Amerykański nacjonalizm

In: Sprawy narodowościowe, Heft 40, S. 137-148

Abstract

American NationalismThe phenomenon of American nationalism dates back to the pioneer times of the Pilgrims and Founding Fathers, who established first social and political relations creating origins of a future developed country. Throughout the past centuries the term "nationalism" from an American perspective was tangled to various definitions and sometimes official politics of the state. American nationalism was first represented by faithful Protestant settlers who believed strongly in a God's destined society. Based on that the first definition was coined by John Winthrop in his "City upon a Hill" – an idea of a land liberated from evil in all of its emanations, which is not distant and follows the will of an Absolute. One of the Founding Fathers – Thomas Paine in his Common Sense – developed Winthrop's idea and presented Americans as people with unlimited abilities. American writers and first colonists believed in a Biblical promised land that offered them unlimited potential of self-growth. This strength of self-consciousness paved the way for a scientific term of superpatriotism. Coined by Michael Parenti, this term encompasses both democratic ideas of Alexis de Tocqueville and vision of a self-made man, who is the organizer of American statehood. American nationalism also derives from the ideology of Americacentrism, with its roots in the 19th century concept of Manifest Destiny, proclaiming a nation that is endowed with an eternal right to secure the world for democracy. This idea led to a long term debate in American political and social life as the United States became more and more involved in international affairs since the beginning of the 20th century. In sum, the idea of American nationalism is the result of the American melting pot of religious, cultural and specific historical circumstances that built this nation.