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UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Aspirational Exceptionalism: Rhetoric, Politics, and the Pursuit of American Greatness Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8cd2f165 Author Williams, Lucy Publication Date 2018 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Aspirational Exceptionalism: Rhetoric, Politics, and the Pursuit of American Greatness A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science by Lucy Williams 2018 © Copyright by Lucy Williams 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Aspirational Exceptionalism: Rhetoric, Politics, and the Pursuit of American Greatness by Lucy Williams Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science University of California, Los Angeles, 2018 Professor Joshua F. Dienstag, Co-Chair Professor Melvin L. Rogers, Co-Chair American exceptionalism—i.e., the belief that the United States is chosen, superior to other nations, and tasked with a unique responsibility or mission—is often analyzed, studied, and critiqued as a singular and unified rhetorical tradition. In this dissertation, though, I argue that the American exceptionalist tradition is in fact conveyed through multiple and distinct rhetorical modes. More specifically, I distinguish between two types of American exceptionalism: accomplished exceptionalism, which is self-celebratory, complacent, and un-critical, and aspirational exceptionalism, which is self-critical, forward-looking, and ameliorative. Because most citizens, politicians, and thinkers understand and deploy exceptionalism in the accomplished sense, this dissertation focuses primarily on the form, substance, and effects of the lesser-known aspirational mode. The dissertation analyzes the political thought of Frederick ii Douglass, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and James Baldwin—three figures who are not normally considered to be part of the American exceptionalist tradition. Through close readings of their speeches and writings, I show that each thinker articulates a philosophy and politics of aspirational exceptionalism. I also highlight the distinct aspirational citizenship practices that each thinker encourages and enables. In so doing, I challenge the widespread assumption that thinkers who criticize or condemn the American polity are, ipso facto, ineligible for exceptionalist status. Put differently, I show that America’s radicals, critics, and apologists can (and do) speak in exceptionalist registers and may perhaps be exceptionalism’s most sophisticated defenders. More broadly, though, I challenge and re-define what it means to be a “good” American citizen. If, as Charles Taylor argues, language shapes and influences individuals’ orientation toward the world, then America’s tendency to privilege accomplished exceptionalism while excluding aspirational exceptionalism threatens to create and shore up a society in which the accomplished mode’s backward-looking, self-celebratory, and uncritical disposition is seen as the most correct and laudable way to enact citizenship. By identifying another form of exceptionalism (namely, aspirational exceptionalism) and re-claiming its title as such, I shed light on—and, by extension, activate—a different mode of American citizenship: one that is critical and reflective but equally (or perhaps more) commendable. iii The dissertation of Lucy Williams is approved. Anthony R. Pagden Davide Panagia Melvin L. Rogers, Committee Co-Chair Joshua F. Dienstag, Committee Co-Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2018 iv For Rex. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: The Problem of Exceptionalism(s) in American Political Thought ..................1 I. Theorizing American Exceptionalism ..............................................................................8 A. (Re)Defining Exceptionalism ..........................................................................................9 B. Accomplished Exceptionalism ......................................................................................15 C. Aspirational Exceptionalism .........................................................................................23 II. Methods and Stakes ........................................................................................................26 III. Literature Review and Points of Intervention ................................................................30 A. Contributions to Literature on American Exceptionalism ............................................30 B. Contributions to Literature on Rhetoric and Politics .....................................................35 IV. Outline of the Dissertation .............................................................................................39 V. Bibliography ...................................................................................................................45 Chapter 1: False to the Past, False to the Present: Frederick Douglass and America’s Exceptional Hypocrisy .................................................................................................................50 I. Douglass’ Aspirational Rhetoric ....................................................................................52 II. “False to the Future”: America’s Exceptional Hypocrisy ..............................................74 III. “Roused to Virtuous Indignation”: Douglass’ Aspirational Citizenship .......................82 A. Propositional Arguments ...............................................................................................84 B. Affective/Performative Arguments ...............................................................................91 IV. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................97 V. Bibliography ...................................................................................................................99 Chapter 2: A Place to Think Alone: Ralph Waldo Emerson and America’s Exceptional School for Self-Trust ..................................................................................................................102 I. Emerson the Exceptionalist ..........................................................................................106 A. Exceptionalism in Emerson’s “Small Canon” and Beyond ........................................110 B. “We Will Walk on Our Own Feet”: America as a School for Self-Reliance ..............116 II. “Unattained but Attainable”: Emerson’s Aspirational Exceptionalism .......................123 III. Emerson’s Aspirational Citizenship: Ceaseless Striving in a Community of Friends .144 IV. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................157 V. Bibliography .................................................................................................................159 vi Chapter 3: Where “Nothing is Fixed”: James Baldwin and America’s Exceptional Indefiniteness ..............................................................................................................................163 I. Baldwin the Exceptionalist ...........................................................................................168 II. “A Lover’s War”: Baldwin’s Aspirational Exceptionalism .........................................179 A. Baldwin’s Accomplished Exceptionalism Antipathy .................................................180 B. Aspirational Tropes in The Fire Next Time .................................................................184 1. Structural Aspirational Exceptionalism ...................................................................184 2. Substantive Aspirational Exceptionalism ................................................................190 C. Aspirational Tropes in “We Can Change the Country” ..............................................200 III. Baldwin’s Aspirational Citizenship: Reflective, Interconnected, Involved .................208 IV. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................219 V. Bibliography .................................................................................................................221 Conclusion: This is America: Aspirational Exceptionalism in the Contemporary American State .............................................................................................................................................225 I. Colin Kaepernick’s Aspirational Exceptionalism ........................................................228 II. Barack Obama’s Aspirational Exceptionalism.............................................................244 III. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................260 IV. Bibliography .................................................................................................................265 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have often heard graduate students speak of their dissertations the way a parent speaks of her child—as a beautiful creation, the source of both incomparable fulfillment and complete exhaustion, that is brought into the world through long and hard labor. As one who does not have children of my own, I cannot say whether this comparison is justified. But if it is, then the old adage—It takes a village to raise a child—must be equally