Manifest Destiny and Race
Essay on Race and Manifest Destiny
In the early to mid-nineteenth century, population growth, land speculation, and unwarranted greed caused not only a national desire, but also a necessity for westward expansion. Politicians used Manifest Destiny as a rallying flag for expansion, and racism was at the heart of its weave. Racial prejudices, namely the perceived superiority of Anglo-Saxon touted by politicians and leaders played an integral role in both the ideology and execution of Manifest Destiny. The relocation of a nation of people, the illegal seizing of land, and eventually a civil war, are all caused by racially biased motives and a sense of American exceptionalism.
The ideology of Manifest Destiny stated that the expansion of the American empire “was both obvious (manifest) and inexorable (destined)”, (Greenberg, 2). This made perfect sense to the Protestant culture that lived in 1840’s America. Their successful establishment of colonies in New England equaled a sign from God that they were doing His will. America’s successful break from Britain further supported this idea, and an idea was taken up by the nation that its designs were better than those of others were. Military actions to secure borders and protect squatters only made relations worse, and political motives based on race formed. In order to fully protect and develop America, we needed to expand westward and converting or remove every non-Anglo-Saxon along the way. Early on, the Americans made concessions to the Natives for their lands, but in the end, the Americans simply took the land from them. The Natives, however, saw the land as theirs and unnecessary for “improvement”, (The Council of 1793, 49), no matter how “superior” Anglo-Saxons asserted themselves.
The removal of the Natives from their lands as an act of Manifest Destiny was both highly debated and racially based. Southern slave-owners wanted the rich fertile land and, despite their efforts to conform, the Natives
In the early to mid-nineteenth century, population growth, land speculation, and unwarranted greed caused not only a national desire, but also a necessity for westward expansion. Politicians used Manifest Destiny as a rallying flag for expansion, and racism was at the heart of its weave. Racial prejudices, namely the perceived superiority of Anglo-Saxon touted by politicians and leaders played an integral role in both the ideology and execution of Manifest Destiny. The relocation of a nation of people, the illegal seizing of land, and eventually a civil war, are all caused by racially biased motives and a sense of American exceptionalism.
The ideology of Manifest Destiny stated that the expansion of the American empire “was both obvious (manifest) and inexorable (destined)”, (Greenberg, 2). This made perfect sense to the Protestant culture that lived in 1840’s America. Their successful establishment of colonies in New England equaled a sign from God that they were doing His will. America’s successful break from Britain further supported this idea, and an idea was taken up by the nation that its designs were better than those of others were. Military actions to secure borders and protect squatters only made relations worse, and political motives based on race formed. In order to fully protect and develop America, we needed to expand westward and converting or remove every non-Anglo-Saxon along the way. Early on, the Americans made concessions to the Natives for their lands, but in the end, the Americans simply took the land from them. The Natives, however, saw the land as theirs and unnecessary for “improvement”, (The Council of 1793, 49), no matter how “superior” Anglo-Saxons asserted themselves.
The removal of the Natives from their lands as an act of Manifest Destiny was both highly debated and racially based. Southern slave-owners wanted the rich fertile land and, despite their efforts to conform, the Natives