Historical Literacy: Christianity and Manifest Destiny

Historical Literacy: Christianity and Manifest Destiny

Abstract

After exploring the lands west of the British colonies in North America, leaders decided it was their duty to claim the lands west of the Mississippi River. The concept of Manifest Destiny is the belief that God, predestined the United States to refine and the rest of North America. The idea was influenced by Republican ideals, along with the Doctrine of Christian Discovery. Manifest Destiny shaped the development of the western part of the United States and the lives of the people who previously lived there and those who migrated to western territories. In “The Origin of ‘Manifest Destiny’" " author Julius W. Pratt suggested, “‘ONE can hardly read a work on the history of the United States in the two decades before the Civil War without meeting the phrase ‘manifest destiny’, widely used as a convenient statement of the philosophy of territorial expansion in that period.” (The American Historical Review, pp. 795)

Scope of Research

This project will explore the relationship between Christianity and the concept of Manifest Destiny, which was a key idea in the 19th century that proposed the enlargement of the United States and shaped its interactions with Indigenous peoples.

The concept of Manifest Destiny is the belief that it was America's assignment, preordained by God, to develop westward through the North American continent. The phrase was first uttered in 1845 by a journalist named John O'Sullivan, but the idea appeared long before among American leaders. It signaled a belief that the U.S. was uniquely destined to spread its way of life and Christian values across the entire continent.

For t9th century religious and political leaders, Manifest Destiny wasn’t just about land acquisition or political power, but rather fulfilling a divine mission. During this era, the concept of American exceptionalism was connected to a holy ideology. Many also agreed that God had selected the United States to diffuse Christianity and to civilize the "savage" lands and peoples of the West.

Partly influenced by the Doctrine of Discovery, Manifest Destiny was a religious and legitimate model from the 15th century, that declared European Christian factions had the divine right to claim lands not populated by Christians. This rationalized the colonial and territorial expansion of European powers in the Americas. For American settlers moving west, this idea was not just about claiming land; it was about bringing Christianity to the indigenous populations. This mindset also merged with the Republican ideals of the time, which underscored the spread of democratic values, individual freedoms, and values that aligned with Christianity.

The execution of Manifest Destiny stimulated the migration of American settlers westward, but it had shattering outcomes for the indigenous communities who lived there. It included a violent displacement of Native American tribes, including the infamous Trail of Tears which natives call “The Long Walk”. Other challenges settlers faced as they moved west were harsh conditions and the realities of frontier life, including famine. However, the belief that westward expansion was a righteous calling kept many settlers motivated and supported their actions.

Historian Julius W. Pratt, in his 1927 article The Origin of ‘Manifest Destiny’, emphasized that this idea of divine destiny was prevalent in the decades before the Civil War and became a basis for U.S. territorial expansion. The historian reasoned that Manifest Destiny was a "convenient statement of the philosophy of territorial expansion" that influenced civic policy and identity during this period. And it was considered inevitable because the West was seen as the next frontier of a divine mission. Other intellectual figures like Walt Whitman saw the expansion of the United States as part of a greater, divine plan. His poems about the American frontier echo the conviction that the land and its people were destined for greatness under God. Manifest Destiny was more than a civic or fiscal principle. The concept was deeply influenced by Christianity. It was the idea that America had a divine right to expand westward, and it conceived aspects of  U.S. foreign policy,  of westward migration, and of the treatment of native residents. 

Sources

BRAUER, KINLEY. ‘Review of Manifest Destiny Revisited”, by Robert W. Johannsen, Sam W. Haynes, and Christopher Morris. Diplomatic History 23, no. 2 (1999): 379–84. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24913746.

Pratt, Julius W. “The Origin of ‘Manifest Destiny.’” The American Historical Review 32, no. 4 (1927): 795–98. https://doi.org/10.2307/1837859.

Smith, Henry Nash. “Walt Whitman and Manifest Destiny.” Huntington Library Quarterly 10, no. 4 (1947): 373–89. https://doi.org/10.2307/3815800.

Vile, John R. The Jacksonian and Antebellum Eras: Documents Decoded. Santa Barbara, California : ABC-CLIO, 2016. https://read.cnu.edu/record=b1567694