American Exceptionalism

Every drop of blood drawn by the lash, paid by another drawn by the sword

Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address

Holderness, NH Civil War Dead

Whenever I hear some right winger trot out the phrase, "American Exceptionalism" I cringe.  I have never quite understood what Rush Limbaugh and his fellow travelers mean by this, except something on the order of "We are special among all others" or "We are God's chosen people" or something like that. 

I have to think this belief emanates from some wish to believe yourself special, better and from a deep ignorance of the rest of the world.  Or, it's just part of what drives so many racists--a deep sense of inferiority and the desire to feel superior to someone. Whatever it is, wherever it comes from, I can't help but think it's pathological.

On the other hand, I do think there is something exceptional about The United States of America, and I was surprised to see it flick across the screen during an episode of "The West Wing."

It happened quickly and was gone--during an exchange between Josh and a Black civil rights lawyer who was arguing for reparations for American Blacks for having been held in slavery, a trillion dollars, give or take.  And Josh replied with a thought I've had myself, but knowing my own ignorance of the world and world history, I've been loathe to voice: "Well, I might point out roughly 600,000 white guys died to pay back that debt, which, as far as I know, is the only time that's happened in all history."

Personally, I'm well aware of my own ignorance of world history. My last course was high school and most of what I read since  is about American history, so admittedly, I'm a provincial. But, I have to ask, when, in the history of mankind, has a nation fought a civil war to free an underclass, to right so monstrous wrong as America did?

Oh, I know, millions went off to war, and each had his own reasons for going, and many, if not most, of the union troops were indifferent, if not hostile, to the cause of emancipation. But only the most entrenched revisionist can believe that war was fought, at it's base, for any other reason than to crush slavery. Without that, there would have been no conflict between North and South, no need to cry "States Rights!"  Lincoln finally admitted it publicly, during his second inaugural address, one of his finest, and he said it often enough in less public settings.  There is a possibly apocryphal story about his meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote the famous screed against slavery, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and he bent over the diminutive author to shake her hand and he said, "So, this is the little lady who wrote the book that started the great big war."

Oh, yes, there are those who will say it was all about "States Rights," but that's just the dodge to make the Southern "Cause" more palatable. It was then (and would still be now) hard to say, "We are fighting for slavery. We are fighting to keep people enslaved, to keep people in chains, while we profit from their labors." So they try to shift the discussion. Well, it is all about economics. It's about our right to be left alone, to manage our own affairs. It's about your arrogance in wanting to tell me how to live my life. The South has cotton and cotton requires plantations and plantations require we do what is economically viable to keep the cotton flowing to Northern and European mills.  And so on. 

It was about slavery. 

The drumbeat to end that peculiar institution started in Northern churches and enough people up there were unwilling to simply live with the idea that something really evil was festering down South, they were willing to march off to war, and to send their sons and their neighbors' sons off to die. 

You can see the results now in every small town in New Hampshire. From Holderness to Gilmanton, you walk among the headstones and see the dates etched in stone: B. 1845 D. 1863.  Not every 18-28 year old in those graveyards died in the war, but you know most of them did. The war was fought by every little hamlet from Maine to Florida, from Minnesota to Mississippi. 

And the response of the South was--what have we ever done to you? Let us do what we do--as long as you are not injured, why come down and make war on us?

Now, this is a blog with readers from across the globe. I know that because Google has these nifty little graphics where you can look up where your readers are located. (Knowing Google, they can probably tell you what those readers eat for breakfast cereal, but that's another story.)  For reasons I will likely never know, we are big in Ukraine. Australia, France, Germany and parts of the Far East seem to find some interest in what comes out of New Hampshire, again for no readily discernible reason.  

So, if anyone out there has a story from his/her own country's history which matches or approaches the American Civil War--a war fought across the entire nation in which the offended marched to emancipate an enslaved population,  I'd very much like to hear it.