Abstract
The United States, according to sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset, was the ‘first new nation’. It may be at least anticipated, therefore, that genealogy, history, and the narration of time would prove more than usually complicated in a political state united across time and space solely by a civic idealism, and a people bound together only by what president Abraham Lincoln romantically described as ‘mystic chords of memory’. In order to probe the nationalist lineaments of America’s particular approach to locating the nation in time and in tradition, this paper traces a genealogy of American nationalism by interrogating three specific national discourses that have been of significance to the United States since its colonial beginnings. First, the identification of America as the New Israel in the New World; the attempt to inscribe the nation into spiritual, Biblical time. Second, the racial distinctions that America deployed to sustain a civic version of ethnic genealogical determinants, and to construct a coherent narrative of national lineage that embedded its citizens in time and space. And, finally, the role that conflict played, and still plays as both a central core and historical framework for both the narration, and the collapsing of time in the United States today.
Highlights
The United States, according to sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset, was the ‘first new nation’
Speaking in 1820, New Hampshire politician and future Secretary of State Daniel Webster mused on the role of time in the American national narrative, the nation’s unique position at the confluence of past, present, and future
By looking through the lens of time, it becomes evident that the past, present, and future in America have always existed in what can best be described as a state-sponsored stasis, in every sense of that term: stagnation, equilibrium, and civil conflict (Lange 2017; Lintott 2015, pp. 90–91; Orwin 1988, pp. 832–35)
Summary
‘Ah, time! And we, time’s children! We faded in her, we drooped and dropped to earth; but life and youth were always above earth. Speaking in 1820, New Hampshire politician and future Secretary of State Daniel Webster mused on the role of time in the American national narrative, the nation’s unique position at the confluence of past, present, and future. Over the last few years, scholars have paid increasing attention to what has been termed the ‘new American exceptionalism.’ They have explored the idea that the modern nation has experienced two main forms of cultural and political recalibration: first, in the context of the political and economic changes begun in the late 1960s and arguably epitomized by the rise of neo-conservatism in the following decades; and second, in the context of the era of constant conflict that the George W. By looking through the lens of time, it becomes evident that the past, present, and future in America have always existed in what can best be described as a state-sponsored stasis, in every sense of that term: stagnation, equilibrium, and civil conflict (Lange 2017; Lintott 2015, pp. 90–91; Orwin 1988, pp. 832–35)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
