The origins and nature of American nationalism

Abstract

This article critically analyzes the origins and nature of American nationalism. The first part examines the historiographical debate on the question in what period the formation of an American national identity occurred, i.e. before or after the American Revolution. The second part is concerned with the nature of American nationalism, casting doubt on the claim that American nationalism is exceptional, i.e. inherently different and morally superior to other nationalisms. It refutes the exceptionalist claim by applying recent findings in European nationalism research to the American case and by reinterpreting American nationalism not as an introspective phenomenon but as a demarcation process.

Keywords:

• American nationalism
• American exceptionalism
• American Revolution
• American identity
• U.S. history
• historiography

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Jasper M. Trautsch has been a research fellow at the German Historical Institutes in Washington, London, Rome, and Paris since 2012. He received his PhD at the Free University of Berlin in 2011, and has taught U.S. history at the Free University of Berlin, the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, and the University of Kassel.