This sermon has been cited as one of the earliest examples of “American exceptionalism”—the notion that the United States is set apart from other regimes and possesses a special, providentially designed role in the affairs of mankind. The address was given by the second governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop, either prior to the departure of his flotilla of four ships to the New World in 1630 or while on board the Arbella. Winthrop is considered the founder of the city of Boston, and this address, formally titled “A Model of Christian Charity,” has been cited as the first reference to the New World as a beacon of hope, “a city upon a hill.” That phrase is derived from Matthew 5:14, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.”

Neither John Winthrop nor his fellow colonists could claim to be the first Englishmen to settle in the New World; that honor belongs to the settlers at Jamestown in 1607, and later the Pilgrims in Plymouth in 1620. But Winthrop’s arrival in 1630 and the promulgation of this sermon secured his place as something of an unofficial “founder” of the notion of American exceptionalism. Winthrop’s sermon experienced a revival during the twentieth century, after having been ignored by much of the country outside of Boston. President-elect John F. Kennedy cited Winthrop’s remarks 331 years after they were first delivered when he spoke to the Massachusetts state legislature in January 1961, his only public speech between his election and his inauguration. Ronald Reagan repeatedly cited Winthrop’s remarks as well, adding the phrase “shining city” to bolster America’s special standing. Reagan ended his 1980 presidential campaign with an election eve address citing Winthrop’s sermon, and included similar passages in his farewell address to the American people in 1989. Neither president may have properly understood Winthrop’s comments, which were focused more on theological than secular matters, but for Kennedy and Reagan and for many of their fellow citizens, the notion of the United States as a beacon of hope to the rest of the world was a truism.