____________________
Although I heard the term Manifest Destiny many times throughout my lifetime, including those years in school classrooms when I was supposed to be learning new words and terminology, the meaning of manifest destiny has (until now) somehow eluded me.
Below is the dictionary definition.
manifest destiny
noun
- the 19th-century belief that it was inevitable for the U.S. to expand to the Pacific coast
- a policy of imperialistic expansion defended as necessary or benevolent
Wikipedia provides much useful information on the subject, including:
In the United States in the 19th century, Manifest destiny was the widely held belief that American settlers were destined to expand across the continent. The belief has been described as follows: Historians have for the most part agreed that there are three basic themes to Manifest Destiny.
1. The special virtues of the American people and their institutions;
2. America's mission to redeem and remake the world in the image of America;
3. A divine destiny under God's direction to accomplish this wonderful task.
God's direction? Oh yes, of course, the source and inspiration for this endeavor had to spring forth from supernatural means... from God.
The belief in an American mission to promote and defend democracy throughout the world, as expounded by Thomas Jefferson and his "Empire of Liberty", and by Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Douglas MacArthur, and George W. Bush, continues to have an influence on American political ideology.
If all this appears to be taken from an American History textbook, it can't be helped. Most of it has been. I merely searched it out, sorted through it, and transported some of it to this blog.
So? It's my blog. I can post whatever I want in it. Can't I?
Another possible influence is racial predominance, namely the idea that the American Anglo-Saxon race was "separate, innately superior " and "destined to bring good government, commercial prosperity and Christianity to the American continents and the world." This view also held that "inferior races were doomed to subordinate status or extinction." This was used to justify "the enslavement of the blacks and the expulsion and possible extermination of the Indians"
Not only did the idea of Manifest Destiny not end in 1890, it took on a whole new face. The Manifest Destiny Doctrine can be divided into two distinct parts. One part could be defined as National Manifest Destiny. This is the drive behind building the American Main Land. The America whose borders are between Canada and Mexico on the North and South and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans on the East and West.
The other part could be defined as International Manifest Destiny which started in 1867 when America purchased Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000. Although this acquisition could fall into the example of National Destiny, it was the first time America went beyond its immediate border to acquired land. In fact, the acquisition of Alaska was a second thought. The purchase of Alaska was only approved after the senate rejected plans to purchase the Virgin Islands from Denmark.
The American History website provides more regarding The New Manifest Destiny.
It seems to me that manifest destiny has become an American idea that America is a nation favored by God and selected to overcome all other nations and eventually morph them into mirrored reflections of what the United States believes and stands for. Then the world will be a better place, where all people can live in peace and harmony.
Yeah . . . right.
_____
TRIVIA
Sherlock Holmes NEVER said, "Elementary, my dear Watson." For that matter, Sherlock Holmes never existed in the first place. But the address where he supposedly lived, 221B Baker Street, still gets a lot of fan mail.
_____
HISTORICAL EVENT
Today, IVF is considered a mainstream medical treatment for infertility. Hundreds of thousands of children around the world have been conceived through the procedure, in some cases with donor eggs and sperm.
_____
WORD FOR TODAY
reticulate veins of a leaf
adjective
- Resembling or forming a net or network.
reticulate [ree-TIK-you-LATE]
verb
- To make a net or network of.
- To mark with lines resembling a network.
Reticulated Python
_____
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
(born July 25, 1967)
Matt LeBlanc is an American actor, best known for his role as Joey Tribbiani on the NBC sitcom Friends and its spin-off Joey. In 2011, LeBlanc began starring as a fictional version of himself in Episodes, a BBC Two/Showtime television series created by Friends co-creator David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik.
(July 25, 1923 - July 22, 2008)
Estelle Getty was an American actress, who appeared in film, television, and theater. She was best known for her role as Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls from 1985 to 1992, which won her an Emmy and a Golden Globe, on The Golden Palace from 1992 to 1993 and on Empty Nest from 1993 to 1995.
(July 25, 1894 - Sept. 21, 1974)
Walter Brennan was an American actor, one of three men to win three Oscars, having won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on three occasions between 1936 and 1940.
In Sergeant York he played a sympathetic preacher and dry goods store owner who advised the title character, played by Gary Cooper. He was particularly skilled in playing the sidekick to the protagonist or as the "grumpy old man" in films like To Have and Have Not (1944). Though he was hardly ever cast as the villain, notable exceptions were his roles as Judge Roy Bean in The Westerner (1940), 'Old Man' Clanton in My Darling Clementine (1946) opposite Henry Fonda, and How the West Was Won (1962) as the murderous Colonel Jeb Hawkins.
From 1957–1963, he starred in the ABC television series The Real McCoys, a situation comedy about a poor West Virginia family that relocated to a farm in southern California. After five years on ABC, The Real McCoys switched to CBS for a final season as simply The McCoys. The series also featured Richard Crenna, Kathleen Nolan, Lydia Reed, and Michael Winkelman.
(born July 25, 1935)
Barbara Harris is an American actress who was a Broadway stage star and later became a movie actress. She appeared in such movies as A Thousand Clowns, Plaza Suite, Nashville, Family Plot, Freaky Friday, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Grosse Pointe Blank.
__________
Although most Americans believed in Manifest Destiny, few could agree on exactly which lands the United States was supposed to govern.
--Charles W. Carey Jr.
NASA TV
No comments:
Post a Comment