Sheldon Stern, American History News Network - The idea of “American exceptionalism” has become a political hot potato—reflexively embraced on the right and passionately denounced on the left. Perhaps we can gain some valuable insight into the historical merits of this concept by turning to one of the most underappreciated, but arguably the most brilliant of the Revolutionary generation, John Adams.
Adams was confident that the new United States was on the cusp of a brilliant future. But he did not believe that Americans, as a people, were exempt from the flaws and faults of other nations and peoples. “There is no special Providence for Americans … and their nature is the same with that of others. …We are not a chosen people … and we must and we shall go the way of all earth.” Americans, he warned, were not immune to the hubris, greed, and foolishness of the rest of mankind.He was convinced that negative rather than benign forces had largely shaped—and would continue to shape—human political behavior; and Americans were no exception.
In fact, Adams shared the prevailing view of human nature in the late 18th century: people, especially in the political sphere, were believed to be driven by irrational motives and corrupt passions. Vanity, prejudice and the desire for personal gain were the real motive forces in political behavior. Human beings would therefore appear unlikely to construct an orderly and stable political system. The framers of the Constitution embraced this view of human nature and endeavored to construct a system to neutralize the problem. The essence of their solution was to channel this inherently flawed human material into productive ends by balancing harmful things against one another. The theory of counterpoise (stressed by James Madison in the Federalist Papers) argued that negative human traits could be harnessed and counterbalanced to create a workable and mutually beneficial system. This is the philosophical principle behind the practical implementation of checks and balances in the Constitution.
3 comments:
Adams hired Jefferson to give democracy a charter in the declaration of independence. That all people are created equal is an ironic form of exceptionalism, that Americans are defined by taking exception to exceptionalism and slavery. Lincoln cited the event 4 score and 7 years earlier as the birth of freedom relative to emancipation. But discussion of these events is not socially acceptable today.
Wasn't Manifest Destiny a form of American Exceptionalism -- the idea that the colonizers from Europe could ethnically cleanse the continent from themselves; that they were better than the Indigenous Peoples?
Clearly the Adams faction would be on one side of a
defining dispute. The exceptionalists were Jacksonians, Polk, Jefferson Davis from one of the wealthiest aristocracies the world has ever seen. The slaveowners were imperialists, invaded Mexico, later the Pacific, gave us the confederate branch of government-the CIA. The Antimasonic Adams tradition, the 3 paper branches, surrendered after the battle of Dealey Plaza.
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