When politicians assert American exceptionalism, what do they mean? With an attempt to not infuse politics into an answer, consider the following.

One explanation of American exceptionalism lies in the fact American society is based on specific philosophies and ideals regarding the nature of man and government.

The origin of the idea of American exceptionalism can be traced to the Mayflower Compact of 1620 in which the settlers of the Plymouth Colony in Cape Cod, Mass., gathered on their ship, the Mayflower, and decided how they would govern themselves by writing on paper, "in the Presence of God and one another, [we] covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation . . . do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws ... unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience."

American exceptionalism can also be traced to John Winthrop's "Little Speech" in 1645 in which he said, unlike in Europe, when "you choose magistrates, you take them from among yourselves" you do so to protect your civil liberty from the barbarity of natural liberty (life neither under law or God).

Even earlier when Winthrop said in his "City on a Hill" speech in 1630 that the colony should, "follow the Counsel of Micah to do Justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God, for this end, . . . men shall say of succeeding plantations: the lord make it like that of New England: for we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us."

It can be found in the history of the Colonial period in which each colony found agreement that in the new world men were to be governed only by the laws and leaders they themselves choose. It can be found in the subsequent Revolutionary period in which the peace and relationship between the colonies and England was broken when the latter attempted to govern the local affairs and to tax the former rather than following the accepted role of the latter to govern only trade across the Atlantic.

It can be found in the documents of that era which together asserted that the colonies were to be governed only by the law and the people they choose, not by the will of kings – a concept that culminated in the Declaration of Independence, followed a decade and three years later by the U.S. Constitution.

Another explanation of American exceptionalism is the primacy of the individual. Because of the geography of America in the 17th through the 19th centuries, there was always room for individuals to go out and stake out a place and to make a life for themselves.

If an individual was not happy by his surroundings or the rules of society, he was free to move to another place and live as he desired. This birthed the idea of independence, rugged individualism and a general distrust of government interference with individual achievement.

America is different, exceptional, because it is individual-centric. Freedom and liberty are defined by personal responsibility for success and failure without government interference or adjustment in either result.

A third explanation of American exceptionalism is in how the role of government is defined. American exceptionalism rejects the European model that the government is responsible, by definition, for maintaining the heath, welfare and social support of the individual.

As President Grover Cleveland argued in 1887, in America, "the people support the government, the government should not support the people." Cleveland, reflecting his times, made clear the role of government is to maintain law and order, support an environment of economic growth and no more.

With the exception of basic worker safety and food heath, the federal government was a non-player in the daily activities of the nation.

The Crash of 1929 changed this dynamic for the remainder of the century. It is within this changed conception of American exceptionalism the current state of hostility and polarity within American politics is explained.

A fourth explanation of American exceptionalism is that, to be an American, all that is required is the adoption of the ideals of America and a desire to be an American. If you move to Europe, you can live there in peace, but you will not be a European.

American exceptionalism is about what makes America different. Freedom, liberty and the role of government, in theory and in fact, are defined differently from the rest of the world.

Margaret Thatcher defined American exceptionalism in a 1991 speech as follows: "Europe is a product of history, but America is a product of a philosophy and defined by an identity based on ideals."

Dr. Arthur H. Garrison, LP.D.

Assistant Professor of

Criminal Justice

Kutztown University