The Nature Of Manifest Destiny
FROM REBELLION TO TYRANNY
One of the few constants of the world is the ever changing ways of Human Nature. In every civilization, every society, the way people act changes over the years depending on current events and popular opinions. An example of this shift would be the Americans around the early to mid nineteenth century. A once rebellious nation, the Americans fought for, and won, their independence in 1776. Yet soon after, the once fiery Americans settled down and became quite similar to those whom they had just overthrown. As Nietzsche described it: “If you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you”, and the abyss certainly did gaze right back into the hearts of the american populace in the early to mid nineteenth …show more content…
This gave rise to a sense of rebellion amongst the americans that is still to this day associated with the United States. Yet, shortly after the americans won their independence, they became just like the tyrants they overthrew. The main difference being that the americans directed their abuse towards the mexicans, a crime that was almost never committed in a pre-United States era. An explanation for this shift in the nature of the americans could be the idea of Manifest Destiny: the idea the North America was built to be ruled by White men. Manifest Destiny came into play during the discussion about the mexican territories: “What has miserable, inefficient Mexico...to do …show more content…
An excellent example of this is Harriet Jacobs narrative from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. In this narrative, she writes an account of her time as a slave, and her stories were truly compelling, as the stories she told would have been almost relatable to certain audiences. In the passage below, northern women could associate with her in a way that white people could rarely connect with a slave.
“My lover wanted to buy me; but I knew that Dr. Flint was too wilful and arbitrary a man to consent to that arrangement. From him, I was sure of experiencing all sort of opposition, and I had nothing to hope from my mistress. She would have been delighted to have got rid of me, but not in that way. It would have relieved her mind of a burden if she could have seen me sold to some distant state, but if I was married near home I should be just as much in her husband's power as I had previously been,-for the husband of a slave has no power to protect
One of the few constants of the world is the ever changing ways of Human Nature. In every civilization, every society, the way people act changes over the years depending on current events and popular opinions. An example of this shift would be the Americans around the early to mid nineteenth century. A once rebellious nation, the Americans fought for, and won, their independence in 1776. Yet soon after, the once fiery Americans settled down and became quite similar to those whom they had just overthrown. As Nietzsche described it: “If you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you”, and the abyss certainly did gaze right back into the hearts of the american populace in the early to mid nineteenth …show more content…
This gave rise to a sense of rebellion amongst the americans that is still to this day associated with the United States. Yet, shortly after the americans won their independence, they became just like the tyrants they overthrew. The main difference being that the americans directed their abuse towards the mexicans, a crime that was almost never committed in a pre-United States era. An explanation for this shift in the nature of the americans could be the idea of Manifest Destiny: the idea the North America was built to be ruled by White men. Manifest Destiny came into play during the discussion about the mexican territories: “What has miserable, inefficient Mexico...to do …show more content…
An excellent example of this is Harriet Jacobs narrative from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. In this narrative, she writes an account of her time as a slave, and her stories were truly compelling, as the stories she told would have been almost relatable to certain audiences. In the passage below, northern women could associate with her in a way that white people could rarely connect with a slave.
“My lover wanted to buy me; but I knew that Dr. Flint was too wilful and arbitrary a man to consent to that arrangement. From him, I was sure of experiencing all sort of opposition, and I had nothing to hope from my mistress. She would have been delighted to have got rid of me, but not in that way. It would have relieved her mind of a burden if she could have seen me sold to some distant state, but if I was married near home I should be just as much in her husband's power as I had previously been,-for the husband of a slave has no power to protect