Changes

[[Alexis de Tocqueville]] is commonly cited as the originator of the phrase, and once said that the United States held a special place among [[nation]]s because it was a country of [[immigrant]]s and the first modern [[democracy]].  He specifically cited the [[American Founding]] as the basis of this exceptionalism.  Tocqueville wrote:

[[Alexis de Tocqueville]] is commonly cited as the originator of the phrase, and once said that the United States held a special place among [[nation]]s because it was a country of [[immigrant]]s and the first modern [[democracy]].  He specifically cited the [[American Founding]] as the basis of this exceptionalism.  Tocqueville wrote:

[[Image:colossus.jpg|right|130px|thumb|The Statue of Tyranny]]

[[Image:colossus.jpg|right|130px|thumb|The Statue of Tyranny]]

{{quotebox-float|The position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one. Their strictly [[Puritan]]ical origin, their exclusively [[commercial]] habits, even the country they inhabit, which seems to divert their minds from the pursuit of [[science]], [[literature]], and the [[arts]], the proximity of [[Europe]], which allows them to neglect these pursuits without relapsing into [[barbarism]], a thousand special causes, of which I have only been able to point out the most important, have singularly concurred to fix the mind of the American upon purely practical objects. His passions, his wants, his [[education]], and everything about him seem to unite in drawing the native of the United States earthward; his [[religion]] alone bids him turn, from time to time, a transient and distracted glance to [[heaven]]. Let us cease, then, to view all democratic nations under the example of the American people.<ref>[[Alexis de Tocqueville]], ''Democracy in America'', Volume 2, page 36-37</ref>}}

{{quotebox-float|The position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one. Their strictly [[Puritan]]ical origin, their exclusively [[commercial]] habits, even the country they inhabit, which seems to divert their minds from the pursuit of [[science]], [[literature]], and the [[art]]s, the proximity of [[Europe]], which allows them to neglect these pursuits without relapsing into [[barbarism]], a thousand special causes, of which I have only been able to point out the most important, have singularly concurred to fix the mind of the American upon purely practical objects. His passions, his wants, his [[education]], and everything about him seem to unite in drawing the native of the United States earthward; his [[religion]] alone bids him turn, from time to time, a transient and distracted glance to [[heaven]]. Let us cease, then, to view all democratic nations under the example of the American people.<ref>[[Alexis de Tocqueville]], ''Democracy in America'', Volume 2, page 36-37</ref>}}

{{quotebox-float|Many important observations suggest themselves upon the social condition of the Anglo-Americans, '''but there is one which takes precedence of all the rest'''. The social condition of the Americans is eminently democratic; '''this was its character at the foundation of the Colonies, and is still more strongly marked at the present day'''.<ref>[[Alexis de Tocqueville]], ''Democracy in America'', Volume 1, page 42</ref>}}

{{quotebox-float|Many important observations suggest themselves upon the social condition of the Anglo-Americans, '''but there is one which takes precedence of all the rest'''. The social condition of the Americans is eminently democratic; '''this was its character at the foundation of the Colonies, and is still more strongly marked at the present day'''.<ref>[[Alexis de Tocqueville]], ''Democracy in America'', Volume 1, page 42</ref>}}