Manifest destiny it was called. It was an overwhelmingly popular concept that numbed the mind and conscience of an entire nation to the murder and displacement of millions of American Indians during the U.S. expansion from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It was God’s will, this popular gospel proclaimed, that the blessings of democracy and the Christian faith be spread across the frontier to the benefit of Americans and savages alike—by force, if necessary. It was a license to steal.
Since the 19th century manifest destiny has worn many dresses, but its substance has never changed. Whether known as manifest destiny, romantic nationalism or, as more recently, American exceptionalism, it remains the arrogant gospel that God loves America best. It is the doctrine that says Americans are better than everyone else, have superior judgment to everyone else, and that everyone must do just as Americans say because Americans know what’s best for everyone. In the end, it is the gospel that reassures us that American interests are, by divine decree, preemptive of the rights of all others.
Consider the words of John Quincy Adans:
The whole continent of North America appears to be destined by Divine Providence to be peopled by one nation, speaking one language, professing one general system of religious and political principles, and accustomed to one general tenor of social usages and customs. For the common happiness of them all, for their peace and prosperity, I believe it is indispensable that they should be associated in one federal Union.
Arizonans are intoxicated with the idea of American exceptionalism. Unmasked passions of racism and hatred for non-Americans have carried the day in Arizona’s immigration debate, just as they did in the 19th century when God spoke to Andrew Jackson and ordered the removal of the Cherokee and Choctaw from their homelands by force. Arizonans are blind to the fact that God did not give them Arizona. They took it by the gun and the sword.
Arizona says that undocumented immigrants are criminals. Might does not make right, but might can certainly make and enforce laws—the oppressive implements with which manifest destiny is cultivated and grown.
For now, hate has won, but it will not always be so. It is important to remember that truth and nature make laws as well—inevitable laws that are, in fact, manifest in all the affairs of men. Laws that cannot be avoided and will one day be satisfied. Laws that will one day be fulfilled. The Bible tells us that those who live by the sword shall die by the sword. That is the manifest destiny of imperialism in which God plays no favorites.
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Another great writing, Prentice! The accompanying photo (“Border security?”) is so very ironic. Painfully ironic for any Native American who sees it.
As I read “Quincy’s” words — so identical to other writings by Manifest Destiny advocates — I had to wonder, where did they get this idea that the USA should overspread the entire continent? At NO TIME in human history has any one continent except the smallest contained but one nation! And Australia as a nation didn’t exist at the time of these M.D. writings.
I’d suggest one small amendment/editing. You write of “Arizonans” as a unified bloc. But I’m certain the many native tribes (on reservations and off), members of La Raza, and resident protesters visible in national news — are as opposed to the unjust immigration law and the racist Governor as are you and I.