The term “American exceptionalism” is often misunderstood and misused to convey that we as Americans are superior to others. But rather, what it means quite literally is that America is the exception. When founded, America was unlike every other country in human history.
What made us the exception is that we were founded, in the Declaration of Independence, upon the “self evident truth” that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” In America, the individual is sovereign. Because his rights were a gift from God, not government, no government could take them away. They are “unalienable.”
This recognition of the individual citizen as the center of power represented a revolution in the relationship between the government and the governed and set the stage for America to become the beacon of hope, opportunity and prosperity that it is today.