In the final moments of her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Vice President Kamala Harris said it was time to fight for this country we love, to fight for the ideals we cherish, and to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth. She then paused and said, the privilege and pride of being an American. That sentence is the most full-throated and sincere expression of American exceptionalism since the presidency of George H.W. Bush.
For Democrats, it has been a perilous concept for longer than that. American exceptionalism is the idea that the U.S., because of its unique history and origin, because of its founding documents, the Declaration and the Constitution, has a special role not only in the creation of modern democracy but in preserving it around the world.
American exceptionalism is a 20th century term, but the idea is older than the nation. Its inspiration comes from John Winthrop's famous 1630 sermon in which he said America shall be as a city upon a hill. It's a biblical reference that Ronald Reagan made famous and used hundreds of times in his political career.
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