Manifest Destiny 'And Divine Providence'

1.) The ideology of manifest destiny in regards to the western frontier implied the "American" citizens were meant to expand West. It was believed the entire continent was meant to be conquered and inhabited by the people European decent who had, until the late 19th Century, remained near the East coast. The expansion and habitation was "meant" to occur as divine providence. The rights and freedoms of the indigenous people were not high on the list of priorities of the expansion. Perhaps no one took the terms "manifest destiny", and "Divine Providence" more literal than Brigham Young. The LDS movement West was littered with not only genocide of Native Americans, but the slaughter of any group who stood in their way such as the 1857 Mountain
Vanderbilt sold his holding in the East and invested heavily in railroads. While credited with merging smaller competing railroad companies and making them more efficient, the expansion of the railroad West left a stain on the name. The railroad expansion was the epitome of robber baron behavior. Lands seized by processes still in effect in this country (eminent domain), desperate workers, white, black, and Asian, working 14 hour days for next to nothing, sub-standard living arrangements, with little to no regard for the welfare of the workers plagued the rail expansion and the reputation of those in control of
Racism was also pervasive in social Darwinism. The belief some races were still inferior to others. The Chinese labor force in cities, mines, and on the railroad was subjected to inhumanities even worse than those of the Freeman. Assaults, rape, mass graves of the dead, all "exceptable" under the belief. Social Darwinism was a large impact on businesses as well. Large predatory businesses "railroading" (pardon the term) smaller ones, absorbing them once nearly bankrupt or after, to achieve a larger stake in an industry monopoly or