In 1845, John O’Sullivan coined the term “Manifest Destiny” to signify the mission of the United States to spread across the continent with divine promise and guidance. The whole premise of manifest destiny is an assumed and self-proclaimed authority over the rest of the world. In America’s case: Anglo-Saxon Christians domination and superiority over all the other races. President Woodrow Wilson believed this term to mean the United States had a definite role to lead the world to new and better “things” such as, world freedom, religious enlightenment, and an economic process guaranteed to benefit all. This special calling, or mission, is what defined “America” to Wilson. In Anders Stephanson’s book, Manifest Destiny, Stephanson argues that
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Stephanson looks at the Protestant Reformation and the simultaneous colonization of new lands by European countries as the foundation where the term started before it was coined as manifest destiny. The Puritans in America were the Protestants who arose from the Church of England and they viewed the New World as a unique mission and project to spread their beliefs. In other words, if the land was not occupied by recognized member of the Christendom, then that land was free to be taken because this land was a promised land from God to be used for God. Eventually their actions would lead to reconciliation between God and humankind. In order to fulfill this “covenant” they had to conquer all forces and people in their path with no regard to the damage left behind because they’re actions were justified by a higher being. For Americans this territory expansion was a promised blessing, not a conquered …show more content…
Historians labeled the time from 1820-1865, as the Jacksonian Era, with minimal government emphasizing the individual’s right to do whatever, wherever one might please. Stephanson uses the annexation of Texas as a prime example of individuals taking control of American expansion. Initially, individuals extended the institution of slavery into the Southwest without any aid from the government and for almost an entire decade controlled the Republic of Texas apart from the United States. Eventually, President Polk desired to annex Texas in order to prevent the British from utilizing and exploiting Texas for their own benefit. As the institution of slavery began to diminish and the North won the Civil War in 1865, the United States entered into a state of isolationism from the rest of the world and became content with little to no expansion for the new three decades. Images of Manifest Destiny resurfaced around 1898 when the US seized Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Wake Island, and Manila in the Philippines. These expansions took on a new definition of Manifest Destiny. Stephanson believes that the US “conquered” these nations in the name of unselfish aid and with a desire to help make the world a better
Stephanson looks at the Protestant Reformation and the simultaneous colonization of new lands by European countries as the foundation where the term started before it was coined as manifest destiny. The Puritans in America were the Protestants who arose from the Church of England and they viewed the New World as a unique mission and project to spread their beliefs. In other words, if the land was not occupied by recognized member of the Christendom, then that land was free to be taken because this land was a promised land from God to be used for God. Eventually their actions would lead to reconciliation between God and humankind. In order to fulfill this “covenant” they had to conquer all forces and people in their path with no regard to the damage left behind because they’re actions were justified by a higher being. For Americans this territory expansion was a promised blessing, not a conquered …show more content…
Historians labeled the time from 1820-1865, as the Jacksonian Era, with minimal government emphasizing the individual’s right to do whatever, wherever one might please. Stephanson uses the annexation of Texas as a prime example of individuals taking control of American expansion. Initially, individuals extended the institution of slavery into the Southwest without any aid from the government and for almost an entire decade controlled the Republic of Texas apart from the United States. Eventually, President Polk desired to annex Texas in order to prevent the British from utilizing and exploiting Texas for their own benefit. As the institution of slavery began to diminish and the North won the Civil War in 1865, the United States entered into a state of isolationism from the rest of the world and became content with little to no expansion for the new three decades. Images of Manifest Destiny resurfaced around 1898 when the US seized Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Wake Island, and Manila in the Philippines. These expansions took on a new definition of Manifest Destiny. Stephanson believes that the US “conquered” these nations in the name of unselfish aid and with a desire to help make the world a better