The United States of America, Mission and Manifest Destiny

This chapter explores the history of the United States, beginning with the initial English coastal colonies of the early 1600s and continuing through the end of the 19th century. The chapter focuses on the relationship of the colonists and later the Americans with respect to the Indigenous peoples of the territory that becomes the United States. The chapter explores the ways in which Christian Humanism and Christian Nationalism manifested in the United States over time and how this impacted interactions with the Native Americans, with reference to the enslavement of Indigenous Americans and Africans as well. The chapter examines Christian Humanism through a variety of periods of evangelization to the “Indians,” including the First and Second Great Awakening, periods of Evangelical revival that promoted a Humanist and evangelistic ethos. The chapter also studies the impact of conflicts such as the French and Indian War and the American Revolution on missionary efforts and white-Indian relations. The chapter also examines the development of specific American ideologies that promoted Christian Nationalism, such as the Puritan view of “a city on a hill” and the 19th-century doctrine of Manifest Destiny, which promoted territorial expansion, including the incorporation of territories gained through international conflicts.