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American Exceptionalism: Declaration of Independence

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American Exceptionalism: Declaration of Independence
Since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the United States has held countless aspirations, including the idea that America needs to be the perfect example of what a democratic state should be. With that goal in mind, the United States has evolved into the most powerful state in the world, surpassing nations in every demographic at one time or another. America’s values are so influential, a term known as “American Exceptionalism” has sprung up to describe the nation’s power and strength over other countries. American exceptionalism refers to the theory that the United States occupies a special niche among the nations of the world in terms of its national credo, historical evolution, political and religious institutions and unique origins.(1) Though America is currently dealing with major issues involving the economy, education, health care, and military entanglements overseas, the United States remains truly exceptional when compared to other countries because of how its leaders decided to handle major world events. This paper will discuss what factors led America to its position of power and whether or not being an exceptional nation is beneficial or detrimental to Americans and the world as a whole. Before World Wars I & II, inhabitants of the world could read the signs that America was growing into the most influential country on the map. Realists believe that, prior to the World Wars, America chose to remain completely isolated from the rest of the world due to the sentiment left by the British monarchy. However, as Daniel Deudney and Jeffrey Meiser stated in chapter two of U.S. Foreign Policy, realists believe that America stayed isolated for too long due to the isolation stance that liberalists took as a necessity during a time of global chaos. In turn, according to a realist point-of-view, if the country remained neutral any longer, the ramifications on America’s power and influence in Europe could have been devastating. (2)


Cited: 1. Deudney, Daniel & Meiser, Jeffrey. “American Exceptionalism”. Chapter 2. U.S. Foreign Policy. 2008. Pg. 24. 2. Deudney, Daniel & Meiser, Jeffrey. “American Exceptionalism”. Chapter 2. U.S. Foreign Policy. 2008. Pg. 26. 5. LaFeber, Walter. “The U.S. Rise to World Power”. Chapter 3. U.S. Foreign Policy. 2008. Pg. 51. 6. U.N. Official Website. “Peace and Security”. 2011. http://www.un.org/en/peace/ 7 8. Deudney, Daniel & Meiser, Jeffrey. “American Exceptionalism”. Chapter 2. U.S. Foreign Policy. 2008. Pg. 39. 9. Jones, Jeffrey M. “Americans See U.S. as Exceptional; 37% Doubt Obama Does”. Princeton, NJ. 2010. December 22.
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