ABSTRACT
The belief in American exceptionalism forms a core element of American national identity and is a major part of the foundational myth of the United States. It is a belief rooted in the earliest colonial times and has developed and gained strength in the decades and centuries since.2 Exceptionalism is an idea that takes many forms and is open to wide and varied interpretation but its fundamental basis is shared broadly among Americans and accepted almost as common sense, forming the framework within which elite and popular thinking takes place about the role of the US in the world and its 3
presence in most presidential rhetoric, especially in relation to US foreign affairs.
