“American exceptionalism”. I think I must have read conservative political writing for 30 years without encountering the phrase more than once, and that once would have been contrasting America to the monarchies of Europe.
Well then stop reading those magazines and crack a book. Alexis de Tocqueville coined the phrase back in 1835. Its been referred to ever since. Next to Burke, Smith and Locke(read them?) Tocqueville is the most reffed(he’s french guy ya know) outside this country’s founding.
“Now it’s become some sort of catch phrase. I wish someone would expand on how, exactly, we are all supposed to be exceptional”.
Now now, dont use that imperial “we” and lump us all in with a guy who doesnt know where the term “american exceptionalism” came from. I noticed how you said “the monarchies of europe”. Have ya noticed how democracies sprung up across the world after we got one off the ground? As for being a catch phrase, American exceptionalism is rarely used. I wish it was used more often. But we are exceptional. Hard put to find a country that has done as much for the world.
“Well then stop reading those magazines and crack a book.”
I’ll be glad to. I have the two volume Vintage edition of Democracy in America right here. And while I’ve read in it over the years I wouldn’t begin to pass myself off as an expert on the book. But you may be. So while I have your attention I’ll ask you to please point to where de Tocqueville uses the phrase “American exceptionalism”. It’s not in the index and not in the chapter headings. Boorstin doesn’t mention it in his preface, although he does credit de Tocqueville with having coined the term “individualism”. I don’t recall running across it, so I’m eager to learn from a de Tocqueville scholar.
“I noticed how you said “the monarchies of europe”. “
Yes, well de Tocqueville spent a good deal of his book contrasting the European character shaped by monarchical society with the individualistic character of American society shaped by democracy. American democracy made a big impression on de Tocqueville, hence the title of his book. Had American exceptionalism made a larger impact on him perhaps he would have titled his work Exceptionalism In America. But he didn’t. Go figure.
“Next to Burke, Smith and Locke(read them?) Tocqueville is the most reffed(he’s french guy ya know) outside this country’s founding.)”
You appear to have overlooked Montesquieu, arguably the most influential french guy upon the founders. Certainly upon Madison. I haven’t read Locke. Most of the Burke that I’ve read is from Russell Kirk’s “The Conservative Mind” and various essays on conservative revolution waged for the preservation of the rights of Englishmen. I’ve read Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments and his Wealth of Nations. What exactly was it about them that you want to discuss?