Reginald Horsman’s Race and Manifest Destiny: The Orgins of American Racial Anglo-Saxonism explores the evidence and reasons of racial prejudices in America and discusses one of the most controversial topics in American history. The book also navigates the subjects of white superiority, and the creation of Anglo-Saxonism. Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States was destined to expand from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean; it has also been used to advocate for or justify other territorial acquisitions. Advocates of Manifest Destiny believed that expansion was not only good, but that it was obvious and certain. Originally a political catch phrase of the 19th century, "Manifest Destiny" eventually became a standard historical term, often used as a synonym for the expansion of the United States across the North American continent.In the early 1840s John L. O’Sullivan, editor of the Democratic Review, inaugurated the expression Manifest Destiny to depict American expansionism. O’Sullivan described the nation’s extension as inevitable and criticized those that delayed that progression "for the avowed object of thwarting our policy, limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions."(Horsman 219) Horsman notes that even though O’Sullivan laid claim to the phrase manifest destiny, the idea was embedded in Anglo-Saxon heritage. In chapter one of Horsman the concept of ... ... middle of paper ... ...itical potential from the things you say, the things you embody and the things you want. You can have holidays, but not your language. You can have a month of the year for your race, but no justice. You can have welfare, but not sovereignty. You can practice your culture up until the point where it makes people uncomfortable, or makes things inefficient. Works Cited Bibliography: Horsman, Reginald. Race and Manifest Destiny: The Origins of Racial Anglo-Saxonism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981. Rosales, F. Arturo. Lecture 2/14 Film The US-Mexican War-Prelude Weber, David J. Foreigners in Their Native Land: The Historical Roots of Mexican Americans. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973.
Gary Gerstle argues America followed a path both civic and racial nationalism throughout the 20th century in his book American Crucible: Race and Nation in the Twentieth Century, and that America is a melting pot of different cultures due to the accumulation of immigrants in the twentieth century. He uses Theodore Roosevelt as a support base for his arguments. Civic nationalism is the idealized understanding of America as an ethnic and cultural melting pot based on civil rights, and on the values of equality and liberty no matter the race and ethnicity of one another. Civic nationalism claims a nation can still grow stronger and better based solely on civil rights and citizenship.
In Chapter 8 of Major Problems in American Immigration History, the topic of focus shifts from the United States proper to the expansion and creation of the so called American Empire of the late Nineteenth Century. Unlike other contemporary colonial powers, such as Britain and France, expansion beyond the coast to foreign lands was met with mixed responses. While some argued it to be a mere continuation of Manifest Destiny, others saw it as hypocritical of the democratic spirit which had come to the United States. Whatever their reasons, as United States foreign policy shifted in the direction of direct control and acquisition, it brought forth the issue of the native inhabitants of the lands which they owned and their place in American society. Despite its long history of creating states from acquired territory, the United States had no such plans for its colonies, effectively barring its native subjects from citizenship. Chapter 8’s discussion of Colonialism and Migration reveals that this new class of American, the native, was never to be the equal of its ruler, nor would they, in neither physical nor ideological terms, join in the union of states.
Manifest Destiny was the idea that it was the United States’ destiny to take over all of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Most of the public was in favor of territorial expansion, though some politicians felt it contradicted the constitution.
Americans throughout history have always felt that they were superior. The concept of “Manifest Destiny” has been the fuel to the fire of superiority. Manifest Destiny is the belief that it is American’s are the chosen ones and have the obvious right to conquer and own land between the eastern and western seaboards and that such expansion was inevitable. Manifest Destiny along with Christianity were two reasons that drove and encouraged both expansion within North Amer...
The Manifest Destiny was a progressive movement starting in the 1840's. John O'Sullivan, a democratic leader, named the movement in 1845. Manifest Destiny meant that westward expansion was America's destiny. The land that was added to the U.S. after 1840 (the start of Manifest Destiny) includes The Texas Annexation (1845), The Oregon Country (1846), The Mexican Cession (1848), The Gadsden Purchase (1853), Alaska (1867), and Hawaii (1898). Although this movement would take several years to complete, things started changing before we knew it.
A well known journalist “John O’Sullivan” was the first one to use the term manifest destiny. The phrase manifest destiny was first used in an issue of the democratic review. Manifest Destiny was basically saying that the U.S had the right to take what they want. The U.S wanted the land out west. This is what started the westward expansion.
Coined in 1845 by journalist John L. O'sullivan the term Manifest Destiny outlined the idea that it was America's God given right to spread to the western territory bought in the Louisiana Purchase and beyond. Already swept up in the excitement of expansion, the people of America took up the term quickly, using it as yet another incentive to populate new lands in pursuit of riches. Manifest Destiny was used often to give reason to the nation’s imperialistic activities of conquering the west, including its justification for the war against Mexico in 1845- 1848. (Acuna 222, 226). America's desire for economic power and military prowess, as well as her wish to keep up with ever-expanding technology pushed her people west, with O'sullivan's Manifest
Benjamin Franklin, Frederick Douglass, and James Fenimore Cooper tackle the issue of the racial superiority present in the nation of America, throughout different time periods, in their respective works.
In the early 1840s John L. O’Sullivan, editor of the Democratic Review, spoke of the term Manifest Destiny to describe American expansion. O’Sullivan described the nation’s expansion as inevitable and criticized those that imposed on that process "for the avowed object of thwarting our
Monroy, Douglas. Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California . 1990.
Through interpretations of the “Twilight of the White Races in 1926” written by Muret, race is seen as something that determines one’s ability to certain rights, privileges and social status. Being ‘negro’ is seen as something negative, and something that creates a devastating problem for Whites and more specifically Anglo Saxons inhibiting American society. “This is a critical moment for the western peoples; if they allow themselves to be submerged by the colored races, it is the end of their glory and of their role, and this western civilization of which we are so ...
4. Ernesto Galarza, "Life in the United States for Mexican People: Out of the Experience of a Mexican" from Proceedings of the National Conference of Social Work, 56th Annual Session, University of Chicago Press, 1929.
Racial formation can be defined as “the sociohistorical process by which racial categories are created, inhabited, transformed, and destroyed” (Omi and Winant 55). Both Indians and African Americans were subject to this categorization of race. From Andrea Smith’s racial hierarchy system to Edward Countryman’s examination of projects of colonialism and slavery, the oppression of races, which connects both racialization and colonization, can be seen as the ideal in which the nation is built upon. The creation of racial representation, policies, and social structures seek to undermine other races as inferior, all the while justifying the acts of cruelty and deception in which the nation is founded on.
Manifest Destiny is the idea that the U.S. will eventually own and govern all of North America. We will not achieve this through military conquest, but through a natural flow of events. This idea surfaced during the time when James K. Polk was president. The benefits of westward expansion outweighed the negative consequences because of the economic development, opportunities, and decrease in travel time.
Smedley, Audrey. Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview. Boulder: Westview Press, 1999.