Manifest Destiny: Theory and Application

Boroka Nagy

Composition II

Professor Mustafa

Research Paper

Manifest Destiny: Theory and Application

Manifest destiny was a ubiquitous idea amongst white-Americans during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Although the concept was accepted and applied by both greedy, wealth-hungry Europeans as well as spiritual leaders, the expression has several religious overtones which cannot be ignored. Most white settlers were deeply rooted in Christian faith, and they claim much of their ideas to have been derived from their religious beliefs. However, as these ideas began taking the shape of actions, a great deal of contradictions arose, much of which involved the righteousness of their actions. Their plans often contradicted their ideals; their words contradicted their doings. The most notorious case that caused the early settlers to be viewed negatively is the way they handled the Native Americans. The white inhabitants advocated America to be a place of liberty for all, yet, to gain this liberty they exterminated an entire nation of people. Although the ideals of manifest destiny were said to be derived from and rooted in their Christian faith, the white settlers’ justifications for their immoral actions showed to be hypocritical, and their actions and philosophies often contradicted their supposed Christianity; a number of theories and events of the time proved to be not only secular, but also sacrilegious. For this reason, along with the biblical justifications, worldly ideas and hypotheses arose to support the ideas of those who did not agree with the religious theories. With this manifest destiny mentality, America was viewed as a nation of liberty, an epitomical world of order, and “a great ‘experiment’ for the benefit of humankind as a whole” (Stephanson, 5). Though very contrasting in both theories and actions, the two sides, secular and religious, were unified by the idea of America as a unique mission-- a continuous process to expand west. Unfortunately, a...