american foreign policy

Exceptionalism

one of the basic themes in the American self-conception is that the nation is in some way exceptional. Something new on earth, an example to human kind. As David Campbell suggests in his 1998 book Writing Security suggests, this exceptionism is deeply related to the Protestant Errand In the Wilderness. That is, expansion into the wilderness that was to become the United States was, as Bercovich suggests, a making of a new world or, in their words, a “New Jerusalem.”

Winthrop first articulates this in his famous 1630 “A Model of Christian Charity” in which he suggests that the settlers truly strive towards excellence and right living but the phrase has been transformed from a call to excellence to one of example and exemplar. Both President’s Kennedy and Reagan “retasked” the phrase and gave it the “beacon like” sense of hope.

The notion that the US is “the last best hope of Mankind” continues to resonate with the American people. According to a 2010 poll conducted by the Rasmussen Report 51% of Americans believe that the US is exceptional [click on the poll link]. This is powerful statement on what Americans believe and guides both policy and politics.

Since this aspect is so critical it is worth considering in some detail.

Images: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Winthrop.jpg, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:REAGANWH.jpg,

Isolationism.

The third aspect of American Foreign Policy is that it is characterized by “Isolationism.” That is, the United States wanted to remain above the power politics of the European Empires.

This is best articulated by President Washington in his 1796 Farewell Address from which I have pulled two quotes.

In the first, Washington argues that in Union that the States United will find strength to resist conflict and warns against the corrupting nature of a large standing military force (recall that one of the reasons FOR the War of Independence was the pernicious affects of such institutions).

The second quote is the most famous for our purposes. The US should honor it current relationships but not undertake further “entanglements.”

Isolation is often taken to mean that the United States simply turned its back upon the rest of the world and had little no relations with the European powers. However, your survey of the timelines provide earlier should challenge that notion.

Reading

· Beinart. "The Beautiful Lie Of American Omnipotence." National Journal (2010): 8. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 26 Sept. 2011.

· Mead. “The American Foreign Policy Legacy.” Foreign Affairs. Vol.81, No. 1, January/February 2002.