American exceptionalism in the context of "Seymour Martin Lipset"

Manifest destiny was the expansionist belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand westward across North America, and that this belief was both obvious ("manifest") and certain ("destiny"). The belief is rooted in American exceptionalism and romantic nationalism, implying the inevitable spread of republicanism and the American way. It is one of the earliest expressions of American imperialism.

According to historian William Earl Weeks, there were three basic tenets behind the concept:

Southern Gothic is an artistic subgenre of fiction, music, film, theatre, and television that is heavily influenced by Gothic elements and set in the American South. Southern Gothic fiction highlights violence and cruelty as features of southern culture, often through characters whose place in the social order exposes them to such treatment. Common motifs include racism, gender and sexual difference, poverty and disability. Where Gothic literature depicted the intrusion of the barbaric past into the Enlightenment, Southern Gothic depicts the persistence of social trauma in the reconstructed south. The genre arose in reaction to romantic portrayals influenced by Lost Cause myths and the ideology of American exceptionalism.

Pro-Americanism (also called pro-American sentiment and Americophilia) describes support, love, or admiration for the United States, its government and economic system, its foreign policy, the American people, and/or American culture, typically on the part of people who are not American citizens or otherwise living outside of the United States. In this sense, it differs from Americanism (American patriotism), which can generally only be adhered to by American citizens or residents, although adherents of any of these may subscribe to overlapping concepts, such as American exceptionalism. Pro-Americanism is contrasted with Anti-Americanism, which is the fear or hatred of things American.

The American way of life, also referred to as American way is a nationalist ethos that adheres to the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. At the core of the American way lies a belief in the American Dream, an ideal that is believed to be achievable by any American citizen through hard work and determination. This concept is closely linked to the notion of American exceptionalism, which posits the existence of a distinctive cultural identity of the United States.