The Concept of Manifest Destiny
Mystical Context
Before discussing the conceptual nature of Manifest Destiny, it is crucial to establish what socio-cultural and historical lenses or contexts allow one to analyze and deconstruct a given idea. There are three of them, including the mystical, the political, and the religious. From a mystical perspective, Manifest Destiny was the collective ultimate subconscious idea of Americans, both ordinary people and political leaders, to create their ideal world in the New World by conquering North American lands. One can better understand this line of thinking when one imagines their own American Dream and combine it with its most popular interpretation. There is another similar mystical ideology in the mythology of the United States (US). It is a theory that George Washington was a descendant of Odin (“Odin, Ancestor of George Washington”). Washington was considered the father of the US, just as Odin was the all-father of the Scandinavian pantheon. Combined with genealogical records, the ideologeme created a mystical atmosphere around itself in the American socio-political discourse of those times, and it continues to do so among historians.
Political Context
Political lenses provide a much more straightforward and obvious interpretation of the Manifest Destiny concept. It was the state philosophy for “territorial expansion and was used to justify the forced removal of Native Americans and other groups from their homes” (History.com Editors). Simply put, Manifest Destiny was a political and ideological tool to lead masses of people toward aggression. It also served to alleviate the psychological state of one when they committed atrocities for the sake of Manifest Destiny and functioned as a moral liberation for Americans to start the conquest and related violent deeds.
Religious Context
Like any other concept regarding early American nationhood, Manifest Destiny has some roots in religion. According to theologians, Christians of the past believed they had “the Divine right to conquer the world in the name of the church” (Gallagher). Many Americans shared this viewpoint during the times of the emergence of the discussed idea. Manifest Destiny was a spiritual reflection of the theological conclusions that 19th-century Americans made about themselves and their environment.
Manifest Destiny and US-Mexico Relations
Eventually, Manifest Destiny affected the US political relationship with one of its neighboring countries, Mexico, in a wrong way. The ideological concept inspired many people to go to North America’s western and southern regions and seize these lands at any cost. These geographic areas were not empty; the Indigenous people inhabited some lands while others were under the jurisdiction of Mexico. Social and political tensions combined with US political elites being ideologically charged by Manifest Destiny led to the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War. Although modern conventional history acknowledges that the US was the aggressor, back then, many Americans sincerely believed they were taking back and defending their rightful territories (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica). The idea of Manifest Destiny largely influenced such a perspective.
The current political and economic ties between America and Mexico are primarily peaceful and partner-like. However, similar statements cannot be made about the mutual social relations between the two countries’ populations. A significant portion of Americans, primarily those on the conservative side of the political spectrum, consider Mexican and other Hispanic immigrants to be invaders, drug dealers, and criminals (Rose). One can say that this biased perspective is an echo of Manifest Destiny.
Works Cited
Gallagher, Kelly. “400 Years of Colonization, Doctrine of Discovery and Manifest Destiny.”Southern New England Conference of the UCC, Web.
History.com Editors. “Manifest Destiny.”History, Web.
“Odin, Ancestor of George Washington.” My Genealogy Addiction, Web.
Rose, Joel. “A Majority of Americans See an ‘Invasion’ at the Southern Border, NPR Poll Finds.”NPR, Web.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Mexican-American War.”Encyclopedia Britannica, Web.