Question: Was American Manifest Destiny of the 19th Century unique? Just American. Or was Manifest Destiny just another name for lebensraum ? Today I was showing this Board on my P.C. to a Chinese American friend. When asked about my No attitudes, I invoked Manifest Destiny, which they were unaware. So on to explain the Lord had a destiny in his plan for America as in; "It is written". So now I had to try explain about my favorite President, Jame K. Polk and his only failure was not keeping his promise; " 54'40" Or Fight", wusing out for the 49th due to Yankee pressures. And how there was water up north that was by Manifest Destiny, American in times of drought. And then I asked myself Was American Manifest Destiny of the 19th Century unique? Just American. Or was Manifest Destiny just another name for lebensraum ? Comments ? Thoughts ? Is America bad or just an instrument of the Lords grand plan. Reagan spoke of such too. Moi Click Image, Please
"Manifest Destiny" far from unique. In fact, a historical norm. Where do all large countries come from? There were once only local clans under local rule everywhere in the world. But ambitious leaders discovered "manifest destiny" and expanded their territory in the competition for food and other resources. You mentioned your Chinese friend. China was once 5 smaller kingdoms, which had been consolidated from yet smaller kingdoms. One great leader became Emperor by conquering and consolidating the kingdoms (the Qin Emperor in 221 BCE). France, Germany, and Italy have similar histories. France was consolidated by Richelieu, Germany by Bismarck, Italy by Garibaldi. Any country big enough to be recognized on a map was once many smaller countries. Human beings have always striven to build the most comprehensive social organizations they could because big countries are more secure and more efficient in their use of resources than many smaller countries. (The same thing is true of businesses.) The drive to consolidate was slowed by technical obstacles (communication, transportation) and by intellectual obstacles (learning how to manage large complex systems). In the US, expansion was eased by the relative weakness of Native Americans and colonial interests. We expanded so rapidly because we had less opposition. But the drive to expand - call it Manifest Destiny, call it lebensraum - is universal. Has modern technology made physical expansion irrelevant? If small places such as Singapore and Hong Kong can grow rich and powerful by the adroit use of intellectual capital, perhaps the need for land is less than it was. The old equation was simple - land equaled food and natural resources. That's still true, but may be less compelling.
Is It True That: Manifest Destiny in the 21st Century is about "Market Expansion" ala neo colonialism. We don't govern the nation, just corral its' markets. Example: Hey Ukraine, y'wanna trade with the west, exclusively - and we will give you such a deal until like Greece, it is NOT such a deal And it isn't even national so much as it is "Multi National" business interests in the West. Looks like its' about German Bankers and America's Military and expanding Western markets. Some stuff is a forced purchase such as American Sugar fortified foods. Ref. Katie Couric, "Fed Up". ( )0( ), is it really, Manifest Destiny. In America, there was a deep routed belief - mostly among the Scot-Irish, that is was by the Lord's great plan. 21st Century market hegemony is not invoking the Lord, so no - it is just crass expansionism. Not all expansionism is M.D. As usual, bobov is wrong. Not all territorial expansion has that M.D. quality. Some is for security, or assets on that turf. Moi r > g No
The gods always favor one's own tribe. In every battle for expansion ever fought, the priests and shamans invoked the blessings of the local deities. My father brought home a German soldier's belt buckle from WW2. It's motto - "Gott Mit Uns." Read history to see that no cause has been too base to deserve heaven's favor. Do you think that when a nation goes to war its priests play no role? They always stand behind the throne. Many of history's greatest wars, such as those waged by the medieval Christian and Muslim churches, had religious themes, despite their material underpinnings. So America's MD was not unique. If there's a difference now, it's only that many people are not so religious as they once were, so they don't seek God's mandate. It's enough for them to feel righteous. Market expansion is just the modern equivalent of the old territorial expansion. As I mentioned, land is no longer the sole foundation of wealth.
