In the third installment of his 'Letters from an American Farmer', French-born Hector St John de Crèvecoeur invites us to consider "What then is the American, this new man?". It is this idea, such is its depth, that almost single-handedly constitutes the premise for Crèvecoeur's series of letters.
In his belief that the creation of the American nation and by default, its own ethnicity and social order marked a sufficient departure from the traditions of the Old World to label the American as a 'new man', Crèvecoeur attributes a sense of the 'exceptional' to the American's fundamental identity. However, while this manifests itself here as an example of logistical exceptionalism through the American's geographical translocation and cultural and political differentiation, Crèvecoeur quickly adapts his notion of 'exceptionalism' to encompass ideas of identity, ideology and potential beyond the aforementioned literal translations of the concept. This is made clear when Crèvecoeur states that it is these new Americans who "are carrying along with them that great mass of arts, sciences, vigour, and industry which began long since in the east" and that it is they who "will finish the great circle". Here, Crèvecoeur argues that the future progression of these disciplines (which may be characterized broadly as European products of the enlightenment) is only possible in the New World while implying that the ability of the European peoples to finish this "great circle" has withered in light of their flaws as a set of monarchies, cultures and sovereign nations. Consequently, Crèvecoeur firmly establishes this notion of 'American Exceptionalism' wherein the American has an innate capacity for excellence that significantly surpasses his global contemporaries.
Although Crèvecoeur's articulation of his phenomenon is perhaps the most concise and poignant, its origins perhaps lie in the writings of John Winthrop and his often-cited phrase of "a city on a hill" in reference to the colony of New England. In this quotation, Winthrop uses the idea of the 'city' as an epitome of civilization and its connotations of resisting the Native 'Savages' and imposing God's will on the land as an optimistic aspiration for the utopia that he imagines the New World might become. Furthermore, the concept of this city existing on a hill suggests that this civilization is a project worthy of admiration that will supersede previous failed attempts at creating this religiously-mandated social order, therefore alluding to a kind of 'American Exceptionalism', even before the idea of America was fully conceived on a cultural and geopolitical level. While Winthrop's words (pre-dating Crèvecoeur's letter by some 150 years) perhaps constitute the first instance of an attempt to define or advocate the existence of 'American Exceptionalism', his words seem less precise on the matter, and offer a wider scope for interpretation in comparison with Crèvecoeur's notion of "the great circle". Consequently, Crèvecoeur generally retains credit for the origins of the ideology, although it is nonetheless important to recognize its literary longevity and gradual emergence from the traditions of the colonial discourse on early settlement.
Arguably the single most iconic demonstration of 'American Exceptionalism' came in 1886 with the de
dication of the Statue of Liberty in New York City, NY. An interpretation of the statue with specific reference to the ideology of 'American Exceptionalism' is overwhelmingly accessible, perhaps accounting for the statue's iconic status as its principal example in popular culture. The connotations of Liberty herself holding aloft a torch as a kind of example and guiding light draws striking parallels with the writings of Winthrop and Crèvecoeur. Indeed, the latter's acknowledgement of America's inherent European qualities is represented through the statue's origins as a French-designed and constructed monument. This similarity arguably reveals the fragility of 'American Exceptionalism' as an ideology and represents some of the internal tensions and definitions of identity that have interacted to form America and its resultant exceptionalism.
Finally, it is worthy to note how this ideology has remained embedded deep within the contemporary consciousness of America's politics and culture. In 1998, then secretary-of-state Madeleine Albright stated on NBC's Today Show in reference to growing political tensions in Iraq that:
"if we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future, and we see the danger here to all of us."
In this statement, Albright emphatically reinforces the ideology of 'American Exceptionalism' through a denigration of other sovereign states who she implies are incapable of dealing with the threat in the way that America can. Furthermore, she uses this perceived strength as a way of justifying military action in Iraq which, when finally manifested between 2003-2011, proved extremely divisive both internally and externally for the United States, earning much scorn from the global community. Ultimately, Albright's statement provides more questions than it does answers and, as scholars and literary analysts, should force us to reconsider the way in which the concept of 'American Exceptionalism' has evolved from its origins in the writings of those such as Crèvecoeur.
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