Is ‘American Exceptionalism’ a Myth?
A comparative historical analysis of the exaggerated depiction of American politics.
How has the division between Democrats and Republicans become so heavily splashed across all social media platforms? The route of such nationalism, and political corruption, stems back to the conceptualization of America as an ultimate symbol of liberty. That democracy and economic freedom is what Makes America Great!! :) Yet somehow poverty, medical support, debt, and hate crime consistently remain high. Why have Donald Trumps promises of making, and keeping, America great been so effective at not only winning him his first election but creating an anxiety-riddled election in 2020? Ultimately, tackling the myth of American Exceptionalism and reshaping culture/education within the American society could help clarify the direction needed to change the paradoxical reality of American policies and ideologies.
As the Pacific Ocean sings the cries of millions of eradicated souls, optimistic immigrants travel across it in search of successfully acquiring the ‘American Dream.’ This idea of freedom, opportunity, success, power, and equality all stems from the historic development of a nation known as the United States of America. A nation idealized through the concept of ‘American Exceptionalism.’ However, to what extent is that concept merely a myth? An evaluation of the boundaries between reality and myth of ‘American Exceptionalism,’ along with the application of comparative history, can expose the exaggerated depiction of American political growth.
To begin, an understanding of ‘American Exceptionalism’ is required. Alexis de Tocqueville associates ‘American Exceptionalism’ with features of the United States such as “relatively high level of social egalitarianism, economic productivity, and social mobility, alongside the strength of religion, the weakness of the central state, the earlier timing of electoral democracy, ethnic and racial diversity, and the absence of feudal remnants, especially social classes” (Lipset & Marks, 2001, pp.16). However, political thinkers such as Godfrey Hodgson would suggest “their history deserves to be scraped clean of myth, exaggeration, and self-congratulatory propaganda” (Hodgson, 2009, pp.34). This then requires an understanding of what ‘myth’ means. According to Reverend J.W. Rogerson, myth can be classified into four categories. The two primary interpretations that will be discussed are ‘myth as lack of rationality’ (“man finds it necessary to explain phenomena [so] theories are put forward in the absence of scientific knowledge”) and ‘myth in relation in history’ (“pictorial explanations of certain facts in history… [through] deliberate or unconscious use of image and symbols”) (Rogerson, 1978, pp.11).
One of the many claims of the ‘American Exceptionalism’ is that it made individualistic liberty its primary focus and strength. However, “progressive ideas in every [social] field… made steady progress in Europe, just as they did in America” (Hodgson, 2009, pp.32). What the ‘exceptional’ American constitution essentially does is build in response to these changing times, then adopt more populist rhetoric and strive for nationalism early on, to gain support from colonialists. Michel Foucault outlined the idea of ‘governmentalization of the state,’ which was then used to study “how state policies generate people’s behavior modification through using a carrot and stick — that is by incentives and regulations, and what effects these policies have on people’s subjectivity” (Alasuutari & Vähä-Savo, 2018, pp.536). Therefore, policies act upon people’s belief, identifications, and moral principles. With the United States, identity and individualism were some of the key tools in building its populist rhetoric and exemplifying the concept of ‘exceptionalism’ around its formation. “The Revolutionary Americans, having defeated a tyrannical king, feared the power for a unified, central state” and therefore implemented values of individualism into their new state, evident through the “Preamble of the Constitution, which started with the words ‘We, the people’” and includes the Bill of Rights, protecting the individual (Lipster & Marks, 2001, pp.22). However, these ideas of revolution and constitution are not new, simply populist now, in service towards the people, in an attempt to gain political stamina and support through the official transcription of individual freedom.
The myth in this exceptionalism is one of relation in history; it is a deliberate illustration of an image and symbol to highlight the decentralization the U.S. has adopted, when in reality it is simply rhetoric that encourages citizens to idolize its government. For example, if the constitution were appropriately applied in such exceptional ways, as what was suggested, then why was it that suffrage was highly restricted and slave exploitation was promoted? In fact, according to the BBC, the United States was one of the last nations to abolish slavery, years after the Europeans did so, accumulating to around 250 years of slavery. The entirety of American expansion, trade, and development relied not on the backs of the bourgeoise American citizens, but rather the dehumanized, lower-class slave. As for women, they never achieved suffrage nor distinct role in politics until the 20th century. This would suggest American politics “‘was not a unique amalgam of the frontier; it was not an exceptional example of democratic destiny’” as almost every element of social and political life affecting suffrage was already present in other nations (Hodgson, 2009, pp.42). If this exceptionalism is considered freedom, it would essentially negate contemporary concepts of freedom addressed by republican philosophers Hannah Arendt and Phillip Pettit, with the latter highlighting freedom as non-domination, and the former focusing on freedom through the public realm and active citizenship (Rostbøll, 2014, pp.1). For not all those on colonial land had the right to vote, allowing domination, nor did the distribution of authority exist, as social classes immediately established themselves through Anglo-American power over Natives and Slaves. The only thing exceptional about America is that it has conceptualized its identity as a state of freedom and equality while simultaneously building the nation through mass displacement and genocide.
In continuation, another claim about ‘American Exceptionalism’ is its unique outlook at expansion and its supposed lack of social division. This relates to the concept of myth as lack of rationality, for American colonial expansion was the first of its kind, beginning as a small set of colonies and spreading across a whole continent rapidly. Communist Antonio Gramsci “emphasized that the ‘difference between Americans and Europeans is determined by the absence of tradition’” (Lipster & Marks, 2001, pp.22). Therefore, there is no other explanation for such grander than to suggest ‘exceptionalism.’ In terms of the details, John D.Wisley illustrates how, after the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, America began purchasing territories from Europe, or simply initiated territorial wars over land. This method is identical to that which European nations such as Britain, France, and Spain adopted when expanding their hegemonic power; essentially, it is imperialism. Wisley further proclaims that during the territorial expansion of the colonies, “manifest destiny became a popular means of expressing the notion that God had chosen the United States to bring civilization to the continent of North America” (Wilsey & Fea, 2015, pp.75). In the eyes of Thomas Jefferson, “political liberty could not exist without easily available land” as farmers contributed the most to economic growth, and landowning was considered a human right, adding: “the United States could do ‘whatever necessary’ to secure itself against their savage and ruthless warfare’” (Guettel, 2012, pp.44–45). Essentially, Jefferson focused on the brutalization and extermination of Native Americans to secure the social, political, and economic freedom of the bourgeoisie Englishmen in America.
This decision by Jefferson is a clear obstruction of Isaiah Berlin’s concept of Negative Freedom which signifies the absence of opposition through facing no external impediments by any state (Baum & Nichols, 2012, pp.44). Not merely did the obstruction of freedom occur, but so did the domination of capitalism. Imperialism is then considered the final stage of capitalism, with political development directly linking to Robert Cox’s Neo-Gramscian idea that “international institutions embody rules which facilitate the expansion of the dominant economic and social forces,” and through this process hegemony is gained (Cox, 1983, pp.172). Achieving ultimate international, political and economic recognition would then result in praising such a nation. Many would assume that this expansion was necessary, that exploitation was fundamental. However, did it truly allow social freedom and equality, and was the path, fundamentally, any different from previous empires?
On the other hand, there are certain counter-arguments to support that ‘American Exceptionalism’ is, to a lesser extent, evident. The American Revolution “created a state based on a political ideology of republicanism” and this ideology was “proclaimed in bold language… in assertions both of universal human equality and universal human rights” (Hodgson, 2009, pp.35). Unlike any other state, it replaced the divine right with the authority of the people, creating a model of pure democratic confidence and liberty. No other state had explicitly done so before. It built its constitution on the fundamental concept of Berlin’s Positive Freedom, with the ideal that the citizen is the master of oneself, relying on internal guidance rather than external obstacles (Baum & Nichols, 2012, pp.9). Additionally, the Anglo-American model of expansionism prompted other states such as Germany “to look overseas and to perceive expansion as a worldwide process,” as “concerns about the future of continental Europe and ideas of a unified Germany increasingly began to see into more general discussions about America, empire, and race” (Guettel, 2012, pp.47). However, although the expansion of American territory was exceptional, influencing nations like Germany, it could be argued the this inherently set up the algorithm for the World Wars. The conceptualization of unifying one people, of certain race and class, under one government, is an idea the republicans of America birthed, and one that was later reinforced by the imperialist state of Germany, especially Nazi Germany. Although this observation can be considered a stretch, and as mentioned previously many hegemonic nations before the ‘exceptional’ United States gained power through similarly acquiring territory, the influence of the expansion model introduced by America, and populist individualism, cannot be ignored when assessing former political thinkers in Germany.
In summation, ‘American Exceptionalism’ is essentially an over-exaggeration of the history of the independence a group of English Colonialists gained when settling abroad and establishing the United States. The myth of this concept lies within the neglect of all human liberty and freedom when writing its constitution, while conventionally following the universal movement of social development. Conclusively, the most exceptional element of American political history is merely that it was the first to write, boldly on paper, that it would be “free and equal,” but was it the first to truly, exceptionally, apply that philosophy?
Is it currently applying that philosophy? Tune in next week, or month, maybe year(?) when we find out who has won the election and why this winner sucks, whoever he is.
Bibliography
Alasuutari, P. & Vähä-Savo, V, 2018, ‘Owning worldwide principles: The case of American exceptionalism’, Social Science Information, 57(4), pp. 533–552. doi: 10.1177/0539018418816192.
Baum, B, & Nichols, R (eds), 2012, Isaiah Berlin and the Politics of Freedom : ‘Two Concepts of Liberty’ 50 Years Later, Routledge, London. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central.
Cox, Robert W, 1983, ‘Gramsci, Hegemony and International Relations : An Essay in Method’, Millennium, 12(2), pp. 162–175. doi: 10.1177/03058298830120020701.
Guettel, J, 2012, German Expansionism, Imperial Liberalism and the United States, 1776–1945, Cambridge University Press, New York. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central.
Hodgson, G, 2009, The Myth of American Exceptionalism, Yale University Press, New Haven. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central.
Lipset, Seymour Martin., & Gary Marks, 2001, It Didn’t Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States.W.W. Norton.
“Liverpool Local History — American Connections — Slavery Timeline,” 24 Sept. 2014, BBC, BBC. www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/localhistory/journey/american_connection/slavery/timeline.shtml.
Rogerson, J. W., 1978, ‘Slippery Words: V. Myth’, The Expository Times, 90(1), pp. 10–14. doi: 10.1177/001452467809000103.
Rostbøll, C. F., 2014, Statelessness, Domination, and Unfreedom: Arendt and Pettit in Dialogue. To Be Unfree: Republicanism and Unfreedom in History, Literature, and Philosophy (pp. 19–36). https://doi: 10.14361/transcript.9783839421741.19
Wilsey, JD, & Fea, J, 2015, American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion : Reassessing the History of an Idea, InterVarsity Press, Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central.
