Manifest Destiny was a turning point in the development of American imperialism and distinguishing specific territory boundaries. Despite a variety of political, economic, and social implications behind it, religious origins were highly prominent in the process of expanding the territory of the United States. Additionally, even though the cruelty of the process was controversial, there was a belief in a higher principle behind the new expanding and colonizing ideology of white Americans.
At its core, Manifest Destiny was characterized by active American expansionism within the North American continent. Moreover, the focus of the ideology was on white American supremacists who were gradually taking more and more territory, while the indigenous people were being colonized or driven off from their native land (Greenberg). Thus, white Americans held all the political power, economic bias, and the privilege of a dominant language.
As for the religious aspect of that period, there were different manifestations of religion within the expansion, colonization, and the process of defining imperialism. Firstly, there was a religious tone to Manifest Destiny, and the idea of higher principles being present behind it was convincing a lot of people of the relevance of the ideology in general. Secondly, the clash between the colonizers and indigenous people allowed the white Americans to encounter new religions they were not aware of before. However, these religions were mainly suppressed due to the centralization of cultural and spiritual experiences around the colonizers. This way, one of Manifest Destiny’s significant and influential aspects was religion, which was perceived in various contexts and treated differently as well.
Any immense movement has to have solid reasons and motivations to influence people and assure them of its relevancy and importance. Therefore, one of the most fundamental parts of Manifest Destiny was its religious motif. To be precise, people were convinced that Americans had a higher purpose of expanding their territory over the world, as they had a special destiny given to them by God (Scott). Thus, partially religion worked as the strong reason behind white Americans’ ambitious and cruel actions in the process of colonization of the Northern continent.
However, this belief was not validated by anything specific. A core understanding of what religions and beliefs are implies that there does not have to be a specific reason to believe in anything as long as it benefits a person. Nevertheless, often religious implications originate from long-gone historical events, folklore, and nationally established beliefs. In this specific case, the faith in a higher destiny of American colonizers did not originate from older beliefs or anything of this sort. Instead, it was driven by the colonizers’ discovery of the land of North America. A big-scale event as it was, it encouraged the ideas about a deeper meaning behind this accident and further message from God to explore and “develop” this land. This way, religion majorly served as a solid justification for the actions of the colonizers, excusing any kind of cruel and imperialistic methods on the way.
Another important religious aspect related to Manifest Destiny is the native religions of indigenous people of the North American continent. Before white Americans’ influence and expansion, indigenous people had their own established beliefs which were passed from generation to generation for a long time before the European discovery of the land. Therefore, their religions had an evident cultural significance due to the way it was impacted by their developing experiences and unique indigenous viewpoints (McLoughlin 3). Hence, Manifest Destiny relatively contributed to the recognition of the world’s religious diversity.
Nonetheless, the methods of white American colonizers were recognizably radical. Despite their contribution to the world’s awareness of these indigenous religions, Manifest Destiny encouraged people to expand the European worldview on the native habitats of the North American land. This way, the colonizers were actively suppressing indigenous culture and beliefs by the reinforcement of Christian theology (Fisher 325). Moreover, within the process of colonization white Americans were imposing their perspective on the world and how it should be on the native people. As a result, the indigenous religions of native North Americans were overshadowed by the beliefs of Europeans, resulting in the partial loss of authenticity of indigenous religions. This way, within Manifest Destiny white Americans, successfully expanded their order and set of beliefs over the territory of North America, building an imperialist system.
Although white Americans’ approach to the expansion of their ideology was rather cruel, it was effective, nevertheless. Deeply convinced that massively taking over a territory and building their own set of values within it was destined for them by God, they did not hesitate to forcefully overpower the native population. More than that, they succeeded in establishing the major religion across the land which used to be fulfilled with a variety of different beliefs. Thus, Christianity became the well-spread religion across the territory of North America, even now. In the end, certainly, Manifest Destiny was closely connected to religious implications.
Works Cites
Fisher, Linford. “Natives, Religion, and Race in Colonial America.” The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Race in American History (2018): 323.
Greenberg, Amy S. Manifest destiny and American territorial expansion: A brief history with documents. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017.
McLoughlin, Lisa A. “US pagans and indigenous Americans: Land and identity.” Religions 10.3 (2019): 152.
Scott, Donald M. “The Religious Origins of Manifest Destiny.” Divining America, TeacherServe. Web.