned normality and women had no rights, however when The Declaration of Independence was written, the statement, “all men are created equal” appeared while Thomas Jefferson stated the natural rights of every human. This statement is clearly not true in the eyes of the men who wrote and edited this document, hence proving that the statement “all men were created equal” is hypocritical. In accordance to primary sources gained from this period of intolerance and recreations of it, it is clear that not only were the women not treated as equal, but the African men and women treated as property were also stripped of the three main rights and liberties the Declaration argues for.

A big role in the “I have a dream” speech plays the main principles of Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The guarantees of the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" included in these documents were not fulfilled in the case of American Blacks. King again uses a reference to the Declaration of Independence and its first sentence "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" to make his point about the need for equality among all people, not only Whites. He also uses the text of the song that was the national anthem until 1931. The words are appropriate for the occasion more than the lyrics of the new

The American Dream is “that all men [and women] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” (Declaration of Independence). Throughout modern-day literary works, authors have many different versions of the American Dream. In Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, the author presents the impact of a man with his own version of the Dream. In Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, Wharton shows how society and morality are both obstacles that prevent the protagonist from achieving his Dream. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass, Douglass has to overcome slavery in order to fulfill his Dream.

In this sense, the American Dream that stirs him is rooted on the “oasis of freedom and justice”. If we consider his speech, above all, a testimony of truth, we are not wrong. Taking into consideration the fact that even nowadays people of any race, but more particularly the black race has to encounter various forms of discrimination, his speech is valid even in the present days. Although the Declaration of Independence claims that all men are equal before God and have the rights for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it is the Afro-American race that suffers from the white people’s malformed prejudices. One of the most derogatory laws in the 19th century American history can be considered the Jim Craw laws regarding Afro-Americans.

The term “American Dream” is a widespread term to describe the American way of life, but has yet to be coined as a term with an inflexible understanding, this means, “The American Dream” has a different meaning to every individual, although the basis remains the same for all. A simple explanation into “The American Dream” would be – to emigrate to America, settle down and become wealthy by working, and definitely not by being born into a rich family/nobility, this is achieved through equality of opportunity for it creates equal access to education and the job market, thus every individual has the same chance of success. To this underlying understanding of the dream, individuals add their own means to success, weather to gain wealth year-by-year or to become rich

Though many scholars, such as Seltzer, have noted the antislavery rhetoric purposed the same ideals of the Gettysburg Address (and one could argue, even more meritoriously), this did not mean that Black were looked as equals by the majority of the nation. Seltzer argues that, “By casting his [Wills] interpretation in terms of a narrative of origins, Wills exaggerates the originary force of Lincoln 's Address at the expense of an appreciation for the cultural work of popular groups who were themselves involved in a reevaluation of national ideals through an appeal to the Declaration of Independence long before Gettysburg” (Selzer 126). She then concludes; “Abolitionists were changing in the popular eye from extremists to patriots who tried to

There transparency of Browne’s letters is one of the factors of the book that really engages the readers, and arguably impels them to dig deeper into the history of the First World War. For instance, in the first letter that Browne wrote, he mentions to Martha that “[he] has never dreamed of anything like this” pertaining to the fact that he became a major part of the United States forces which also entails a financial benefit on their side. One can argue that Browne, as a

There are an abundance of different nuances and differences to what can be collectively called the American identity, but what about the American spirit? The American spirit values the hard working and industrial attitude that constitutes the foundation of the American Dream; so long as you are willing and able to put all your energy and focus into tackling the day’s challenges, then you will be able to claw your way to the top: being able to live a better life than your parents. Teresa embodies these aspects to the letter. Her family consisted poor immigrants who had escaped from the violence of the Balkans (make clear only majority of life was spent here). Even though she lacked a material advantage, she constantly studied to achieve top

The uphill battle being fought by this community and its controversial “moral code” is not one that will go away. Romer v. Evans was a case created to define and uphold equal protections for all citizens of America despite their choices. The 2nd Amendment infringed upon these rights and resulted in a court case based on a cultural war. A single characteristic does not define an individual and discrimination against that has proven to be detrimental to America throughout its history. The United States Supreme Court decision implemented a positive string of events for the gay community, it was solely based on the constitutionality of the amendment

No such divisions was so harshly created. But, the election of Jefferson as president did create a new party called the Jeffersonians, or Jeffersonian republicans. This new division of parties, from Federalists versus Anti Federalists to Federalists versus Republicans was not a major split that divided america. The creation of Republicans just signified the end of the First Party System. The next change brought about by Jefferson’s election was who was running the country.