1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:12,639 Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren Bogelbaum. Here a woman in white floats above 3 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:16,680 Speaker 1: a verdant plane, her eyes turned westward, a star glowing 4 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:20,800 Speaker 1: on her forehead. She's a phantasm hovering at the center 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:23,960 Speaker 1: of the oil on canvas painting completed in eighteen seventy 6 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: two by the Prussian American artist John Gast. The work 7 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: is called American Progress. This simple painting, less than a 8 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: foot tall, is the artistic realization of a concept that's 9 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: been at the center of America's psyche for most of 10 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: its existence. It's right there in the paintings, settled but 11 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:47,560 Speaker 1: brutal allegory. The woman, a white woman with wavy golden hair, 12 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 1: leads a group of farmers and other settlers, also all white. 13 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: In her left hand is a string of telegraph wire. 14 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: In her right, a book, A stage coach, and a 15 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 1: train also follow in her wake, and the land behind 16 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: her is bright and bountiful. Ahead of her, to the west, 17 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: dark skies and foreboding mountains await. A herd of buffalo 18 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:11,959 Speaker 1: rumbles away in the distance. A wild beast, perhaps a 19 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: bear or badger, snarls at her as it retreats, a 20 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 1: band of Native Americans flees As she glides ever onward. 21 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: She is manifest destiny, a belief born in America's infancy 22 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: and fully implemented with the country's drive west during the 23 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds. Manifest destiny was a doctrine that basically espoused 24 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,119 Speaker 1: that the Christian God wanted European Americans to take over 25 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:42,480 Speaker 1: the continent. In a single word, manifest destiny was and 26 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: still is trouble. The term manifest destiny sprung from the 27 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 1: fingers of a newspaper columnist and editor in eighteen forty five, 28 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 1: though the basic idea had been around from the country's 29 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: get go. After all, it takes a hefty dose of 30 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: self entitlement to claim a land as your own, even 31 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 1: though millions of people lived there already in the early 32 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: days of what we now know as America. What lands 33 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 1: couldn't be relatively easily taken were bought, like in the 34 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 1: Louisiana Purchase, split with others like the Oregon Country, or 35 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: fought over like big parts of the West in the 36 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:23,120 Speaker 1: Mexican American War of eighteen forty to eighty eight. It 37 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 1: was the latter that pushed to annex land held by 38 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,360 Speaker 1: Mexico before it was one in the war, the prompted 39 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: editor John O'Sullivan to coin the term manifest destiny. He wrote, 40 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 1: it is our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted 41 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions. 42 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: But of course, the concept of manifest destiny was inextricably 43 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: tied into the politics of the time, which were, as 44 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:58,639 Speaker 1: they are now, fueled by something decidedly unholy money. America's 45 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:01,639 Speaker 1: land must was driven first and foremost by the first 46 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: four more wealth for its colonists, but distributing that often 47 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 1: ill gained bounty wasn't easy in a time when the 48 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: scourge of slavery was already beginning to rip apart the nation. 49 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: The issue of how to divide the newly acquired land, 50 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:20,320 Speaker 1: which states to be would allow slavery and which would 51 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: not became a political hot button, and declaring the land 52 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 1: grabs a divine right seemed, if nothing else, a nice 53 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: cover story for expansionists of the time. But even more 54 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: than money, politics, or religion, manifest destiny demonstrated something else 55 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: about the mindset of many Americans. For the article, this 56 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: episode is based on how stuff Works spoke with Don 57 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 1: Hayter Markle, the head of the Department of Political Science 58 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: at the University of Kansas. He said, implied in the 59 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: notion of Manifest Destiny is that we know best. And 60 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:58,760 Speaker 1: basically when we say we, we mean sort of Anglo 61 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 1: Saxon Protestant, otherwise known as sort of white. That's telling 62 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: Native Americans, that's telling Mexicans, that's telling Africans, we kidnapped, 63 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: it enslaved, that we are superior. Our way is superior. 64 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:13,880 Speaker 1: I don't see how you can escape from the notion 65 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: that this is a form of white supremacy. So did 66 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: people really accept this idea at the time. Certainly many 67 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,159 Speaker 1: people at the time believed in Manifest Destiny that God 68 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: wanted the newcomers to take over the continent, to work 69 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: the land, to bring Christianity to the Indians and Mexicans, 70 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 1: to be biblically fruitful and multiplied as a Sullivan pudd it, 71 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:40,280 Speaker 1: and if God found it within his grace to grow 72 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:44,040 Speaker 1: rich while doing it, expelling more than a hundred thousand 73 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,360 Speaker 1: Native Americans from their homes in the American South, murdering 74 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:50,919 Speaker 1: thousands of others, and taking land from Mexicans, wasn't just 75 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: accepted as a divine American right, it was a duty. 76 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:59,400 Speaker 1: But not everyone bought into the notion. Many saw the 77 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:03,919 Speaker 1: idea as little more than a dodge. Housta Works also 78 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:06,800 Speaker 1: spoke with Harry Watson, a professor of Southern culture at 79 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 1: the University of North Carolina. He said there were people, 80 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:13,320 Speaker 1: for example, who thought that the drive to annex Texas 81 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 1: was a ploy to gain more land to create more 82 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: slave states, because eastern Texas was suitable for growing cotton. 83 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 1: Even then, there were people who were bitterly opposed to 84 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:27,040 Speaker 1: slavery and desperately wanted to abolish it, and the first 85 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: step to abolishing it might be to prevent it from growing. 86 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:33,039 Speaker 1: They did not want to admit Texas. They did not 87 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 1: want to fight Mexico to get Texas. They did not 88 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 1: want slavery to be allowed to spread. All of this 89 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:44,159 Speaker 1: was fought out very bitterly in Congress. Still, politicians like 90 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:48,359 Speaker 1: President James K. Polk founded politically and economically favorable to 91 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:52,279 Speaker 1: press onward. His call to annex both Texas and Oregon, 92 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:55,719 Speaker 1: which would appeal to both northern and southern political stances, 93 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:58,920 Speaker 1: helped him win the presidency in eighteen forty five over 94 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,159 Speaker 1: anti expansionist Henry Clay. Even though Polke's drive threatened war 95 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:07,840 Speaker 1: with both Great Britain and Mexico, and despite fears from many, 96 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:11,840 Speaker 1: Polk believed that a vast nation transversing the continent would 97 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:15,279 Speaker 1: be more easily defended and mightier than one concentrated on 98 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:19,159 Speaker 1: the eastern seaboard. He said in his inaugural address, it 99 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:22,800 Speaker 1: is confidantly believed that our system may be safely extended 100 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 1: to the utmost bounds of our territorial limits, and that 101 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:28,559 Speaker 1: as it shall be extended, the bonds of our union, 102 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 1: so far from being weakened, will become stronger. By the 103 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,640 Speaker 1: time Polk left office in eighteen forty nine, Manifest Destiny 104 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:41,279 Speaker 1: was all but complete. Barely sixty years after the U 105 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:45,599 Speaker 1: s Constitution was ratified, America stretched from sea to Shining Sea. 106 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:51,479 Speaker 1: In historical terms, Manifest Destiny is defined only as the 107 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:54,680 Speaker 1: doctrine that increased the United States landholdings on the North 108 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: American continent. The idea, though, is still reference today, though 109 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,239 Speaker 1: it's us about expansionism and divine intervention, and more about 110 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:07,560 Speaker 1: spreading the American way of life to other places. In 111 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: that way, Manifest Destiny is a precursor to what's now 112 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 1: termed American exceptionalism, the belief that America is uniquely exceptional 113 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: and that its virtues the freedom, democracy, capitalism, are worthy 114 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:23,600 Speaker 1: of sharing with, or perhaps even imposing on other countries 115 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: and cultures. Historically, that's often meant more trouble. The Philippine 116 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: American War, the business led Coup of Hawaii, the Korean War, 117 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 1: the Vietnam War, the Gulf Wars, just for example. America's 118 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 1: bloody history after the country's continental expansion, which continues today 119 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:45,680 Speaker 1: in places like the Middle East, shows that the idea 120 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 1: of American exceptionalism that was so evident in Manifest Destiny 121 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 1: still lives on. Watson said, I think the idea of 122 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: Manifest Destiny supported the idea of a global role for 123 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:00,120 Speaker 1: the United States in the twentieth century, and they there 124 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: is still this notion that it's not only America's right, 125 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: but America's obligation to extend its influence over various countries, 126 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: and that can work both ways or many ways. The 127 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: Woman in White, it seems, presses ever onward. Today's episode 128 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,240 Speaker 1: is based on the article how Manifest Destiny stretched the 129 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: US from Sea to Shining Sea on House to works 130 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:29,840 Speaker 1: dot Com, written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production 131 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 1: by Heart Radio in partnership with Houstfworks dot Com and 132 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:35,319 Speaker 1: is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my 133 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:38,360 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 134 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:40,080 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.