Criticism Against American Exceptionalism - Literature review Example

Download file to see previous pages American exceptionalism is a strong belief encompassed in neo-conservatism. From a historiographical point of view, it can be noted that one of the key features of American exceptionalism is its norm of glossing over what should be considered as “bad” history, for instance, segregation, its treatment of Native Americans, slavery, and the South of Jim Crow, and how it lays emphasis on mythologizing the Founding Fathers, George Washington, and the US constitution, the Wild West”, and how the united states involves itself in world wars. American exceptionalism may perceive the United States via the lens of a certain historical determinism for the US, which is very distinct from the wide historical norms in the other parts of the world (Ruggie 64).
This belief may, for different reasons, perceive the United States as a nation that should not be a victim of practices like dictatorship and terrorism. The United States is actually expected to assume the role of an activist all over the world in the promotion of “freedom” or its state of “shining example”. This type of moral superiority that is presumptive, virtually, is not always and is never embraced by the other countries, and is mostly resented, specifically when the United States has a remarkable history of its engagement in the diplomacy of a gunboat. The Americans’ belief in American exceptionalism is one of the reasons people from all over the world express their resentments or dislike for the USA. In the year 2012, Dave Dougherty and Larry Schweikart, the conservative historians from the U.S, gave their perception about American exemptionalism. They argued out that it was founded upon four pillars which comprised of the sanctity accorded to private property, free-market capitalism, morality and virtues that are deeply-rooted in protestant Christianity and fourthly, the Common Law (Schweikart 42). ...Download file to see next pagesRead More