America has always been known as the “Land of Opportunity” and although there may be some truth behind that saying, I do not believe it is an exceptional country. Throughout history, there have been many mistakes made and continue to be made. We, as a country, think so highly of ourselves that, “The white settlers often broke off treaties with the Indians because of the land fever, assisted by the homestead act, the gold rush in California and the Mexican-American war” (From Lecture), just for our own selfish benefits, without even a second thought towards how that will impact those that have lived on that land way before white settlers decided they would just take it away; this is not what an exceptional country would do. Exceptionalism relates
All throughout history, America did not have much care for other people when they sought out land. Americans would gladly risk their reputation and even war for the gift of gaining land. The Native Americans were a prime example of this, as Americans had massacred and chased them away from their homeland solely for the purpose of expansion. Manifest Destiny had advocated and influenced this action, saying that they were predestined by God to expand from coast to coast. This belief in America’s right to land continued.
When Amerigo Vespucci first “discovered” America, he was surprised to find inhabitants there who already had a developed culture. When the Spaniards, French, and English came and began to inhabit the area, the long history of injustices against Native Americans began. Starting from the encomienda system, to the Indian Removal, the settlers began to subjugate the Native Americans. Soon, when America began to obtain lands in California and Texas, settlers began to believe in the idea of Manifest Destiny. This idea convinced the settlers into believing that they had a right to the land in the West and began to industrialize there.
Henry Ford, one of the most notorious successful Americans that invented the assembly line, once said “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success”. The United States of America was founded on immigration which today, there is an extensive diversity of cultures inhabiting America which would leave people to believe that the idea of it being a self-governing country is an outrageous idea but it in fact worked. America is able to succeed despite being an “improbable idea” by how the country is able to unite and recover quickly after times of hardship and how the citizens are able to tolerate and coexist with other despite their differences. America is able to succeed despite being an “Improbable
In U.S. history, the U.S. made the mistake of removing thousands of Native Americans from their homes. They were forced to walk down the Trail of Tears in harsh conditions so they could make room for white settlers to move in. Later on, the U.S. admitted its mistake, and now there is land set aside for Native Americans to live on, and many of them receive money on their 18th birthday. The U.S. both admitted its mistake and attempted to repair it, but does this make the United States good?
Westward Expansion and American Exceptionalism From the very first settlers in America, there has always been a keenness for land accumulation. In the 1800’s, America began an expansion. Whether it was for the salvation of the natives, Manifest Destiny or the hope for more opportunity, Americans developed a mindset that they had a unique role to pursue in spanning the new nation. Numerous documents of the time insisted Americans were superiors of the human race and had a special destiny designed by God in worldwide history.
The U.S used American exceptionalism to justify Native American removal by trying to trick Natives into believing they can be “helpful” to each other and by using power that they knew the natives didn’t have. In source C it states, “listened to our professions of friendship; we called him brother, and he believed us.” This shows the trickery used by Americans towards the Natives, causing them to be forced out of land. Similarly it states, “He thought the U.S government would trick, bribe, and bully Indian tribes as it carried out the law. The trickery, He feared, would lure Indians into selling their lands.
An American belief in which the United States is unique or exceptional when compared to the historical development of other countries. American Exceptionalism was first used in 1920. It refers to the special character of the United States as a unique, free nation based on democratic ideals and personal liberty. As a result of American Exceptionalism, it allowed us to progress a successful nation through new democratic ideals and personal
Alfred Bester says that there are two threads to his view of American Exceptionalism: one based on Seymour Martin Lipset and another on Frederick Jackson Turner.1 He says that Martin Lipset said that the United States is exceptional because it came out of a "revolutionary event" that set up America as "the first new nation" and built a vision for the future on the ideology that caused them to break with England in the first place.2 He says that Turner thought that because the U.S. had a lot of unclaimed land that regular people could own land and not have to depend on anyone else. This means that there wouldn’t be an aristocracy and that small land-owners stuck to the values of the Revolution.3 The combination of what Lipset and Turner said
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.
The reality during the time was tyranny; liberties being destroyed; rules being broken; people treated unfairly. What better time was it for such meaningful ideas to come forth? “American exceptionalism refers to qualities that were first observed in the opening century of our history” (Murray 6). Throughout this article, Gordon Wood undoubtedly believes that this rhetoric the Americans possessed was a very exceptional trait. While this rhetoric was exceptional over 200 years ago, sadly it has not remained.
America is a country which has struggled with its checkered past of freedom. Trampling, negotiating, and conquering are all hallmark traits that have been soaked into its history. In the early times of America the Native Americans were the first to feel the its scorn and all its unforeseen complexities. Bludgeoned, finessed, and manipulated into submission the Native Americans were the first to feel the movements of what would soon be modern day America. Soon came the dawn of the 17th century, when America fully immersed itself in the forest of the slave trade industry which of course came with all its fruits and flies.
Being in America means being safe at all times. The soldiers risk their lives for us so we can have a safe country. Soldiers put their friends and families through something that they are not used to but in the end they are relieved that they are home and safe. America is free today because of our soldiers and how they take the courage and are brave enough to go to the Navy or Afghanistan. Most people think that they join just so they can get away from their town but they are joining so they can keep this country a better place and keep it a free one.
Harry Truman once said, “America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.” In today’s society, we have strayed away from those building principles that laid the path for America. The time of rebuilding for the United States was during the Great Depression and the two world wars. Through those times of distress, Americans found a way to persevere and get ourselves out of it.
What it means to be an American is that you have the freedom to vote freedom of speech. You have the liberty to be what you want in America no one chooses for you. Also have the liberty to work wherever you want not be someone 's slave. Being American means you don 't have to hide your religion, the color of your skin or your sex. You have the ability to speak what you want.
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.