Primary Source: Manifest Destiny by John O’Sullivan
Excerpted from "The Great Nation of Futurity," The United States Democratic Review, Volume
6, Issue 23, pp. 426-430.
Fun Fact: John O’Sullivan actually invented the term “Manifest Destiny”. In this article he describes his
belief that America has a destiny that sets it apart from the rest of the countries in the world.
“…The expansive future is our arena, and for our history. We are entering on its
untrodden space, with the truths of God in our minds, beneficent objects in our
hearts, and with a clear conscience unsullied by the past. We are the nation of
human progress, and who will, what can, set limits to our onward march?
Providence is with us, and no earthly power can. We point to the everlasting truth
on the first page of our national declaration, and we proclaim to the millions of
other lands, that “the gates of hell” – the powers of aristocracy and monarchy –
“shall not prevail against it.”
The far-reaching, the boundless future will be the era of American greatness. In its
magnificent domain of space and time, the nation of many nations is destined to
manifest to mankind the excellence of divine principles; to establish on earth the
noblest temple ever dedicated to the worship of the Most High – the Sacred and the
True. Its floor shall be a hemisphere – its roof the firmament of the star-studded
heavens, and its congregation an Union of many Republics, comprising hundreds of
happy millions, calling, owning no man master, but governed by God’s natural and
moral law of equality, the law of brotherhood – of “peace and good will amongst
men.”. . .
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Manifest Destiny Primary Sources
Primary Source: Mr. Hezekiah Packingham, formerly of Putnam
County, in this State, thus writes to his brother under date of
“Willamette Valley, March 1, 1847:”
Americans moved to Oregon because of all the stories they heard about the wonderful
life they could have there. However, Oregon was not as amazing as it was described
and most people were disappointed by what they found there.
“I arrived in the Wallamette [Willamette] Valley on the 30th of September,
and my calculations are all defeated about Oregon. I found it a mean, dried
up, and drowned country… I can give Oregon credit for only one or two
things, and these are, good health and plenty of salmon, and Indians; as
for the farming country there is none here—wheat grows about the same as
in Illinois; corn, potatoes, and garden vegetables cannot grow here without
watering. The nights are too cold here in summer. The soil is not as good as
in Illinois—the face of the country is hilly, and high mountains covered with
snow all summer, and small valleys—the mountains and hills are covered
with the heaviest timber that I ever saw. We have had a very hard winter
here, snow fell two feet deep, and lay three weeks, by reason of which
hundreds of cattle have died of starvation. The thermometer fell to three
degrees above zero… Money is very scarce here—and they have a kind of
currency here (orders on stores and scrip)—they value property very high,
but if they would put things at cash prices, they would be about the same
as they are in the States. Oregon is rapidly filling up with young men, (but
no girls,) of whom two-thirds are dissatisfied, and many would return to the
States if they were able, but the road is long and tedious, and it is hard for
families to get back; my trip was pleasant until I got to the South Pass—
after that the country was rugged, and bad roads. Tell young men if they
intend coming to Oregon, to drive no teams unless it is their own. We were
uninjured by the Indians, though they were very saucy—they have no
manners; they worship idols, and I saw one of their gods at the mouth of
the river. There is no society here except the Camelities [Carmelites?] I
shall return to the States next spring. Don’t believe all that is said about
Oregon, as many falsehoods are uttered respecting the country.”
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Manifest Destiny Primary Sources
Chief Seattle's 1854 Oration, Seattle Sunday Star, October 29, 1887
"The son of the white chief says his father sends us greetings of friendship and good will.
This is kind, for we know he has little need of our friendship in return, because his
people are many. They are like the grass that covers the vast prairies, while my people
are few, and resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain.
"The great, and I presume also good, white chief sends us word that he wants to buy
our lands but is willing to allow us to reserve enough to live on comfortably. This indeed
appears generous, for the red man no longer has rights that he need respect, and the
offer may be wise, also, for we are no longer in need of a great country.
"There was a time when our people covered the whole land, as the waves of a windruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor. But that time has long since passed away with the
greatness of tribes now almost forgotten. I will not mourn over our untimely decay, nor
reproach my paleface brothers for hastening it, for we, too, may have been somewhat to
blame. But let us hope that hostilities between the red man and his paleface brothers
may never return. We would have everything to lose and nothing to gain.
"Day and night cannot dwell together. The red man has ever fled the approach of the
white man, as the changing mists on the mountainside flee before the blazing morning
sun.
"However, your proposition seems a just one, and I think my folks will accept it and will
retire to the reservation you offer them, and we will dwell apart and in peace, for the
words of the great white chief seem to be the voice of nature speaking to my people out
of the thick darkness that is fast gathering around them like a dense fog floating inward
from a midnight sea.
"It matters but little where we pass the remainder of our days. They are not many.
And when the last red man shall have perished from the earth and his memory among
white men shall have become a myth, these shores shall swarm with the invisible dead
of my tribe, and when your children's children shall think themselves alone in the field,
the store, the shop, upon the highway or in the silence of the woods, they will not be
alone. In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude. At night, when the streets
of your cities and villages shall be silent, and you think them deserted, they will throng
with the returning hosts that once filled and still love this beautiful land. The white man
will never be alone. Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not
altogether powerless."
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Manifest Destiny Primary Sources