American Exceptionalism

 The idea of American Exceptionalism was a developed by Alexis de Tocqueville in order to describe what he saw when touring America at the turn of the 18th/19th centuries. The idea was based on the following ideas.

1. Natural, or if you are religious, God given rights. These rights are yours as a human. They have not been bequeathed to you by any King or Government. They can't be rescinded or taken from you by any King or Government without your consent.

2. The basis of all rights is "Property". The root of property rights is self ownership. You own you. All Natural or God given rights emanate from this ownership. One of the most fundamental of the emanating rights is the right to self defense. You have the right to protect your life, you have the right to live. Further, you have the right to reap the rewards of your labor. The confiscation of the results of your labor, taken forcibly, or under the threat of force, for the benefit of another, is the definition of Slavery.

3. The Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States were created with these ideas as their kernel.  The Declaration of Independence codifies these rights with the statement "All men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. AMONG (emphasis mine) these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The original draft contained "life, liberty, and property". Property was removed because it was feared tha the slave holders would consider this a basis for their right to subjugate their fellow man. Regardless of what the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvainia Ave, Washington DC, has said in 13 different speeches, the word "Creator" is in the the document.

4. The Constitution restricted the power of the new Federal Government by enumerating the few powers allowed to it. It further reserved any powers not so enumerated, to the States and the people. It was recognized that in order to form a Government, the People had to allow the Government to have some of their rights in order to function in the interest of the people. This at the time was one of the most revoltionary ideas to come from the founding of our country. The idea that Government did not bequeath rights upon it's citizens/subjects, but those citizens instead bequeathed rights upon Government. Further since we as a free people "Lent" those rights to Government to act in our behalf, we have the right to rescind those rights when Government no longer acts in our interests.

 These ideas for their time were considered exceptional. American Exceptionalism does not mean that we as a people are better or smarter than others. Just more free, at least we were. Our sucess as a nation is a direct result of these exceptional concepts.