What makes Americans think their special when compared to Spanish America?

For most of it's history the Americas was controlled by Latin Europe indeed the very name America came from Amerigo Vespucci an Italian explorer and numerous places in the Americas are named after Columbus. British Columbia, Columbus, Ohio, Columbia, South Carolina, District of Columbia and Republic of Colombia. Despite all this starting in the 19th century in the North Eastern States we saw the emergence of so called American "Exceptionalism" and the Manifest Destiny and since that time these North Easterners seem to think they are god's gift to humanity. Why do these people seem to think they represent American exceptionalism? America is not Long Island to the East to Hawaii to the west. It is Canada to the North to Argentina to the South thus are these countries not just as Exceptional as the USA?