Origins of American Exceptionalism I

There are numerous historical and cultural reasons for our exaggerated sense of nationhood. Let us go easy on ourselves, try to understand, and after that see what we may want to do about it.

The second British colony in North America is the starting point. The Pilgrims who settled in Massachusetts Bay, like the Virginians of the first colony, were running a publicly traded corporation. Unlike Virginia, the settlers owned majority stock in the company and therefore were self-governing, Also unlike the first colony, the settlers all belonged to a fervent Christian denomination of Separatists characterized by congregational governance and an ultra-Calvinist outlook on life. They often called their colony the City on the Hill, a reference to a saying by Jesus which meant they saw their society as pointing the way to righteousness, Inherent in that concept is the idea that they were closer to God than the rest of the world and inescapably superior.

In 1647 the colony passed the well-known Old Deluder Satan Act, which mandated the teaching of reading to all children. The purpose was to counteract ignorance, which according to them is a recipe for sin, and to enable them to read the Bible for themselves. With it and two prior laws, Massachusetts took the lead in education in the colonies. Such has been the influence of this push for education, that many Americans mistakenly think that Massachusetts was the first colony, a misconception the colony and subsequent state has not felt any need to correct.

The resulting conflation of government, religion, and education continued well into the 20th century. It is one reason that the schools taught that the US was superior to all other countries and in turn why so many still accept the idea without questioning it and resent those who want to rethink our concept.

A questionable logic derives from this tradition the conclusion that God must be on our side. If Biblical principles are the foundation of our law and if we are the City on the Hill, then we are by definition the best, a sort of new chosen people. Please note the fallacy: the premises are not necessarily acceptable and there is no middle term, therefore the conclusion does not follow. No matter, that is lost on most people. It is much more comfortable and tempting to see ourselves as morally superior and therefore enjoying a status no other country has. To think that in God's eyes we are just like all the other people in the world is an intolerable reduction in status.

A dispassionate and open reading of the Bible is a vivifying dose of humility that we all need.

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