What is American's purpose?

The late Russell Kirk, the much-respected scholar, an­swered this question after years of research. As he brought his lengthy and well-argued case to an end in the closing pages of his book The Roots of American Order, he drew heavily from a lesser known American author, Orestes Brownson. (It should be added that Brownson's critically acclaimed book The American Republic, alongside his other writings, caused Lord Acton to remark that Brownson was probably the most penetrating American thinker of his day. That is a remarkable compliment, bearing in mind that he was a contemporary of writers like Melville, Emerson, and Hawthorne.) Blending his thoughts with those of Brownson, Kirk said:

The United States was not brought into being to accomplish the work of socialism. For every living nation, Brownson wrote in The American Republic, "has an idea given it by providence to realize, and whose realization is its special work, mission, or destiny." The Jews were chosen to preserve traditions, and so that Messiah might arise; the Greeks were chosen for the realizing of art, science, and philosophy, the Romans were chosen for the de­veloping of the state, law, and jurisprudence. And the Americans, too, have been appointed to a providential mission, continuing the work of Greece and Rome, but accomplishing yet more. The American Republic is to reconcile liberty with laws.

Extracted from Ravi Zacharias’ Deliver Us From Evil.