Over the weekend, as I listened to the television talking heads holding forth on "America's New War," my thoughts turned to Manifest Destiny. During the 1840s, the leaders and politicians of our country used this phrase to explain the continental expansion of our borders (i.e. the Mexican War). But it became more than a mere explanation for the acquisition of additional land area. No, many Americans came to view it, the spreading of democracy, as our mission in life, and the world took notice of this fact. And it seems to me that, the ripples of these events lap upon the shore of our own time.

In writing on the subject, noted historian Robert W. Johanssen said, " …The people of the United States felt it was their mission to extend the boundaries of freedom to others by imparting their idealism and belief in democratic institutions to those who were capable of self-government… It excluded those people who were perceived as being incapable of self-government, such as Native American people and those of non-European origin." But this curious mixture of idealism and boorish behavior aside, I believe that Johanssen makes a point that might be central to developing an understanding of why we find ourselves where we now do. As a nation, it seems to me that our past actions could be perceived as somewhat provocative, in that, from time to time, throughout our country's history we have sought, sometimes almost religiously, to further the spread of democracy. And over the generations, this may have created a situation where folks in certain regions of the world are predisposed to be freaked-out by America.

Between 1820 and 1850 nearly four million Americans moved west into the newly acquired lands. And the reason for this movement was quite simple. During that period the population of our nation grew from around five million to nearly twenty-three million. Therefore, altruistic motivations aside (the romantic idea that we were freeing the oppressed native Americans and other indigenous people from the slavery of their primitive existences), in one sense it could be argued that it was also most certainly a land grab. In fact, history remembers it now almost entirely in those terms.

Our country was coming of age. During the 1830s and 1840s the people and political institutions of our nation were maturing. Those two decades saw drastic changes in the political ways of doing business, and this, coupled with the growth of the industrial establishment and myriad technological advances created a mind-set where the citizenry felt that the sky was the limit. We were referred to as a "go-ahead nation" of "go-ahead people."

But all of this advancement and sense of going forward was not with out cost. It seems to me that there is some irony in the fact that, while folks were busy riding this wave of rapid change, they were also feeling anxious and somewhat apprehensive. You see these above referenced changes were so sweeping, and so important to all aspects of their lives they felt out of their reckoning. So folks were searching for an idea to help them feel grounded amidst all the change.

And they found it. In 1845 Journalist John L. O'Sullivan coined the phrase "Manifest Destiny." O'Sullivan was attempting to defend the American claim to Texas that precipitated the Mexican War, and he mentioned that the United States had a "Manifest Destiny" to overspread the continent with its multiplying millions (the above referenced land-grab). But he also talked about something else, and that idea caught on. He indicated that our "model republic" had certain "obligations." He knew that folks from all over the world were beginning to refer to democracy as the best form of government, that it was "adapted to the happiness of mankind" and was "God's plan for mankind." So he, and others of like mind, peddled the notion, and Americans began to believe that our form of government was providentially provided since we were the "favored nation of God." So, in the spirit of proselytizing we took the show on the road--the idea being that we would bring the blessings of self-government to as broad an area as possible. So the American people found their idea. Their anxieties were lessened and they marched boldly into the future.

But gentle reader, what in the world do you think all this has to do with what is going on today, in our time? Well, I can certainly understand part of our forebear's Manifest Destiny mindset, their love of democracy. As a system of government it's great, and I know of no better alternative. But I also know how unpleasant I sometimes find religious doorknockers to be-- those folks that walk door to door spreading their idea of the truth. And I wonder if some in the world (maybe our enemies) believe that our past behavior has cast us in a similar but more threatening light.

As a people, as a nation, we have certainly been on a mission. Look at what we have accomplished in the two hundred and twenty five years of our existence. We get things done, we are not afraid. We are ingenuity, and hard work and motion. We are Americans, we are "moral."  So God love us and God help us.

And perhaps this "brashness" is a double-edged sword. It put us on the moon, but maybe it helped put us here as well…