 This observation can be traced to Alexis de Tocqueville, the first writer to describe the United States as "exceptional" in 1831 and 1840.In Woodrow Wilson's 1914 address on "The Meaning of Liberty" he alludes to America's potential to be "the light which will shine unto all generations and guide the feet of mankind to the goal of justice and liberty and peace" and he later puts those ideas into action through moral diplomacy.Wilson frequently intervened in the affairs of other countries, specifically Latin America, saying in 1913