“Partialist” and “universalist”: American exceptionalism in antebellum writing on national identity

• Published in: Orbis litterarum Vol. 79; no. 6; pp. 500 - 518
• Main Author: Cananau, Iulian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.12.2024
• Subjects: antebellum literature; Delany; Douglass; Emerson; Exceptionalism; Fuller; National identity; particular; Simms; universal; United States > US; exceptionalism; Delany; Douglass; Fuller; particular; antebellum literature; universal; Emerson; Simms

In this article, I analyze six well‐known antebellum essays on US national identity from the perspective of their engagement with the contemporary exceptionalist discourse. My focus is on their representations of the particular and the universal, whose paradoxical relationship lies at the core of al...