How have other countries impacted America/ Is America exceptional?

Kasey Lakin    How have other countries impacted America/ Is America exceptional?       

America is often called the "melting pot" because of diversity of all sorts. This aspect of America is what sets it above the rest of the world. America is correctly considered exceptional because it is made up of bits and pieces of other countries. As a fairly new country, America was able to learn from the mistakes of existing cultures while taking the positives and adopting them as their own ways. Socially and in terms of government, America is made up of the best qualities. 

From the start of its history, America has been using parts of foreign governments to build their own. When America was separating from England to become an independent country, the founding fathers picked and choosed what they liked from the English and from other cultures ways. They learned from their mistreatment as an English colony that heavily taxing citizens while giving them little representation does not work. America knew they did not want to be a monarchy, like England was, because they wanted more voice for the people, rather than have the King make all the decisions. Thus they looked outwardly to the government styles of Ancient Greece and Rome, who had been successful many years earlier as a direct democracy and a republic. America decided to take elements of each form and become a representative democracy, a form of government where elected leaders represent a group of common people. Despite this bitterness of England, America still admired their government in some ways. The U.S Constitution, written in 1787, is influenced partially by English documents: The Magna Carta (1215) that limits absolute power of the monarch, The Petition of Right (1628) which gives commoners a sort of voice, and the English Bill of Rights (1688) which extends the rights of the citizen. All these documents are contributors to the American basis, and provide government ideas that are still prevalent today. These aspects of government have withheld through time and have helped America succeed. Learning from other countries failures and accomplishments has made the American government exceptional. 

The freedoms given to the citizens of America are one of the most exceptional qualities America holds. These ideas of religious intolerance and equality came from learning and building off other countries. America began with the Pilgrims, coming to the new world to escape the persecution they faced in England for their Puritan (or Protestant) rather than Catholic views. Since the Protestant Reformation in 1517, Christianity has continually divided into sectors due to different ideas and interpretations of the bible. With these new ideas came major disputes between the existing Roman Catholic Church and the new Protestants in European countries. In France from 1562 to 1598, there was so much fighting between the French Catholics and the Huguenots (Protestants) that the period was called the French Wars of Religion. In England, between the ruling of Henry VIII and the rulings of his children, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth, what religion was accepted and which was persecuted went back and forth. This confusion ultimately led to the English Civil War from 1642 to 1651. Breaking off from the chaos in Europe and starting new was the idea behind coming to America, and it continued as America grew independent. Looking at past mistakes, the framers of the Constitution feared the turmoil caused by religious differences and decided that America would be a secular nation, where there would be separation of church and state. Along with being tolerated for their beliefs, Americans are also considered equal despite any differences. Most of America’s ideas of equality root from the Enlightenment thinkers of Europe. Englishmen John Locke believed in "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness", words placed right into the Constitution. Jean Jacques Rousseau of France believed that all men are born free and deserve the same natural freedoms. These concepts were known well by Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, and helped them form America's principles in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Still to this day, minorities come to America in search for the same freedom and equality that the Pilgrims sought out for. But today they come to a society ready to give them what they deserve.    

Competing against countries that have lasted for centuries is an advantage for America. Americans have used their knowledge of the past to take what works and exclude what makes countries fall apart. Mixing policies and ideas from across the world, the United States has formed an exceptional country.