Nearly two centuries after the term “American exceptionalism” was coined by the French nobleman, diplomat, and historian Alexis de Tocqueville, there is still much debate about what it means. De Tocqueville wrote the classic two-volume set, Democracy in America, after a long tour of America in the early 1800s. This work is still considered perhaps the most defining analysis of the American Republic ever written. Is this most famous description of America still accurate? Are we still exceptional?
It would be hard to find any study of any country that is wider in scope, deeper and more brilliant in its analysis, as well as prophetic, as De Tocqueville’s. He not only described in detail the major factors that had secured the American Republic such stability and prosperity at the time of his visit, but even foretold accurately much of what America would become. For example, he foresaw the time when Russia and America would be the two greatest powers in the world, which of course happened after World War II. The Russian-led Soviet Union, and the American Republic, became the two counterpoints that dominated the world for decades.
De Tocqueville lived and served as a leading French politician during the extremely turbulent times after The French Revolution. The French Revolution was followed by two more revolutions and a coup over just the following decades. Viewing the chaos in his own country, De Tocqueville was amazed by how the young American Republic was enjoying a remarkable stability and prosperity after its revolution. So, he came to study what made America so different from not only France, but all the old European countries, and perhaps every other country in history.
After his extensive travels in America, De Tocqueville did not find just one great difference that made America unique, but many. He saw the young American Republic as very different from Europe, an exception in basic ways. Of course, “exceptional” does not necessarily mean better, but just different. However, De Tocqueville saw basic ways that America was different, but also better. His brilliance and his honesty enabled him to understand things about America that perhaps no other Europeans have understood to this day, and only a few Americans have.
Understanding American exceptions is crucial for understanding the major factors that have enabled America to become the strongest and most prosperous nation in history, as well as the attempt by many not to degrade and undermine the sources of our strength and prosperity.
I have travelled internationally extensively since the 1980s, often making three or more visits to Europe each year. Europe has a rich and deep culture and history, much of which became foundational in our country. Americans have a lot to be thankful for in the European roots and heritage, but we also have much to be thankful for in the ways that we are different.
I have listened to many Europeans who wanted to share with me their insights about America. Unless they have lived here for a good while, I always felt they had a profound misunderstanding of America and Americans. Some who have lived in America for a considerable time still did not seem to understand why we are different in many ways, which is understandable since not many Americans do either. Even articles written by academic Europeans about America did not truly understand us. Why?
We all have filters we perceive the world through. A big factor in the formation that make up these filters is our sources of information. At the time I started traveling, CNN was a fairly trustworthy news source in America, so I expected CNN International to be likewise. I was shocked to discover how it was almost entirely anti-American propaganda. It seemed that every story was being spun to make America look bad. The European networks seemed to echo this in their coverage of America, which of course we could expect.
Perhaps Europeans assumed that CNN International was accurate because it was an American media company, but I was deeply troubled by how anyone could do this kind of thing to their own country. It is one thing to be negative and challenging at home, but to spread lies and distortions around the world was a new level of treachery, or cultural treason.
Another factor in the bad perception much of the world has about America could be that it is really hard for anyone from another country to grasp just how different all of the major pillars of our culture are from what they have known and have any kind of grid for understanding. This includes such important elements as religion, government, education, and the economy. All of this contributes to the culture, and such unique ingredients in these areas have resulted in a very unique culture.
American Christianity made a significant departure from European Christianity with the first colonies. In my experience in Europe, it seems most Europeans tend to view American Christianity from their experience with their own very different, and much more formal and institutional Christianity. Few seem to grasp that even American Catholicism and Protestantism are very different from their European counterparts even though they are rooted in the old countries.
The faith of many of the first American colonists was born out of unique new movements seeking to recover the biblical, apostolic faith. These were fiercely persecuted by the religious institutions of Europe who were threatened by and could not tolerate these differences. Those being persecuted for their faith were induced to become colonists by being promised the freedom of religion in “the new world.” With this freedom they began to see even more deeply into Scriptures, and American Christianity became even more different from its European expressions.
Likewise, the first English colonists to America were promised self-government to induce them to come. Even as European nations were gradually embracing and trying to apply to their governments some of the basic principles of democracy, there were still many restraints on them from their culture, heritage, and prevailing academic and religious institutions. Not so in America, and so what emerged here was profoundly different than what was evolving in Europe, or anywhere else.
There are other factors that made America an exception. The “new world” was far more prone to embrace the new than the old, and virtually every aspect of our culture emerged as different from the old world. These differences were better for us, and we can thank our ancestors in every generation for not being intimidated to conform to anyone else’s opinions of what we should be.
No doubt we have at times succumbed to the temptation of going to the other extreme and seeking to impose what we have on others, but thankfully most of our leaders have resisted this tendency. The deep devotion to freedom in Americans has usually kept us in the place of allowing others to seek their own way just as we have.
Even though it seems that America is mostly misunderstood by outsiders, it does not mean that all of their insights are not without merit, or helpful. Even so, how did De Tocqueville discern America and Americans so well when even today few Americans do? And what was it that he saw which made us so “exceptional?”
In his conclusions about America, De Tocqueville saw a unique “goodness” in Americans. They sought to be good and do good. In his time this may have been very rare in Europe, but in America it was so common it was rare for people not to be this way. This reveals a basic “moral compass.” He traced this to American churches, which were very informal and seemingly lacking in structure compared to those of Europe. However, in place of ritual there was a depth and power to the messages preached in the average American church that was remarkable. These messages were so challenging it was like having your moral and spiritual compass checked and reset on true north every week.
Others visiting America during this period were also surprised by how American lives revolved around their churches and what they learned in the services. Church services were the most exciting part of the week for most people, and all week long the general conversation of the people was likely to be the previous Sunday’s sermon. It was said that just a few years of attending the average church at the time was the equivalent of getting a bachelor’s degree from the university.
There were periods in American history when this was not so much the case, and times when it was even more so. During the Great Awakenings, spiritual fervor rolled through the nation like great waves of the sea. There were also times when debauchery and corruption seemed to sweep over the nation, such as we see today.
To the untrained eye these may seem to be natural cycles, but in fact they are very unnatural. The “natural” trend is not cyclical, but a steady decay. History reveals a cultural Law of Entropy. The Law of Entropy in physics states that everything in nature will trend toward decay and ultimate chaos unless acted upon by an outside intelligent source. This is why our houses, cars, and everything else we make will deteriorate unless we are intelligent enough to keep them maintained. The same is true with a government, an economy, or any of the other pillars of a nation or culture.
Biblical prophets repeatedly conveyed that wise, intelligent leaders were a blessing from God for the nations that sought Him and obeyed His ways. Foolish, capricious leaders were a judgment of God for nations that did not follow Him. This judgment was worse for nations that had known and followed Him, but departed from Him, than for the nations that never knew Him.
No nation or empire in history has been strong enough to avoid these consequences of departing from the Lord. If He would even allow Israel, the only nation to serve Him in the world at the time, to be destroyed and all of her people carried into bondage, can we presume that America is so important and vital to His purposes that He will not allow us to be subjected to the same consequences?
So, the answer to having poor leaders whose folly and corruption is destroying the core and fabric of our Nation is to return to following and obeying the Lord. The cycles of nations that are degraded, but then rise again, are the result of the increasing trauma resulting from poor and immature leaders waking up the people to what folly departing from the Lord is.
Psalm 2 foretells a time when the leaders of this world will all be trying to sever their ties to the Lord. The result is these nations being shattered like pottery struck by an iron rod. Will ours be one of these, or will we awaken again, and the cycle of our life continue, carrying us even higher and making us even better? We decide.
Of the many influences that have shaped the United States of America into a distinctive Nation and people, none may be said to be more fundamental and enduring than the Bible…. The Bible and its teachings helped form the basis of the Founding Fathers abiding belief in the inalienable rights of the individual—rights which they found implicit in the Bible’s teachings of the inherent worth and dignity of each individual. ~President Ronald Reagan
Audacity is characterized by daring, but it is daring that is founded on confidence and a thorough understanding of conflict and its potential consequences. It is carried out with decisiveness. ~R. Redwine
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