What is American Exceptionalism? Well, it’s what sets America apart from all other nations. It’s often explained as the American Experiment. What we experience here can only be experienced here. America is unique unto itself.Conservative commentator Dennis Prager has an interesting video called “The American Trinity”, not to be confused with the Holy Trinity. In it he explains the Trinity as it is found on our money. 1. E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one). 2. In God We Trust, and 3. Liberty. According to Mr. Prager, this is found nowhere else in World History.
Dennis Prager’s video here: http://prageru.com/1.htm
I believe it all hinges on “In God We Trust”. As you will see, from the very beginning God has played a significant roll in America, starting with Christopher Columbus.
In the book “The Light and The Glory” Peter Marshall and David Manuel provide the following quote from Columbus: “It was the Lord who put into my mind the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies. There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit, because He comforted me with rays of marvelous inspiration from the Holy Scriptures…”
“I am a most unworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord of grace and mercy, and they have covered me completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvelous presence. For the execution of the journey to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps. It is simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah had prophesied…”
“No on should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Savior, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service.”
So it is obvious that Christopher Columbus was seeking God’s heart and giving Him the glory when he set out for America.
So let’s jump forward all the way to 1630. While still aboard the ship Arbella, John Winthrop gave a sermon titled “A Model of Christian Charity”. He told the future Massachusetts Bay colonists that their new community would be a "city upon a hill", watched by the world. This of course is from Matthew 5:14 (NIV) "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
Moving ahead to 1787, the U.S. Constitution was being ratified and it was the custom prior to an election or a major vote for a prominent minister to be chosen to deliver an “election sermon”. The choice? Samuel Langdon, a 1740 graduate of Harvard and a close friend of Samuel Adams. He started his sermon by reading Deuteronomy 4:5-8 (NIV) 5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." 7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?”
Langdon went on to explain how Moses had given the law to the Israelites. He then said: “If I am not mistaken, instead of the twelve tribes of Israel, we may substitute the thirteen states of the American union, and see this application plainly offering itself, viz.—That as God in the course of his kind providence hath given you an excellent constitution of government, founded on the most rational, equitable, and liberal principles, by which all that liberty is secured which a people can reasonably claim, and you are empowered to make righteous laws for promoting public order and good morals; and as he has moreover given you by his son Jesus Christ, who is far superior to Moses, a complete revelation of his will, and a perfect system of true religion, plainly delivered in the sacred writings; it will be your wisdom in the eyes of the nations, and your true interest and happiness, to conform your practice in the strictest manner to the excellent principles of your government, adhere faithfully to the doctrines and commands of the gospel, and practice every public and private virtue. By this you will increase in numbers, wealth, and power, and obtain reputation and dignity among the nations: whereas, the contrary conduct will make you poor, distressed, and contemptible.”
Samuel Langdon was warning what would happen if we ceased to be a City on a Hill.
On January 9, 1961 President Elect John F. Kennedy delivered an address to the General Court of Massachusetts and said this: “I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship Arbella three hundred and thirty-one years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier. "We must always consider", he said, "that we shall be as a city upon a hill—the eyes of all people are upon us".
President Ronald Reagan also used the image in his 1984 acceptance of the Republican Party nomination and in his January 11, 1989 farewell speech to the nation:”I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still.”
On September 8, 2010 an article in the Jerusalem Post by Caroline B. Glick about the 8/28 Rally in Washington said this: “Although Beck called the rally “Restoring Honor,” it wasn’t really about restoring honor. It was about restoring something even more important. It was about restoring the American creed.
That creed is so ingrained that it has served as the subtext of every major political and civic speech by every American political and civic leader since the 18th century.
The American creed has two main components.
First, its core belief is that America is an exceptional country and that the American people are an exceptional nation. Second, it asserts that as Abraham Lincoln first said outright, America is the last, best hope for mankind.”
Jerusalem Post http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=187480
We must again be a “shinning City on a Hill” if we are to remain the last, best hope for mankind.
I’ll close with a quote attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville, a French jurist and aristocrat who wrote a book in 1835 titled “Democracy in America”. “I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers - and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce - and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution - and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”
So are we still a “Shinning City on a Hill? I believe we are, we may be a little tarnished but Americans are now awake and the polish is in the hands of the voters this November 2, 2010.
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