Finding the Underlying Assumptions of American Exceptionalism

Now that we have taken time to discuss and consider some of the key elements of American exceptionalism, it is time to give thought to some of the underlying assumptions of this concept. Below, you will find a few brief examples of these assumptions. You are invited to come up with your own as we make our way through the course. Also, you may build on the assumptions already listed and provide different examples. When doing so, use the following template:

• identify the assumption
• provide a written description of the assumption - What does it look like? Where can you see it? There are no restrictions here. You can find assumptions of American exceptionalism in art, music, film, popular culture, politics -- anywhere you care to look really.
• specifically explain the connection or relationship between your assumption and a particular element of American exceptionalism

From time to time I will provide you with an example in class as well. 

You will be expected to post your underlying assumptions of American exceptionalism on Chalk Up. Between now and January 13, 2019 you will need to post TWO different assumptions. Between February 4, 2020 and May 4, 2020 you will need to post TWO more assumptions. 

Informality

Egalitarianism (identification with the middle class) and Community Life (neighborliness) are the forces that cause Americans to intuitively prefer informality in most settings. In the latest presidential election, Donald Trump was perceived to be "an average guy" and this perception was based on such things as Trump's "plainspokenness" and his reliance on simpler language and "common sense" to describe policy prescriptions instead of the kind of technocratic language that Hillary Clinton used to showcase her depth of knowledge and familiarity with public policy issues. 

American presidential races have often seen victory go to the candidate who can most clearly identify with the American people. George W. Bush defeated both Al Gore and John Kerry for this reason despite the fact that both Democrats were perceived as "more knowledgeable" than their respective opponents. Bill Clinton defeated both George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole for a variation on the same theme. Clinton was perceived as "better understanding" the challenges confronting ordinary Americans. As well, both Clinton and Barack Obama were seen as "more hip" and "in touch" with people than their opponents. 

Ronald Reagan was clearly perceived as "warmer" and "easier" around the public than Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale. In particular, Carter lost the election because his campaign tried to cast Reagan as a dangerous and simple minded extremist who would cause World War III with his jingoistic talk and his finger on the nuclear button, but the image of Reagan that people saw during the debate was a smiling, friendly and seemingly reasonable person who managed to sum the election up in one simple question, "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?"

Perhaps Americans dislike formality because it reminds them of the class system inherent in their British lineage -- a system which they fought to break away from.   

The Underdog and The Belief that Anything Is Possible

Americans love to cheer for the underdog in sports. Super Bowl III is still regarded as one of the greatest upsets in sports history and because of this it remains one of the most popular championship games of all time. No one believed the AFL Champion New York Jets had any chance against the veteran and star studded NFL Champion Baltimore Colts. But Joe Namath, the Jets quarterback shocked reporters when he guaranteed that the Jets would win the game -- and they did. Namath's legend is in large part tied to this one game and the fact that he called it.

The underdog and the "anything is possible" theme is after all the story of the American Revolution -- where a small band of colonies take on the most powerful nation on the face of the earth and win. Believing that "anything is possible" validates a lot of the key values of exceptionalism. It requires faith not only in oneself but faith that "everything will turn out alright," which connotes religiosity. Believing that "anything is possible" also implies humility, which supports egalitarianism. More importantly, when the underdog wins, arrogance is punished and true equality is vindicated -- the winning is less important than the respect that comes from winning and the proof that "everyone has a chance to succeed" is the most important lesson learned.

This theme also reinforces the idea of industriousness. In particular, the underdog needs to commit to hard work to beat the favorite. Also, being self-reliant is indispensable to an "anything is possible" mentality. You need to believe in yourself and in the possibilities of achievement while everyone else is telling you that you have no chance. 


http://www.businessinsider.com/25-nike-ads-that-shaped-the-brands-history-2013-8#failure-and-the-michael-jordan-underdog-myth-1997-12

http://www.businessinsider.com/25-nike-ads-that-shaped-the-brands-history-2013-8#tiger-woods-shows-off-1999-14

http://www.businessinsider.com/25-nike-ads-that-shaped-the-brands-history-2013-8#my-better-is-better-2008-21


Only in America

Extending the "anything is possible" thinking leads us to perhaps the purest expression of exceptionalism -- the "only in America can this happen" theme. Another manifestation of this is the American Dream, but we will get to that later in the course. "Only in America" can apply to a "rags to riches" story where an immigrant can come to the country penniless and rise to incredible wealth. Industriousness and all its aspects - self-reliance, hard work, and getting ahead are all reinforced to a high degree.

Politicians love to tell the "only in America" story when they talk about their own backgrounds as it helps show their natural connection to egalitarianism. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqL2ZiP8AvE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbaP0Jzd6QA


Making a Difference

Making a difference or having an impact has always been something that Americans have aspired to and respected. When Benjamin Franklin emerged from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, a certain Mrs. Powell called out to him and asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got – a republic or a monarchy?”

Franklin responded, “A republic, madame – If you can keep it.”

With those words, Benjamin Franklin unveiled a great truth – that the American nation was qualitatively different than any other that had come before and that in order to maintain her genuinely unique character, her citizens would have to play an active role. "We, The People" have a responsibility to make a difference thereby protecting the Republic. 

Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence as "an expression of the American mind". 

See the letter from Jefferson to Henry Lee where he describes the Declaration of Independence as "an expression of the American mind". 

http://www.nlnrac.org/american/declaration-of-independence/primary-source-documents/jefferson-to-lee

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

Jefferson's writing was a source of utopian aspirations and as such did not seek to describe America as it was but instead make manifest the America that needed to be. The phrase "All men are created equal," spoke to egalitarianism and equality of human dignity. With these words, Jefferson sought to make a difference -- specifically, he took action throughout his political life to codify equality of human dignity by seeking to end slavery. 

See the short article below:

https://www.monticello.org/site/plantation-and-slavery/thomas-jefferson-and-slavery#footnote17_fqwyikn

Jefferson's other actions to stop slavery included but were not limited to:

• His work on the Virginia Constitution, which he hoped would lead to abolition (1776);
• His leadership in crafting a Virginia bill aimed at outlawing African slave importation (1778);
• His proposed ban on slavery in the Northwest territories (1784);
• His attempts at advancing the end of slavery through gradual emancipation and deportation  

Jefferson's efforts to end slavery were motivated by his prescient fear that slavery would result in a civil war that would tear the nation apart. 

See Jefferson's letter to John Holmes

http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-1234

Yet, while he acted politically to make a difference, personally he continued to own slaves. For a better understanding of this contradiction see the article below.

http://classroom.monticello.org/kids/resources/profile/263/Middle/Jefferson-and-Slavery/  

Just Do It

"Making a difference" requires action -- and American culture reveres those who act. Note the ubiquitous nature of this concept -- the honorable place that taking action holds in American culture.

Dirty Harry Callahan is a detective made famous by Clint Eastwood in a series of popular films. Callahan is surrounded by a city in decay and crime but he acts to enforce the law -- often in spite of the danger to himself and the seemingly impossibly long odds against him. 

Nike launched one of the most popular advertising campaigns in history with the catch phrase, "Just Do It."

Larry the Cable Guy immortalized the phrase "Git-R-Done." See his thoughts on what it means and how it became popular.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TU-li1BqZ4

Political slogans have also tried to catch on to the American need to act -- consider the slogans of the most recent presidential election winners:

• Yes We Can
• Make America Great Again

As a matter of fact, you'll remember Donald Trump criticized Hillary Clinton for not having the "stamina" to be president. He also called Jeb Bush "low energy". Both attacks were designed to tap into the preference that Americans have for doers and allowed Trump to draw a contrast that he saw as favorable for himself. 

President Obama also chimed in on this issue after the election, suggesting that Clinton perhaps failed to work as hard to earn the votes she needed to all across the country. According to President Obama, she just had to get out and do it.

 http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/obama-clinton-campaign-work-231370

Another example of the "just do it" principle is after 9/11, when Americans signed up to join the military to fight terrorism.

http://www.tauntongazette.com/article/20110905/news/309059972

The Crucible of Freedom - How Did We Get Here?

Today, the media of democratic societies are flooded with stories which seem to focus on a person or group advocating for some cause or another and justifying their actions as an attempt to avail themselves of their rights. This is a very strong argument, as the public is conditioned to be sympathetic to and respectful of the rights of others and it naturally fits into egalitarianism as expressed in American Exceptionalism.

It is part of our paradigm to consider the concept of rights naturally good and we take notice when someone claims to have had their rights violated. Indeed, it would seem that democratic societies continually expand the concept of rights. As a result, people in democratic societies take in interest in the human rights of people in other parts of the world.

How did we get to this point?

To understand our own commitment to human rights, we must examine first how individual rights and freedoms evolved.

 The history this relates to, of course is the Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact serves as an example of how the first settlers to America agreed to the need for and purpose of a government -- giving up some of their individual authority for the greater goals of the community.

http://www.allabouthistory.org/mayflower-compact.htm

Remember, the concept of individual rights was still limited. At the time, most people believed in Rule By Divine Right.

Although poor King Arthur is having some problems getting the peasants to buy into this in the clip below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJBg74WYa-0

Background to the Age of Enlightenment

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Age_of_Enlightenment

John Locke

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/John_Locke

http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/john-locke-natural-rights-to-life-liberty-and-property#axzz2qZo6TIJe

The Age of Enlightenment challenged this view and planted the seeds of cultural change in philosophy, art, science, economics, and political thought. It is the path by which we move:

•From a society where the governed are responsible to their government

•To a society where the government is responsible to the governed

In the former, the government gets its legitimacy from the hand of God. Whereas in the latter, the government gets its legitimacy from the people who have God given rights.

The Mayflower Compact of 1620 comes at exactly the same time as the publication of Francis Bacon's Novum Organum. These events symbolize the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment. The first permanent English settlement in Virginia gets started at Jamestown a bit earlier in 1607. It takes almost 170 years for these ideas to manifest themselves into the American Revolution but in historical terms this is an incredibly quick transformation when you consider old habits die hard, or as Jefferson put it, " ...all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." 

On a lighter note, check out how the Age of Reason is used to solve all sorts of problems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrzMhU_4m-g&feature=related

In practical terms, those aboard the Mayflower did not consciously set out to design a government of the people, by the people, for the people. They were doing what they thought they needed to do to ensure the survival of the 102 people who would have to make a go of it at Plymouth Rock.

However, the effect of their decision to adopt a government that was essentially representative of them and responsive to their needs set in motion the tradition by which Americans, and later the world would come to understand their freedom and cherish it for what it was -- the key by which, in Jefferson's phrase, "the pursuit of happiness" was possible.

So, the United States becomes the "great experiment" in democracy and sets the template for the evolution of democracies around the world... but it does so based on the thinking and debate that arose out of the Age of Enlightenment, which was based in Europe.

As the United States develops into a world power and as media and trade export American products, American ideas, and American values, the demand for human rights becomes louder in every corner of the world. Although, sometimes sadly, back home in America someone doesn't quite get the idea.

When Freedom Runs Amok...

It's My Lawn Mower and I Can Shoot it if I Want to

Read about the Lawn Mower Shooter... What cultural messages has this man received in America that tell him his thinking is justified?

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/25854715/ns/us_news-weird_news/t/cranky-man-shoots-lawn-mower-not-starting/#.XYpJHC0ZPdc

Influences and Foundations

Over the last few classes, I have referred to several consequential works and how they are illustrative of the American mind. The following is a collection of influences and foundations that shaped the United States in its formative moments.:


Declaration of Independence

Below you will find the goals of the Declaration of Independence (as well as the text), as discussed in class:

1. To inform Britain and the world that the Thirteen Colonies were going their own way and were going to be independent.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

2. To explain the reasons for independence.

The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.

3. To identify a set of ideals and values that the new nation would be based on and would rely on in the formation of its government and its society as a whole.



Those values were to include:



•equality

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...


•individual rights

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.


•a government completely accountable to the people

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.



•the people's right to choose and change the governmental structure as it suits them

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

4. To make a personal blood oath between the signers in order to ensure the survival of the new country.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.


Another view on the purposes of the Declaration on Independence


http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/purpose-of-declaration-of-independence.html



The Story of John Hancock signing the Declaration of Independence


http://www.john-hancock-heritage.com/john-hancock-signature/

Yankee Doodle

 The transformation of the song, "Yankee Doodle," from a tune used for cadence by British troops that lampooned American colonists to an American patriotic staple says much about the culture of the country and its strong affinity for that which is truly its own.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Doodle

Thomas Paine

Still, despite the problems between the colonies and Britain, independence was not a foregone conclusion. However, the writings of Thomas Paine in a simple pamphlet called, "Common Sense" seemed to bring everything into focus.

"Common Sense" became an instant best seller and Paine's words stoked the flames of revolution. He continued to write after the war about various matters of public policy. Here are some short samples of his writing, representative of his style and his philosophy.


"A constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government; and government without a constitution is power without a right. All power exercised over a nation, must have some beginning. It must be either delegated, or assumed. There are not other sources. All delegated power is trust, and all assumed power is usurpation. Time does not alter the nature and quality of either."

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

"But if you say, you can still pass the violations over, then I ask, hath your house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed before your face? Are your wife and children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor? If you have not, then you are not a judge of those who have. But if you have, and can still shake hands with the murderers, then you are unworthy of the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward and the spirit of a sycophant."

"I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies another this right makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it."

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated."

"SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.

Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamities is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer! Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others."



Below you will find the works of Thomas Paine. The full text version of "Common Sense" may be found in Volume I.

http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1743&Itemid=27



Out of the crucible of the Revolutionary War, we see the essence of what America stands for and the values it survived by in those critical moments:

•freedom

•assertiveness - standing up for oneself

•resoluteness

•democracy

•competition

•patriotism