DBF Replies: Joshua and Lorenzo
Hello Joshua, I have just finished reading through your Discussion Board One post and I
must say that I very much enjoyed it. You made many valid points and I agree with your
assessment on what is American Exceptionalism. Unfortunately, there is a major culture war
happening within the United States itself where a large number of citizens, mostly people of
Liberal beliefs, have taken the false narrative that you had mentioned earlier. In Miller’s lecture
notes, he explains that many of those people see the term of America Exceptionalism as, “The
epitome of hubris, an arrogance that disrespects other nations.”1 Similar to you, I strongly
disagree with that notion and how wrong it is at its core.
Going further, I agree with your points on the Founding Fathers and their core beliefs on
self-government and natural rights. In today’s modern world, many people seem to forget or
dismiss the notion that there are rights that proceeded government and were given to man by a
higher power. Instead, many people believe that the government is the giver of all rights. This is
a very dangerous belief that has always led to total human disasters like Communism. Lastly, I
loved your personal story about America. Your appreciation and understanding of America with
rights compared to other countries is the truth and I wish many other Americans understood that
reality too. Overall, I thought that this was a very insightful post.
1 Miller, Ron. 2019. “Lecture Note-What is American Exceptionalism,” Accessed January
20, 2020.
https://learn.liberty.edu/bbcswebdav/courses/GOVT329_B01_202020/Lecture%20Note%20-
%20What%20is%20American%20exceptionalism.pdf
Hello Lorenzo, I have just finished reading through the Discussion Board One post and
while I do understand some of your points, I believe you have largely over simplified your issues
and ended them with the wrong conclusions. First, let me say that no nation or person is perfect
and let it be known that America is in no way above criticism. There is no better example of this
than America’s history with slavery; however, your understanding seems to lack the context.
Before discussing the Founding Fathers, it’s important that we go through a few things. First,
with slavery, America was no different than other nation at the time and in fact was the one of the
first to outlaw it. Second, America deservingly had to pay for this sin with a bloody civil war.
Lastly, America and its people have been working from its very birth to hold it up to its equal
rights standard. In doing so, it was, and still is, the freest country in the world.
In regards to the Founding Fathers and slavery, you simplified it and left out many key
facts. Some of these realities include that the Fathers themselves debated fiercely the notion of
slavery, many were against it, and that many of the civil rights leaders quoted them and the
Constitution as the reasonings for equal rights. Dr. Spalding summarized much of this when he
said, “The Constitution was made to secure the unalienable rights recognized in the Declaration
of Independence. As such, the slavery compromises included in the Constitution can be
understood-that is, can be understood to be prudential compromises rather than a surrender of
principle-only in light of the Founders' proposition that all men are created equal. In the end,
lamentably, it took a bloody civil war to reconcile the protections of the Constitution.”2 In short,
while I do agree America did not originally fulfill its promise of true freedom for all, many
debated against slavery from the very beginning. Lastly, your notion of our government just
2 Spalding, Matthew. “How to Understand Slavery and the American Founding.” The Heritage
Foundation. Accessed January 21, 2020. https://www.heritage.org/american-
founders/report/how-understand-slavery-and-the-american-founding.
