(CNN) — This week, CNN is exploring American exceptionalism — the concept that the United States is exceptional when compared to other nations and is uniquely destined to bring democracy to the world.
That notion of American exceptionalism was promoted by the nation’s founders and earliest leaders. It’s especially evident in the places where the Puritans first landed and built their first settlements, where explorers traveled westward to fulfill the country’s manifest destiny, and to purchase or take land by force.
