Factors of Individualistic Heroism in America

Calvin Li
2014/12/15
Factors of Individualistic Heroism in America
America has a history of only over two hundred years since the day it was established, but even within such a short period of time, America still has managed to cultivate and nurture its very own, distinct cultures and values that support it to climb up to the top of the world. Individualism, the core of the American values, is what has gotten America this far as it always puts human rights in the first place. And some certain peoples in certain times also play an important role in the success of America. They guided the road for the Americans and enlighten them with their visions, as what the American would like to call them, the American heroes. The American Individualism and the American Heroism are closely connected, and their combination becomes a peculiar value----Individualistic Heroism, which exists in America for reasons.
Historical Factor
In 1620, a ship named Mayflower transported a number of passengers, mostly English Puritans and separatists(collectively known today as “the Pilgrims”), to the New World from Plymouth England under the mission of establishing a colony there, which has been generally believed as the early European colonization of the future United States. By the time they arrived, the first governing document of the colony----The Mayflower Compact, was made and signed by the Pilgrims for the settlers consented to follow the compact’s rules and regulations for the sake of order and survival. The compact established a rudimentary form of democracy and encouraged each member to contribute to the welfare of the community. Being free from the brutal rule of the king and aristocracy as well as the rigid social hierarchy of England’s, settlers were able to explore and develop the New World at their own free will. In this new land, everyone’s striving to overcome difficulties and build up their ideal home with their bare hands, everyone’s effort matters here. They believed in themselves and were convinced that their own destinies were within their control.
However, too much liberty and the lack of effective supervision by a strong authority had been proved to be a problem in the following Westward Movement, violence and chaos arose during the expansion of American frontier to the west and the people who have committed crime could always get away with it. Peoples were living in fear and they started to look for a leader, a hero who’s with the intelligence and capacity to come to their rescues. That explains why the western movies were so popular in the 50s. Movies like High Noon (1952) and Shane (1953), tells a story about a cowboy comes out of no where saving the people from the villains by taking down the whole gang all by himself with only one gun and then disappearing again at the end of the movie. The adventurous spirit and the courage to face challenges reflected in those cowboys are exactly what people needed for survival and growth here in America. On top of that, liberty that the cowboys represent responses to people’s inner demand for individual freedom.

Religious Factor
In fact, the root of Individualistic Heroism can trace back to the 16th century, long before the Puritans reached the New World. In 1517, Martin Luther initiated the Protestant Reformation, challenged the authority of the pope and the Roman Catholic Church by pointing out that the pope was not the speaker and executor of God’s will, but instead, Christians could understand God at their own free will by reading the Bible themselves. As Luther proposes in his Bondage of the Will that people are by nature endowed with free-will in regard to “goods and possessions” with which a person “has the right of using, acting, and omitting according to his Free-will.”, his theology practically facilitated the development of Individualism in Europe.
John Calvin, another influential theologian during the Reformation, also had a similar idea about free will as Luther’s. “Man is said to have free will,” wrote Calvin, “because he acts voluntarily, and not by compulsion.”. But opposed to Luther’s theology, Calvin thinks human’s “free will” is in bondage to sin, only those who are predestined or chosen by God(God’s elect) could be saved while the rest of them damned to hell. And people could prove to be God’s elect through self-discipline as well as hard-works.
Puritans in England were greatly influenced by Calvin’s Theology, they came to the New World, believing that they were chosen by God and given the mission to build “a city upon hill” on this new land. We could say America’s self-identity as hero to the world today is in a way inherited from the Puritan beliefs.