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"Manifest Destiny" and Tyler and Texas

“Manifest Destiny”

  • Texas was one extreme example of a broader pattern:

    • its expansion was messy

    • nothing about it was pre-ordained

  • “manifest destiny” began as a partisan, political ideology

    • the term originated in an 1845 newspaper editorial written in support of Texas annexation

    • came to refer to a loose set of ideas and beliefs:

      • Anglo-Americans superior institutions and values entitled them to lead the hemisphere

      • Anglo-Americans were destined to spread their people and/or culture across North America (or farther)

        1. remaking the rest of the continent in their own image

        2. disagreements about how this should happen

      • the spread of American republicanism would save the world

  • drew upon old ideas, but added new elements:

    • millenarianism of the 2nd Great Awakening

      • millenarianism: belief by a religion, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which “all things will be changed”

    • happening soon/now, not in some vague future

    • racialized: many of them believe the “Anglo-Saxon Race” was superior to other people in its path

Tyler and Texas

  • William Henry Harrison dies a month into office, 1841

    • died from a pneumonia

  • Vice President John Tyler becomes the new president and turns on the Whigs

    • Whigs: members of the British reforming and constitutional party that aimed for the supremacy of Parliament and was eventually succeeded by the Liberal Party in the 19th Century

    • John Tyler was not a good or well-liked president

  • he tries to annex Texas via a treaty which was rejected by Congress

"Manifest Destiny" and Tyler and Texas

“Manifest Destiny”

  • Texas was one extreme example of a broader pattern:

    • its expansion was messy

    • nothing about it was pre-ordained

  • “manifest destiny” began as a partisan, political ideology

    • the term originated in an 1845 newspaper editorial written in support of Texas annexation

    • came to refer to a loose set of ideas and beliefs:

      • Anglo-Americans superior institutions and values entitled them to lead the hemisphere

      • Anglo-Americans were destined to spread their people and/or culture across North America (or farther)

        1. remaking the rest of the continent in their own image

        2. disagreements about how this should happen

      • the spread of American republicanism would save the world

  • drew upon old ideas, but added new elements:

    • millenarianism of the 2nd Great Awakening

      • millenarianism: belief by a religion, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which “all things will be changed”

    • happening soon/now, not in some vague future

    • racialized: many of them believe the “Anglo-Saxon Race” was superior to other people in its path

Tyler and Texas

  • William Henry Harrison dies a month into office, 1841

    • died from a pneumonia

  • Vice President John Tyler becomes the new president and turns on the Whigs

    • Whigs: members of the British reforming and constitutional party that aimed for the supremacy of Parliament and was eventually succeeded by the Liberal Party in the 19th Century

    • John Tyler was not a good or well-liked president

  • he tries to annex Texas via a treaty which was rejected by Congress

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