Social Impact on the Manifest Destiny

Social Impact on the Manifest Destiny

Introduction

John L. O'Sullivan coined the phrase “manifest destiny” in 1845 to represent a set of ideals present in the United States at that time. These ideals included: the notion of westward expansionism, a belief in American exceptional, a sense of entitlement to the North American continent, and a religious/moral obligation to spread American democracy. We seem to be “stuck” in a self centered and self destructive mindset that we are either unwilling or unable to change. The term “Manifest Destiny” immediately takes my thoughts to when the early American settlers were pressing westward to California and Oregon in the 1800's as we took this land away from the American Indians. This “theft” was utterly termed our “Manifest Destiny” and incorrectly made righteous by saying it is inevitable for modern man to take over the world.

It bears repeating that geographical imaginations are perceptual and cognitive discourses; they ideologically sustain and justify actions that make reality conform to what seen in the imagination, linking the “real” to the planned, hoped for, expected, and fantasized. Americans have also had various geographical imaginations throughout their history. Manifest destiny is one such example. Popular during the 19th century, Manifest destiny was the belief that the United States would ultimately extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific, a notion grounded in deeply rooted views of American exceptional. This view shaped the geographical imaginations of many American settlers, who moved to the “empty” West to claim and tame the land. The numerous tribes of Native Americans, who had their own cultures and worldviews, did not fit conveniently into the American geographical imagination of manifest destiny. For example, Americans viewed the West as empty and unused land. Many Native American tribes, though, considered it their home. The American interior was thus not “empty” land, despite the fact that it was often portrayed that way, but populated by diverse groups of inhabitants. Through brute force and violated treaties, the United States coerced the Native Americans into smaller and smaller lands and reservations.

The word imagination may seem harmless, as if it were some dreamy, unworkable idea without material consequences, but geographical imaginations are far from innocent; rather, they are profoundly political and have forceful social and spatial impacts. Geographical imaginations simplify the knowledge of places by making complex and conflicting realities seem simple, with sharp lines of differentiation between one social group and others, often justified on racist, ethnocentric, or nationalist grounds. Thus, the extermination and removal of Native Americans from Western lands made the acquisition of their territories fit better with the doctrine of manifest destiny. According to the conventional American historical narrative, the country was a place for immigrants to get a new start in life. In the early 20th century, the United States became popularly known as “the great melting pot.” However, this notion did not include Native Americans, whose connections to the continent long predated the Europeans. The narrative of manifest destiny was an important part ...