Twilight of the Republic: Empire and Exceptionalism in the American Political Tradition
Justin B. Litke
Abstract
Taking issue with the way scholarship on American exceptionalism has been conducted for the past few decades, Litke argues that examining the term and idea reveals a profound shift in Americans’ self-conception since the Puritan and founding periods. The dominant social scientific approach to the topic has missed, he argues, the chief elements of its importance to Americans as citizens, namely the reasons America might be unique in the world or in history and what practical ramifications such uniqueness might have for its conduct both at home and abroad. “Imperial American exceptionalism” is t ... More
Keywords: American exceptionalism, American political tradition, imperialism, Puritans, founders, framers, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, Progressives
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2013 | Print ISBN-13: 9780813142203 |
| Published to Kentucky Scholarship Online: January 2014 | DOI:10.5810/kentucky/9780813142203.001.0001 |
