The American Promise is primarily the ideals of freedom, democracy, and liberalism. The founding fathers first formed this position; this is the attitude towards the development of constitutional liberties, the independence of the American nation, and the glorification of the ideals of liberalism. In the US, human rights are considered the highest value. Since people were all created equal from the very beginning, the provision by the government of the right to life and freedom, and other fundamental rights is the main task of the state.
The US model of democracy was created under specific historical and cultural conditions, and attempts to copy it in other countries were unsuccessful (Roark et al. 435). From a formal point of view, the US is the most balanced republic within the framework of an institutional organization, which is also a state federation. Each state is free to create its local legislation in part not delegated to the federal level. The US political system has stood the test for more than 200 years of strength.
The election procedures have never been canceled or broken in all the time since the end of the War of Independence; in European democracies, such situations have happened, and more than once. The balance between personal freedom and religion is one of the essential characteristics of the US, as well as the balance between private property and equality, individualism and social life, reliable power, and decentralization.
Furthermore, the American Promise is not only internal cohesion and democracy. The ability to influence the democratization processes positively in the world has always been a strong point of the US. However, in the process of establishing power in the adjacent territories, the US almost turned into an imperialist country. The US nearly broke its promise when it acquired a large number of colonies. Still, fortunately, imperialism did not receive as much development in the USA as it did in Europe. The United States became the guarantor of democracy and the promise of freedom after overcoming the temptation to become a world power by seizing territories.
The government concluded that becoming a leading power is possible without destroying ideals of liberty. Likewise, the establishment of human freedoms was not simple, and citizens had to fight for their independence from the start. An obstacle arose at the very beginning of the formation of liberal democracies. Authorities established the property qualification for voting people, but protests and public anger forced the government to lower it.
Nowadays, the American Promise confirms the historical value of the struggle for democracy. The government did not establish democracy in the US; this state structure was born in the country, and people created it throughout the years. The represented situation obliges the nation to act as a guarantor of freedom and justice all around the world. The US conquered the temptation to become an imperialist power and compromised to preserve liberal values. Such personal freedom does not exist in any nation; the US and the Statue of Liberty are associated with democracy around the world precisely because liberalism and equality arose here.
The democratic idea and how authorities implement it in the US is self-contradictory and continually self-renewing. The struggle for liberalism and individual freedom has gone beyond the borders of the state recently. The government is trying to fulfill the American promise and spread the idea of liberalism throughout the world, although sometimes it requires intervention in the internal politics of states.
Work Cited
Roark, James L. et al. The American Promise: A Concise History, Volume 1: To 1877. St. Martin’s, 2013.