I would just add the anti-Catholic Know Nothings (American Party) of the mid 19th century: specifically attempts to bar based on religion. It is shameful how frequently we forget our past.
American exceptionalism is an interesting subject, and this article is interesting as well, although not quite accurate as to the original meaning. Exceptionalism as applied to the US had a European Christian origin. The notion was that although empires and countries and monarchies grow and decline, there might be exceptions to this cycle: those which are inspired by divine grace will be an exception to this rule of growth and decline: birth, growth, and continued growth as opposed to decay. What mattered is the extent to which the Word Of God was followed, thus the British colonies in the New World must be as "a city upon a hill." England had become corrupted, the argument went, and now it was in the New World that the exceptionalist pull would be found. As the US became more secular and as the methodologies of the Enlightenment became pervasive, exceptionalism lost its religious content to be replaced by "nature' and "natural law," such that the US would be and remain an exception to the rule of decay if "natural law" were to guide its citizens behavior. In short, science became the new religion and decay could be avoided if Americans lived in accordance with nature as determined by the "new" sciences which were developed in the 19th and 20th centuries. Should all of this occur, then American exceptionalism would be assured, and the US would not decline.
More might be said, but in this limited space, the concept has been pervasive in the popular imagination since the earliest days of British colonialism. I suspect that exceptionalism will remain with us for a very long time.
I would just add the anti-Catholic Know Nothings (American Party) of the mid 19th century: specifically attempts to bar based on religion. It is shameful how frequently we forget our past.
American exceptionalism is an interesting subject, and this article is interesting as well, although not quite accurate as to the original meaning. Exceptionalism as applied to the US had a European Christian origin. The notion was that although empires and countries and monarchies grow and decline, there might be exceptions to this cycle: those which are inspired by divine grace will be an exception to this rule of growth and decline: birth, growth, and continued growth as opposed to decay. What mattered is the extent to which the Word Of God was followed, thus the British colonies in the New World must be as "a city upon a hill." England had become corrupted, the argument went, and now it was in the New World that the exceptionalist pull would be found. As the US became more secular and as the methodologies of the Enlightenment became pervasive, exceptionalism lost its religious content to be replaced by "nature' and "natural law," such that the US would be and remain an exception to the rule of decay if "natural law" were to guide its citizens behavior. In short, science became the new religion and decay could be avoided if Americans lived in accordance with nature as determined by the "new" sciences which were developed in the 19th and 20th centuries. Should all of this occur, then American exceptionalism would be assured, and the US would not decline.
More might be said, but in this limited space, the concept has been pervasive in the popular imagination since the earliest days of British colonialism. I suspect that exceptionalism will remain with us for a very long time.