Naturalism on ''Sister Carrie''
What is ‘American Exceptionalism’ and what are its (religious) origins?
‘The position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one. (…) Let us cease, then, to view all democratic nations under the example of the American people.’
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835/1840
When in 1497 John Cabot and his sailing crew landed on the North American coast, he was guiding the first colonists to a land blessed and chosen by God. He had only little idea that the land he set his feet on would later become an ‘exceptional’ country. America was regarded as the ‘chosen land’, ‘where the lord will create a new heaven, and a new earth’, ‘a New
Jerusalem in which Christ’s second coming will establish a new paradise on earth’ by the first protestant colonists who settled in North America. The protestant Calvinists believed in the idea of predestination, and so the American people were regarded as the chosen people to fulfill the mission given by God. They based these ideas on the biblical reference, ‘You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden’, a speech which was first praised by Jon Winthrop, and constitutes the foundation of the American people’s mission to spread the American ideology on liberty, equality, democracy and success throughout the world. Thus, this essay will examine the concept of ‘American Exceptionalism’, its origins and its interrelation with the ‘American Dream’ and the American Revolution.
The first protestant colonists saw in the New World an opportunity to escape the political and societal restraints of the old Europe. The belief that the ‘Promised Land’ was the site chosen by God to free its people, a wide territory of unlimited potential constituted the main reasons, which led the colonists to flee from the Old Continent’s religious persecution, societal and political restrictive organization. Thus,
‘The position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one. (…) Let us cease, then, to view all democratic nations under the example of the American people.’
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835/1840
When in 1497 John Cabot and his sailing crew landed on the North American coast, he was guiding the first colonists to a land blessed and chosen by God. He had only little idea that the land he set his feet on would later become an ‘exceptional’ country. America was regarded as the ‘chosen land’, ‘where the lord will create a new heaven, and a new earth’, ‘a New
Jerusalem in which Christ’s second coming will establish a new paradise on earth’ by the first protestant colonists who settled in North America. The protestant Calvinists believed in the idea of predestination, and so the American people were regarded as the chosen people to fulfill the mission given by God. They based these ideas on the biblical reference, ‘You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden’, a speech which was first praised by Jon Winthrop, and constitutes the foundation of the American people’s mission to spread the American ideology on liberty, equality, democracy and success throughout the world. Thus, this essay will examine the concept of ‘American Exceptionalism’, its origins and its interrelation with the ‘American Dream’ and the American Revolution.
The first protestant colonists saw in the New World an opportunity to escape the political and societal restraints of the old Europe. The belief that the ‘Promised Land’ was the site chosen by God to free its people, a wide territory of unlimited potential constituted the main reasons, which led the colonists to flee from the Old Continent’s religious persecution, societal and political restrictive organization. Thus,