Why is the myth of Manifest Destiny so Pervasive in U.S. history?

Question

how might have this myth become so embedded in our culture, classrooms, etc. Use examples.

Answer 1

I don't know where some of these people learned their history, but Manifest Destiny has little to do with religion, per se. And I am really surprised that upallnight, who claims he is a history teacher, says that MD is about containing European expansion.

The idea arose in the early 19th Century that it was not only obvious but also certain that America should and would expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. That which is obvious is manifest, and that which is certain is destined to be; therefore, Manifest Destiny.

MD also incorporates the idea of American Exceptionalism, the idea that there is something really, really special about the United States. Thus MD was eventually broadened in scope to include American expansion outside of North America, such as to Hawaii and the Philippines. The idea was that, because America was so exceptional, it was our destiny, manifestly, to carry that exceptionalism to the four corners of the Earth.

I would hesitate to call the idea of MD a "myth" because, although it is steeped in Romanticism, MD is very real in its effects, as I have already suggested. It is so deeply ingrained in US culture because even before the idea was given a name, it was a part of of the "myth" of America. Many of the first settlers who came to the New World envisioned creating a New Eden, a Shining City on a Hill, free from the filth, corruption, and evil of the Old World.

It is in this sense that there is a quasi-religious feel to MD, sort of a crusading zeal. But the essence of MD is not so much to bring a particular relgious belief to the benighted muckers of the world as it is to "introduce" them to the manifestly superior economic and political system that Americans are only too eager to bestow upon the world, whether they want it or not.

Although the term "Manifest Destiny," as a justification for expansion, has fallen out of favor, one can still see the effects of this belief in the attempt to establish that best of all possible systems, a free-market democracy, in, say, Iraq. As the Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Native Filipinos learned, MD tends to run roughshod over those who stand in its way, a fact that 21st-Century Iraqis are also learning.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Manifest Destiny as a myth is a bit of a confusing statement. The idea of MD was quite real. It was a government policy aimed at containing European expansion. The "myth" you speak of, is perhaps the belief that the US was correct in thinking that as a nation, it had the right and responsibility to act as such. MD is an idea taught in schools as an example of US policy. I teach HS history and the US history teachers do not slant is favorably or unfavorably at this point in time.

Answer 4

Religion. Religion is the way to control the masses. The puritans left england to avoid persecution and the control of the church, yet some idea of manifest destiny, from either them or other newcomers to the Americas somehow allowed them to commit the same things on the indigenous peoples they were trying to escape from. The idea of having the omnipotent God favoring you other others for the prosper of your people seemed to give them the naive right that they were in charge. The indigenous peoples were in the way of prosperity, so they were to be moved, because it was Gods right for the new U.S. government to move in. Incidents like the Trail of Tears though I don't know wether they were labeled by Andrew Jackson as his cause for manifest destiny, but the thought had to have been there. This idea still seems to reign today, with George W. Bush and his Christian regime. The separation of church and state has not happened.
'In God We Trust and' and '...under God' are still prevailant today.
Its a way to control people. You can't legibly argue that a superior omnipotent being told them to do so. Seems to be the problem with religion and abusing it.

Answer 5

Its a glamorous way of saying "we justify our actions in the name of God." Along with everything else concerning this country we can steal, rape, pillage, annex, claim, brainwash, destroy, conquer, etc... whatever we want and justify it in the name of God even if we achieve our goals in a way god would not approve of. We convince ourselves and natives that what we do is God's work and being the forgiving power that he is I will be forgiven for all the wrong I did to others.

Is this not the thinking in our society today? Politics, religion, being politically correct, man vs women, race vs race, segregation, slavery, Jim Crowe Laws, rail road expansion, immigration, women's movement(equal rights amendment), KKK still allowed to be around, Why is our military the worlds police????....

God is our manisted reason to believe we are greater then all other and it is our destiny to prove it to the world.

Answer 6

Pretty common myth found in many countries/societies. Everybody likes to believe God is on their side or that they have a mandate from God.