Manifest Desity and U.S Politics

       “A deadly form of religiously inspired U.S government action was found under the rubric of ‘Manifest Destiny’. a 19th century view that the United States was destined by God to expand across the continent of North America in order to rule over the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. Manifest Destiny under girded the efforts to secure the land that is now California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Oregon. Late in the century,the ideology was employed to support acquisition of Puerto Rico, Guam, Hawaii, and the Philippines. By the 20th century, presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson spoke of “America’s mission” a version of Manifest Destiny, in support of American expansionism and the need to make the world safe for democracy...

        The language maybe moving, even inspirational, to many Americans, but to those on the receiving end of this “destiny”-most notably Native Americans-the reality was extraordinarily harsh and often deadly. Pick almost any part of the continental of United States and study the history of conflict, displacement, and decimation of the native population.Genocidal policies developed on the confident belief that God’s will for America must be manifest in control of the land “from sea to shining sea”

-Charles Kimball