Hi there,

So let me just say briefly first that the historiographical field of American History in general has for the last couple of decades at least been fighting against this very idea of "American Exceptionalism". That is to say a firm belief that America was unique amongst nations in its set up, its constitution and its practices. This was a defining feature of histories of America ever since the days of Alexander du Toqueville, who emphasised the idiosyncratic nature of the nation when writing about his travels there, and I would suggest that this idea of the "specialness" of America persists with the US public to this day. The voracity with which the more recent gereations of US historians have attempted to totally dismantle American Exceptionalism in their scholarly works suggests quite clearly to me the weaknesses inherent in this concept.

With regards to the Constitution, very similar principles can be found in the English document of the Magna Carta which predates the American document by around 500 years. In fact, I'm fairly certain that the Constitution-writers referred to the Magna Carta as a source of inspiration. I cannot say that I am particularly well-versed in this particular topic, but I would draw your attention to the work of Gary Gerstle, who writes incredibly persuasively on topics such as this- in numerous works. I'll leave you with a quote from him:

""America is God's Crucible, where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming!" proclaims the protagonist in Israel Zangwill's 1908 play, The Melting-Pot. "Germans, Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians--into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American." With these words, Zangwill articulated a central and enduring myth about the American nation--that the United States was a divine land where individuals from every part of the world could leave behind their troubles, start life anew, and forge a proud, accomplished, and unified people. Arthur Schlesinger Jr., writing eighty years later, endorsed the same myth, locating the transformative power of the United States not in God but in the nation's core political ideals, in the American belief in the fundamental equality of all human beings, in every individual's inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and in a democratic government that derives its legitimacy from the people's consent. These beliefs represent a kind of democratic universalism that can take root anywhere. But because they were enshrined in the American nation's founding documents, the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, Schlesinger and others have argued that they have marked something distinctive about the American people and their polity."