America, The Exceptional

American Exceptionalism is basically the idea that the ideals of democracy and liberty make the U.S. a special snowflake on the world's stage. It's also kind of like Spider-Man's motto, "with great power comes great responsibility." So because America is super-cool, it has more responsibilities than other countries.

It's kind of a controversial idea…mostly in countries other than the U.S. of A. It sounds a little, you know, arrogant.

Here, Marshall's invoking it for what (he, at the very least) would regard as a good cause:

"With foresight, and a willingness on the part of our people to face up to the vast responsibility which history has clearly placed upon our country, the difficulties I have outlined can and will be overcome." (8.1-3)

He's concentrating on the "great responsibility" part of the motto rather than the "great power" bit—basically the difference between "I'm super strong so I can cut in line" and "I'm super strong so I can make sure everyone gets their proper turn in line."

In this case, Marshall says that the U.S. has this power, it is therefore its responsibility to use it for good. This power, in this case, meant a trusted currency and an infrastructure that hadn't been bombed. Sometimes the bar is set kinda low.