Introduction

Washington's first inaugural address was an early iteration of American exceptionalism, acknowledging "the invisible hand of the Great Author" whose "providential agency" and "divine blessing" had overseen the birth of the United States of America. In 1751, Benjamin Franklin, more responsible than any man for the origins of American journalism through the pages of the Pennsylvania Gazette, speculated, "since no one remains long a laborer for others, but gets a plantation of his own," America's population would double every 25 years. The story of American exceptionalism is older than the nation itself. Georgetown professor Robert Lieber has cited America's survival of the Civil War and the crises that followed as crucial scenes in the story of "American exceptionalism". In times of crisis the nation's leaders and those who carefully construct its news often rally around a common understanding of American exceptionalism.