American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword

Abstract

CANADIAN SCHOLARS HAVE NOT AS A RULE taken strong exception to Seymour Martin Lipset's version of American exceptionalism, despite the lingering presumption of the concept. They may, indeed, share some responsibility for it. One might expect a chosen to be particularly sensitive about the conceit of election, but this has not necessarily been the case. Beyond complicity in paternity, Canadian historians' softness on this subject may stem in part from the fact that American exceptionalism has incidentally attested to the existence of a separate identity for their own subject, Canada, even if they are uncertain about this themselves. Lipset has argued, in a series of books running back to The First New Nation, that a culture of democratic egalitarianism and individualist achievement, clearly identifiable as an outlier on a comparative international scale of values, permanently shaped American history.' It follows from this that those people huddling north of Maine and Vermont, the Great Lakes, and the 49th parallel up to Alaska (with the possible exception of the panhandle) are not American but are something else. What Canadians are becomes even clearer in this optic-a historical people in a negotiated state based on a provisional agreement, a cultural mosaic, stolid northern folk for whom abundance has never been a problem. Moreover, their basic values differ to a substantial degree from those of their southern neighbors. They are, according to the surveys, more deferential to authority, less achievement oriented and voluntaristic, respectful rather than suspicious of government, more orderly, and less violent. As Canadian historians have never been absolutely sure of a distinctive Canadian-ness on their own, it is gratifying to have it affirmed not only negatively-by having the American identity so confidently established as different but also positively, since American exceptionalists have been assiduous comparative scholars and have worked up the Canadian data for the contrast. Canadians' deep and certainly unacknowledged weakness when it comes to thinking critically about American exceptionalism perhaps rests on its insurance value: should the Canadian project not work out, then American exceptionalism might also apply to them. No U.S. scholar has done more in this generation to make the case for American