American exceptionalism

American exceptionalism is the belief that 

 the US is unique and specialAmerican Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword. Seymour Martin Lipset. New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc. 1996. p. 18. .
 the US has a unique mission to transform the world
 the US is superior to other nations because of its unique history and mission

 Unique nation 
The US started from the American Revolutionary War. Martin Lipset calls it the "first new nation".Seymour Martin Lipset, The first new nation (1963). It developed an American set of ideas (Americanism) based on republicanism, democracy, laissez-faire (no government interference in economy), liberty, equality, individualism (importance of individual).Lipset, American Exceptionalism, pp. 1, 17–19, 165–74, 197

 Unique mission 
Abraham Lincoln said in the Gettysburg address (1863), that Americans have a responsibility to make sure that the "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."  

 Related pages 

 American decline
 American imperialism
 Americanism (ideology)
 Americanization
 Americentrism
 Anti-Americanism
 Juche (nationalist North Korean state ideology)
 Sonderweg (German exceptionalism)
 Yamato-damashii (Japanese spirit)
 Nihonjinron (Japanese uniqueness)

References

Category:Ethnocentrism
Category:American culture