Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949
American exceptionalism
How do we define the soul of the American nation, the principles that bind us together?
Editor's Note: Jon Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and a former Executive Editor and Executive Vice President at Random House. Read more >>
To say America is exceptional does not imply superiority, but acknowledges that the nation taught the world how to transfer power peacefully and translate individual liberty into a governing creed.
Imagine it is April 30, 1789, a sunny spring day, and you are a European who has traveled to New York to see the inauguration of George Washington as the first president of the United States. Read more >>