Destiny Manifest as Imperialism
Introduction
Manifest destiny was an apparent and inexorable technique used by the North Americans to increase their geographical coverage. President Polk applied the technique to make North America dominant over other countries such as the south, as well as neighboring countries. The unequal distribution of resources brought about by accumulation of more land qualifies for imperialism, and this is exhibited by literary works of various authors.
The intentions of President Polk to amass more resources for America which he termed as manifest destiny have been recorded in primary, as well as secondary sources of data. Three major literary works will be used to justify the use of the clause Manifest Destiny by President Polk. They are; Paul Johnson’s “A History of American People, Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States”, Tomas Leonard’s “James Polk: A Clear and Unquestionable Destiny” and Borneman Walter’s “Polk: the Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America.” The work of the four authors will be considerably used to show that the form of manifest destiny conducted by the former president was nothing short of imperialism.
Discussion
The term Manifest Destiny was coined by President Polk in 1830 and used by a journalist by the name John O’Sullivan to define the actions of the Polk administration in Texas. President Polk was fond of using the phrase during his tenure to defend his imperialist deeds. This justifies his deeds as an imperialist as is reflected in the intellectual climate during that period. Most Americans especially Democrats were striving to increase the increase the territorial boundaries of the country while the Whigs were looking forward to improved economic terms. Hence the term had to be used to disguise the intentions of the administration towards increasing the geographical area such that the country would dominate the neighbors. Many Americans opposed the move as being unethical such that President Polka had to look for a more appealing way of explaining the problem at hand (Leonard, 2000).
Evidence of the disguise
An example of evidence which portrays the former president’s view of manifest destiny as imperialism is seen in the case of Louisiana Purchase. This was an imperial acquisition as the residents of Louisiana were not given much choice concerning their destination as the key competitors for the land did not take into consideration the impact of the move. Similarly, they were encroached in foreign territory where the rules and policies were different from what they were used to in their homeland (Zinn, 2005).
This land and its people originally belonged to France, and after the war ownership was altered such that the place was under American rule. The controversy arose as to why the two countries did not time to identify the impact of the Louisiana residents regarding the change in ownership. The domination was seen in the nature of disregard about the feelings of the nationals of the other country. The imperialism led to captivity of foreigners who had been forced to become Americans due to the fact that their land had been captured by the Americans (Johnson, 1999).
Consequently, the captives were restricted into specific localities of the “empire” where they underwent intense remolding to make them adjust to the new land. The empire had specific desires for its members hence to reduce the disparity the orientation program was enacted to increase conformity with the empires desires. This domineering nature of the American government increased perception of imperialism (Leonard, 2000).
Since the beginning of the cold war until the present day, the American policy has always being aimed at expanding the control over other countries across the world. This is exhibited by the fact that, after the cold war, America was the only superpower which emerged victorious hence it directed its interest into the future which was “up for grabs” by those who had the capacity. Similarly, the fact that the superpower developed into the most dangerous imperialist in the world is seen in the way in which the country has committed various cruel and excess activities which reduce the dignity of human life in the affected countries. Such actions led to the emergence of the country as a determinant of crucial economic as well as trade markets in which subordinate countries are involved in. cases of policies favoring the United States while other countries suffer are common in major sectors of the world(Heidler and Jeanne 2003).
The other example of evidence is the quest of California which was captured from Mexico. The San Francisco bay in California provided a good opportunity for America to trade with Asia. However, during the manifest destiny, it was discovered that the European nations could grab the land and America reacted rather fast to capture it before any other nation took it. Rather than the Polk administration compensating Mexico for the loss of Texas, they wanted more of their land to their own benefit. This created a lot of conflict among various key leaders of Mexico, and a diplomat who had been sent by President Polka to carry out the purchase was rejected by the Mexican government. President polka saw this rejection as an opportunity to stage war against the country and in the process obtain the land (Johnson, 1999).
The Mexican soldiers who were preventing occupation of the land by the Americans killed eleven American soldiers who had gone to invade the land and this further infuriated Polk. He restated the problem to congress as Mexicans who had invaded their land and killed Americans right on their land. This was untrue, but the country was able to make use of its dominance as well as apply its powers to carry out war on unethical grounds with a hidden aim of gaining the bay in San Francisco (Borneman, 2008).
A treaty between United States and Mexico in 1848 acknowledged America to be in control of the territory between Nueces River and Rio Grande, which was highly, disputed. The number of Mexican casualties was 50,000 and that of Americans were 20,000 lives, which was way, below that of Mexico keeping in mind that the Americans had invaded the Mexicans. After capturing the territory, slavery was established in the area such that the residents of the area regardless of their cultural background were assimilated into American way of life (Zinn, 2005).
The level of imperialism depicted in the war to capture San Francisco bay was labeled as an immoral act of aggression. President Polk received a lot of criticism in what was referred as misuse of presidential powers. This was evident in the way in which the president altered the Whigs perception of imperialism as well as unending greed of amassing more land to increase their resources (Johnson, 1999).
The manifestation of other countries in the world, as well as their subjects, is seen in the way in which individuals of various captured territories were forced to embrace traditions of Americans. Groups of people such as Mexicans and Indians who were occupants of former territories adjacent to America were faced with new rules of a strange land which was against their wish. The intentions of President Polk to expand the geographical regions of America were concealed beneath the manifest destiny which described America as an exceptional power with a sole aim of controlling the world. This prejudgment of Americans is exhibited by their ability to unashamedly claim that Mexico was invading their land yet the invader was America into Mexico. Therefore, the quest for expansion ignited hatred as well as other inhuman activities such as slavery and massive losses of innocent lives in the opponent’s side (Johnson, 1999).
The other evidence of the disguise is seen in the war between Spain and America over the Spanish rule on Cuba. The Spanish colony was subjected to unending oppression by their rulers, and the neighboring country America was closely following the allegations. The world though that America was fighting to free Cuba from the atrocity rule of Spain only to realize that America had not only acquired temporary control over Cuba, but also indefinite ownership of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. America had developed economic interests in Cuba due to the expansive harbors and Cuban sugar plantations. Hence it was engaging in the war with Spain to dislodge it from its neighborhood and in the process increase its physical boundaries (Borneman, 2008).
Conclusion
The allegation that manifest destiny was used to mask the interests of Americans in their conquest of expanding their boundaries is evident and verifiable. The government wanted to present a moral image to the public, yet their actions were not ethical. Consequently, the imperialism, which was depicted by the country in its wars to gain land was selfish and domineering. This way most countries surrendered their resources to the Americans.
References
Borneman, Walter R. Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America (2008)
Heidler, David S. and Jeanne T. Heidler. Manifest Destiny. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2003
Johnson, Paul. A History of the American People” (New York: Harper Perennial), (1999)
Leonard, Thomas M. James K. Polk: A Clear and Unquestionable Destiny. (2000)
Zinn, Howard “A People’s History of the United States” (New York: Harper Perennial, (2005)
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