“One nation under God, indivisible”: divine providence in the inaugural addresses of United States presidents (1789-2021)
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Abstract
This article analyzes how themes related to “divine providence” have been reaffirmed and redefined over time, becoming one of the main characteristics of American identity communicated in presidential addresses. As a methodology, we analyzed the content of the inaugural addresses of the 46 presidents in the US history, locating and thematizing the allusions to divine providence in each document. The text is divided into three sections. First, we discuss the theoretical and methodological bases of the research, presenting the inaugural addresses as documentation capable of providing a long-term analysis. Next, we problematize the constancy of the symbiosis between politics and religion in presidential discourse. In the third part, we analyze the presence of themes of divine providence in the inaugural addresses of the 46 American presidents, affirming the strength and permanence of these themes in American presidential discourse. The conclusions indicate that the symbiosis between politics and religion hinders the affirmation of the secular State, as well as the emergence of alternative political projects for American society and justifies the imperialist attacks of the United States in the world-system.
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