Are Americans exceptional? Compared with people of other countries? We often see or hear this question around this time of year.

I usually change the subject. To the question of whether our country is exceptional. It is, I think. Exceptional in how it was created. Exceptional in who created it.

The Founding Fathers were exceptional. For their times. For all times. Exceptional in that they discussed at length whether to revolt. So many revolutions were simply eruptions. The thinking came later. With our founding the thinking came first.

The founders endlessly debated what type of government to create. And how to bestow various powers. How to keep a president from becoming a king. How to give power to courts. But how to restrain what courts could do. How to give a congress power. But again, how to restrain that power. Checks and balances. An exceptional concept. It functions to this day.

To be inspired by this the founders had to be exceptional. To create and sign the Declaration of Independence they had to be exceptional. For they declared that power came from God to the people. Not to the king or ruler. It came to the people. They then bestowed the power upon their ruler. Who they could remove.

That was an exceptional concept in their era. In any era. Many people in many countries have not embraced it to this day. Many millions believe the Divine grants power to their rulers. The rulers then choose what power and freedom to grant to the people.

The founders knew history. Ancient and recent. They knew the thoughts of many philosophers. They studied what had worked for people in governments of old. And what had failed.

They were exceptional in having this knowledge. Exceptional in using it. In weaving that knowledge into the documents that created this country.

They were exceptional to think of enumerating our inalienable rights. Of spelling them out. In documents.

Many of the founders were exceptional in their achievements. And in the power of their thinking. No ordinary men were Madison, Adams, Jefferson, Washington.

My favorite is Benjamin Franklin. To me he is the consummate American. He honored education, but was self-taught. He was inventive. And innovative. He was entrepreneurial. A home-spun philosopher. A humorist. A scientist. An exceptional diplomat. An accomplished lover. He was pragmatic. Extremely practical. He refused to be chained by custom and tradition. He was ever an optimist.

Had he lived in Britain he would never have thrived as he did on American soil.

The founders created an exceptional foundation for a country. That foundation allowed and encouraged the structure we have built since the founding. They created an exceptional atmosphere or environment. One in which people were free to think, free to speak. And free to own and buy and sell under protection of law.

The founders were not perfect. They were not so exceptional as to grant women and blacks freedoms they have today. That would have been too revolutionary to have been comprehended by people of their era. But at least they created a structure in which those freedoms could be won, over time.

Are Americans exceptional? The better question for me is whether the structure in which Americans live is exceptional. To me, it is. Created by exceptional men of exceptional thought and courage.

Here’s to our founders.
You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com. You can read more of his writing at tomasinmorgan.com.