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"…the right of our manifest destiny to over spread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federaltive development of self government entrusted to us. It is right such as that of the tree to the space of air and the earth suitable for the full expansion of its principle and destiny of growth.
"We must onward to the fulfillment of our mission-to the entire development of the principle of our organization-freedom of conscience, freedom of person, freedom of trade and business pursuits, universality of freedom and equality. This is our high destiny, and in nature's eternal, inevitable decree of cause and effect we must accomplish it."
The Inaugural Address of James Knox Polk:
"Foreign powers do not seem to appreciate the true character of our Government. Our Union is a confederation of independent States, whose policy is peace with each other and all the world. To enlarge its limits is to extend the dominions of peace over additional territories and increasing millions. The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government…Foreign powers should therefore look on the annexation of Texas to the United States not as the conquest of a nation seeking to extend her dominions by arms and violence, but as the peaceful acquisition of a territory once her own, by adding another member to our confederation, with the consent of that member, thereby diminishing the chances of war and opening to them new and ever-increasing markets for their products."
The Manifest Destiny was not a novel concept in the early 1800's - it's very notion had been around for hundreds of years. What I find curious in President Polk's Inaugural Address is his belief that foreign powers did not understand that the U.S. acquisition of land was meant to promote peace; but after the Mexican War, rather than gaining momentum, the very foundation of the Manifest Destiny was severely weakened, and the slavery issue further convoluted 'expansion.'
1837 letter to Henry Clay, by William E. Channing:
"…We are a restless people, prone to encroachment, impatient of the ordinary laws of progress…We boast of our rapid growth, forgetting that, throughout nature, noble growths are slow…It is full time that we should lay on ourselves serious, resolute restraint. Possessed of a domain, vast enough for the growth of ages, it is time for us to stop in the career of acquisition and conquest. Already endangered by our greatness, we cannot advance without imminent peril to our institutions, union, prosperity, virtue, and peace…"
I was intrigued by the above letter, because it clearly shows a concern for the dangers of Manifest Destiny - acquisition of land from Mexico opened a Pandora's Box and added fuel to an already existing fire. In believing that America had dominion over it's surroundings, and that the American way of life was superior to all others (and it must expand), it was a simple task to justify the slaughter of Native Americans, and to promote racial meliority.
And to have the temerity to want to leave a kingdom as perfect as the United States of America, would be nothing short of a cardinal sin.
Photo of the bodies of Native Americans being carted away in the name of Manifest Destiny.
"The Irony of Democracy" by Thomas R. Dye and T. Harmon Zeigler:
"The importance of the Civil War for America's elite structure was the commanding position that the new industrial capitalists won during the course of the struggle. . . . The economic transformation of the United States from an agricultural to an industrial nation reached the crescendo of a revolution in the second half of the nineteenth century.
"Civil War profits compounded the capital of the industrialists and placed them in a position to dominate the economic life of the nation. Moreover, when the Southern planters were removed from the national scene, the government in Washington became the exclusive domain of the new industrial leaders."
"[T]he industrial elites saw no objection to legislation if it furthered their success in business. Unrestricted competition might prove who was the fittest, but as an added precaution to insure that the industrial capitalists themselves emerged as the fittest, these new elites also insisted upon government subsidies, patents, tariffs, loans, and massive giveaways of land and other natural resources."
The Northern industrialists used increased capital to build the system of transcontinental railways, linking the Northeast with both the South and West. The labour for this venture was from recently freed slaves and poor immigrants from Europe and China, who suffered under living conditions which were often little better than those which existed under the slave system just a few years before.
These capitalists shared the same racial supremacy attitudes as the rest of the United States, and it was apparent that they did not want to compete in the West with slaveholders for land and wealth. The North had little moral conscience with respect to the institution of slavery and there are numerous stories of slaves who escaped to the North, only to be met by further racial hatred.
Industrialists and capitalists, with their own insular and selfish enconomic visions, were not crying 'unfetter the negroe from human bondage;' but rather preserve the Union at all costs, and keep the West 'racially unclouded.'
Dawna
"Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people." ~Oscar Wilde~
“Verily, this is a peculiar people. They believe the United States Government holds a magic wand with which it can sway the nations of the earth at pleasure. They are extremely bigoted, and actually bloated with self-love. They think everything of their’s is better than anybody else’s; their religion purer; their men braver, and women fairer; their country better; their manners and customs more enlightened, and their intelligence and culture immeasurably superior. Brim-full of hypocritical cant and Puritan ideas, they preach, pray and whine. The most parsimonious of wretches, they extol charity; the most inveterate blasphemers, they are the readiest exhorters; the worst of dastards, they are the most shameless boasters; the most selfish of men, they are the most blatant philanthropists; the blackest-heartest hypocrites, they are religious fanatics. They are agitators and schemers, braggarts and deceivers, swindlers and extortioners, and yet pretend to godliness, truth, purity, and humanity. The shibboleth of their faith is, ‘The Union must and shall be preserved,’ and they hold on to this with all the obstinacy peculiar to their nature. They say we are a benighted people, and are trying to pull down that which God himself built up.”
Captain Decimus Et Ultimus Barziza, Captain, Co.C, 4th Texas Infantry, 1865.
So wrote the good Captain in his published account of his period as a P.O.W. up North. I think he was a little hard on his enemies. After all, if they were as conceited as he suggested it is likely that their descendants living today would claim to be living on a higher plane to everyone else. And, as we know perfectly well, that is simply not….er….
Last edited by bill_torrens : 07-31-2005 at 11:17 AM.
What can I say... America prefers winners; always has. Second place=first loser.
American Empire? Interesting, is Germany, France, S Korea, Japan, North Africa etc US States or properties? No European, Asian, Iraqi or African town liberated by US troops ever feared summary execution, mass rape etc. as they did from German, Russian & even apparently from Brit troops. No city US troops have ever taken has been put to the sword. Something the Russian, Japanese, Germans and English cannot say.
Ask the Italians etc of 1944 who they preffered as liberators...
The US & Manifest Destiny has made us, US, the country everyone else comes screaming to for help. From the useless UN to the inept NATO.
THe stain on the US is our treatment of the Native American and Slavery. The stain slavery was paid for in blood. THe treatment of Native Americans... is a crushing, unforgivable stain that shall haunt us for ever. Though the only consulation is we were neither the first nor the last to exterminate a culture for the "greater good." Aka "Pacification by force" in Ireland, Scotland, Australia, India, the Opium Wars, etc.
Canada, Dawna I'll give Canada credit... Innocent for the most part.
Democracy, is four wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
__________________
Shane Christen
American Legion Post 352
SUVCW Camp Abernethy# 48
Lifetime NRA member
3rd MN VI
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Eccl 1:18
I don't want to just be bashing the Canadians. However I get just a little unhappy when people start bashing Americans with no acknowledgement of the historical sins of themselves or others.
The British for example started slavery in what is now the United States. They also invented the concentration camp during the Boer War, causing the deaths of many women and children.
The French, after the French Revolution banned slavery, only to reienstate it in its Caribiean colonies on economic grounds.
I don't want to just be bashing the Canadians. However I get just a little unhappy when people start bashing Americans with no acknowledgement of the historical sins of themselves or others.
Doug:
Please accept my sincere apologies if you think that I am merely 'bashing Americans' - far from it. I am only too happy to admit the 'historical sins' that founded my country (there are many) and the current political, economical, and social ailments as well.
But the intent of this thread is to examine, expose, and discuss, the veiled hyprocricy behind the march from 'sea to shining sea' with God on your side, the almighty dollar, and killing your own brethren for not sharing the same dream...as it relates to the Civil War.
Dawana,
Accepted, and on my part I will apologise for having a short fuse on the subject.
I do wonder where you are coming from in this thread? I would like to see some source material on the idea that industrial capiltalists were trying to "keep the West 'racially unclouded.'"
I keep hearing that the Civil War was a Union power grab, that it was the manifestation of the philosophy of Manifest Destiny. From what I've read and what I've heard, that seems to be a completely logical and thougthful conclusion.
However, if that's the case, then why did the South start the Civil War? They were the ones to fire the first shots at Fort Sumter. Why then, is the Union made to be the great evil? Why is it that we, the North, are so demonized by Southrons? They started it, not us. We moved to protect government property (forts and the like), they attacked, and we retaliated.
Manifest Destiny my foot. We were protecting ourselves and our Union. We just happened to annex the South in the process.
Like Dawna, I certainly have no intention of “bashing America”. Much less of pretending that my own country is virgin-pure. So I’m going to ignore the slightly inept attempts to “bash” Britain with a collection of comic-book accusations.
But can someone please explain the rules of the debate we are engaged in on these boards? Because I’m getting mightily confused.
It seems as if criticism of either the Northern people or the Federal government in the mid-19th century can be construed as “anti-American”. But criticism of Southerners or the Confederate government can not. How does this work? Southerners were every bit as “American” as Northerners. The Confederacy was an American political phenomenon. What kind of logic is at work here?
Quote:
We were protecting ourselves and our Union. We just happened to annex the South in the process.
I would like to take this opportunity and readdress the theme of this thread.
I have travelled extensively throughout the United States, and as your neighbour and frequent tourist, I have great admiration and respect for the beautiful country that borders my own. Again, I would like to state that the purpose of this thread is not to bash America, and l am hard pressed to understand how some of the opinions expressed thus far, have come to that conclusion.
My interest in starting this thread was to further explore the arrogance and dangers of a concept such as the Manifest Destiny, the volatile situation in the West, and the hyprocricy of Northern Capitalism, as these issues pertain to all of the United States. Obviously, Northern Capitalism is an inclusive topic.
Searching for truth and exposing hypocricy does not equate to being anti anything, and this thread was not created to be a sounding board for anti-American or pro-South rhetoric. My hope was to have an honest and respectful discussion regarding some of these issues, because always in the back of my mind, is that we owe at least this much to the 600,000+ men, women, and children, who rest in senseless graves.
"It seems as if criticism of either the Northern people or the Federal government in the mid-19th century can be construed as “anti-American”. But criticism of Southerners or the Confederate government can not."
Well, Bill. This is true. I thought you knew that. The South was not America. They did not form the Confederate States of America. Apparently the South is America now though, but only through benign annexation. But even so, the bashing of the South or Southerners, past, present or future is perfectly ok since it is just telling the truth or all in good fun. In fact, how can bashing the South be Anti-American? When bashing the South, both past and present, is an American tradition and a practically a national past time.
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