The United States has always fancied itself a nation apart -- "exceptional" in its values, traditions, and way of life. For most of the country's history, ideas about what made America distinctive generally were framed in terms of a liberal idealism rooted in the thought of John Locke and articulated by Jefferson, Madison, and other Founders. While some commentators also observed that the United States was a land of plenty, it wasn't until the mid-twentieth century that material abundance emerged as the principal standard of American "greatness," as measured by a host of new economic...
The United States has always fancied itself a nation apart -- "exceptional" in its values, traditions, and way of life. For most of the country's h...
