2 - American Exceptionalism: Republicanism as Ideology

Summary

The relationship of republicanism to exceptionalism poses three problems: the nature of the ideology of republicanism; the extent, if any, of its effect on American development; and finally how, if at all, this relationship caused American society to differ from other societies. The three answers to these problems are that Americans shaped the ideology of republicanism to meet their needs, that in its altered form republicanism had a profound effect on American development, and that republicanism made American society different from other societies.

Throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century, Americans were self-consciously republican. They created a republican empire of liberty and equality by admitting new states into the union, and they invented the mass-based political party to facilitate its operation as a democracy. To enable the masses to cast intelligent ballots, Americans advocated universal education at public expense and preached the virtues of adult education. While American literature and fine arts remained indebted to European masters, American poets and painters cast about for inspiration at home, and Walt Whitman appropriately celebrated the virtues of the democratic republic in “free verse.” In addition, republican egalitarianism spawned new religions, inspired social reform movements, and, ironically, embroiled both sides in a long civil war.