Manifest Destiny
John Winthrop a lawyer and leader of the 1630 migration of English puritans to Massachusetts, was the first who brought up this idea in his 1630 sermon “A model of Christian charity ” he stated "We shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us”. With this concept in mind Puritans began building a new nation, destined to become the “light” of the world. Later in the 1840’s with the United States as a recently new country John O’Sullivan a well known news editor of the time articulated the idea that it was America “manifest destiny to overspread the continent” to justify the westward expansion and territorial acquisition of the United States.
The article claimed that through territorial expansion the U.S. becomes a recognized and political and social super power (1). With that concept put on the mind of the young nation, U.S. began to expand its lands, first they bought Louisiana from France, in a dispute with Mexico they acquire Texas, that later result in a war with this country that ended with almost half of Mexico northern territory now being part of the U.S. This concept also played an important role in the Spanish-American war when President McKinley stated in an interview: “Before you go I would like to say just a word about the Philippine business. I have been criticized a good deal about the Philippines, but don’t deserve it. The truth is I didn’t want the Philippines, and when they came to us, as a gift from the gods, I did not know what to do with them. When the Spanish War broke out Dewey was at Hong Kong, and I ordered him to go to Manila and to capture or destroy the Spanish fleet, and he had to; because, if defeated, he had no place to refit on that side of the globe, and if the Dons were victorious they would likely cross the Pacific and ravage our Oregon and California coasts. And so he had to destroy the Spanish fleet, and did it! But that was as far as I thought then.” McKinley tried to justify the war... [continues]
John Winthrop a lawyer and leader of the 1630 migration of English puritans to Massachusetts, was the first who brought up this idea in his 1630 sermon “A model of Christian charity ” he stated "We shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us”. With this concept in mind Puritans began building a new nation, destined to become the “light” of the world. Later in the 1840’s with the United States as a recently new country John O’Sullivan a well known news editor of the time articulated the idea that it was America “manifest destiny to overspread the continent” to justify the westward expansion and territorial acquisition of the United States.
The article claimed that through territorial expansion the U.S. becomes a recognized and political and social super power (1). With that concept put on the mind of the young nation, U.S. began to expand its lands, first they bought Louisiana from France, in a dispute with Mexico they acquire Texas, that later result in a war with this country that ended with almost half of Mexico northern territory now being part of the U.S. This concept also played an important role in the Spanish-American war when President McKinley stated in an interview: “Before you go I would like to say just a word about the Philippine business. I have been criticized a good deal about the Philippines, but don’t deserve it. The truth is I didn’t want the Philippines, and when they came to us, as a gift from the gods, I did not know what to do with them. When the Spanish War broke out Dewey was at Hong Kong, and I ordered him to go to Manila and to capture or destroy the Spanish fleet, and he had to; because, if defeated, he had no place to refit on that side of the globe, and if the Dons were victorious they would likely cross the Pacific and ravage our Oregon and California coasts. And so he had to destroy the Spanish fleet, and did it! But that was as far as I thought then.” McKinley tried to justify the war... [continues]
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