Key facts and dates

The 19th and early 20th centuries saw the rise of powerful ideological trends in the United States, such as Manifest Destiny, Social Darwinism, and Nativism, which shaped national policies and societal attitudes. These ideologies often justified expansion, inequality, and discrimination while reflecting anxieties about rapid social and economic changes.

Timeline of key events:

• 1840s – Manifest Destiny emerges as a belief in America's divine right to expand across the continent.
• 1885 – Josiah Strong publishes Our Country, promoting Social Darwinism and Anglo-Saxon superiority.
• 1893 – Frederick Jackson Turner's "Frontier Thesis" argues the frontier shaped American identity and suggests new expansion outlets.
• 1898 – Spanish-American War sees Manifest Destiny applied to justify overseas imperialism in the Caribbean and Pacific.
• 1920s – Nativism culminates in the U.S. quota system, severely restricting immigration based on national origins.

Manifest Destiny: from continental expansion to overseas imperialism

Manifest Destiny was a widely held belief in the 19th century that the United States was destined by divine will to expand its territory and spread its values across North America and beyond. This ideology evolved over time, reflecting both a sense of mission and underlying racial and cultural assumptions.

Evolution of Manifest Destiny

• Origins in the 1840s - Initially, Manifest Destiny justified westward expansion across the North American continent, driven by the belief that Americans had a God-given right to claim lands from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This led to events like the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War.
• Shift to overseas imperialism post-1890 - After the continental frontier was deemed closed, the focus shifted to overseas territories. This was evident during the Spanish-American War of 1898, where the ideology was used to justify acquiring territories like Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
• Frederick Jackson Turner's "Frontier Thesis" (1893) - Turner argued that the frontier experience had shaped American character—emphasising individualism and democracy—and that its closure necessitated new outlets for expansion. This idea provided intellectual support for overseas imperialism.
• Underlying beliefs - Central to Manifest Destiny was the notion of Anglo-Saxon racial superiority and a mission to spread democracy and civilisation, often disregarding indigenous peoples and other cultures in the process.

Tensions and contradictions

• Anti-colonial tradition vs. imperial ambitions - While the U.S. had a historical aversion to colonialism due to its own revolutionary past, Manifest Destiny often led to actions that mirrored imperial behaviour, creating a tension between national ideals and expansionist policies.
• Impact on policy - This ideology not only drove territorial acquisitions but also shaped attitudes towards indigenous peoples, often resulting in displacement and marginalisation under the guise of progress.

Social Darwinism: justifying inequality and imperialism

Social Darwinism emerged in the late 19th century as an application of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection to human societies. It became a powerful ideological tool to rationalise social inequalities and aggressive foreign policies in the United States.

Core principles of Social Darwinism

• "Survival of the fittest" in society - This concept suggested that competition among individuals, races, and nations was natural and inevitable, with the strongest or most "fit" destined to dominate. This was used to explain wealth disparities as a result of natural selection.
• Josiah Strong's Our Country (1885) - Strong, a prominent minister, argued that Anglo-Saxons were racially superior and destined to dominate globally, blending religious zeal with pseudo-scientific racism to support imperialism and restrict immigration.
• Claims of scientific authority - Proponents claimed their ideas were grounded in science, challenging traditional Christian notions of charity by suggesting that helping the "unfit" interfered with natural progress.

Social and political impacts

• Justification for imperialism - Social Darwinism provided a moral rationale for U.S. expansion overseas, portraying it as the natural dominance of a superior race over weaker ones.
• Resistance to reforms - It was used to oppose labour reforms and social legislation, arguing that economic inequality and harsh working conditions were natural outcomes of competition.
• Influence on attitudes - This ideology reinforced discrimination against non-Anglo-Saxon groups, including immigrants and indigenous peoples, by framing their struggles as evidence of inherent inferiority.

Resurgence of Nativism: opposition to immigration

Nativism, the belief in protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants, saw a strong resurgence in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It reflected deep anxieties about cultural and political changes brought by new waves of immigration.

Key aspects of Nativist sentiment

• Opposition to "new immigration" - Unlike earlier immigrants from northern and western Europe, the "new immigrants" from southern and eastern Europe were viewed with suspicion for their different cultures, languages, and religions.
• American Protective Association and anti-Catholicism - This organisation, active in the late 19th century, promoted anti-Catholic sentiment, fearing that Catholic immigrants undermined American Protestant values.
• Racial hierarchies and Nordicism - Nativists developed theories of racial hierarchies even among white peoples, with Nordicism prioritising northern Europeans as superior to others, further fuelling discrimination.
• Immigration Restriction League - Founded in 1894, this group advocated for literacy tests to limit immigration, believing that many new arrivals were incapable of assimilating into American society.

Fears and policy outcomes

• Concerns over assimilation and radical politics - There were widespread fears that immigrants would not integrate and instead bring radical ideas like anarchism and socialism, threatening American stability.
• Culmination in 1920s quota system - These anxieties led to the establishment of immigration quotas in the 1920s, severely restricting entry based on national origins and favouring northern and western Europeans.

Comparison with Argentina's racial ideologies

While the United States grappled with ideologies like Nativism and Social Darwinism, Argentina developed its own racial discourse during the same period. Though different in context, there were notable parallels in how racial hierarchies were constructed to shape societal attitudes and policies.

Argentina's approach to race and immigration

• Promotion of immigration with racial bias - Unlike the U.S., Argentina actively encouraged European immigration to boost its population and economy. However, it maintained racial hierarchies that favoured Europeans over mestizos (people of mixed European and indigenous descent) and indigenous peoples.
• "Whitening" ideology - This belief aimed to "improve" the racial composition of the population by increasing European influence, viewing European traits as superior and desirable for national progress.
• Similarities to U.S. ideologies - Like Social Darwinism and Nativism in the U.S., Argentina's policies used pseudo-scientific and cultural justifications to uphold inequality, often marginalising non-European groups under the guise of modernisation.

Broader role of ideologies in shaping policies and justifying inequality

These ideological trends—Manifest Destiny, Social Darwinism, and Nativism—were not just abstract beliefs; they had profound impacts on American policies and societal structures. They also reflected deeper anxieties about rapid societal changes during industrialisation and global competition.

Impacts on various policy areas

• Indigenous peoples - Manifest Destiny directly contributed to the displacement and marginalisation of Native American populations, as expansion was seen as a civilising mission, often ignoring indigenous rights and cultures.
• Immigration - Nativism shaped restrictive immigration laws, culminating in the 1920s quotas, which institutionalised discrimination against certain ethnic groups based on unfounded fears of cultural dilution.
• Labour and social reforms - Social Darwinism resisted progressive labour laws and welfare policies, portraying economic inequality as a natural and necessary outcome of human competition.
• Foreign affairs - Both Manifest Destiny and Social Darwinism provided moral justifications for imperialism, framing U.S. expansion as a duty to spread superior values and governance to "lesser" nations.

Reflection of societal anxieties

• Rapid change and uncertainty - These ideologies emerged during a time of significant transformation—industrialisation, urbanisation, and immigration—creating fears about losing traditional American identity and economic stability.
• Assertion of superiority - By claiming Anglo-Saxon or European superiority, whether through divine mission or scientific rationale, these beliefs offered a sense of control and certainty in an era of flux, reinforcing discriminatory practices under the guise of progress.