The Unholy Covenant: Manifest Destiny and the Scars on Native American Lands
By
In the annals of American history, few concepts loom as large, or as controversially, as Manifest Destiny. Coined in 1845 by journalist John L. O’Sullivan, it articulated a belief in the divinely ordained right of the United States to expand its dominion across the North American continent. For generations of Americans, this ideology fueled a sense of national purpose, an engine of progress and democracy. Yet, for the Indigenous peoples who had inhabited these lands for millennia, Manifest Destiny was not a divine blessing but a relentless curse – a justification for land theft, forced removal, cultural annihilation, and genocide, the scars of which run deep through the American landscape and psyche even today.
The roots of Manifest Destiny stretched back long before O’Sullivan’s famous phrase. From the earliest days of European settlement, a pervasive idea took hold: that the land was vast, wild, and waiting to be "civilized" by industrious newcomers. This narrative conveniently overlooked the complex, thriving societies that already existed across the continent, managing and shaping their environments with sophisticated knowledge and practices. Thomas Jefferson, envisioning an "empire of liberty," eagerly pursued the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, doubling the nation’s size and igniting a fervent desire for westward expansion. For Jefferson, this expansion would provide land for yeoman farmers, the bedrock of his democratic ideal, but it explicitly disregarded the inherent rights and presence of Native American nations within those territories.
The initial phase of this expansion was marked by a policy of "Indian Removal." As white settlers pushed further west, the demand for Native lands grew insatiable. The rhetoric of Manifest Destiny provided the moral and religious cover for aggressive state-sponsored policies. Native Americans were portrayed as "savages" incapable of utilizing the land productively, or as obstacles to progress and civilization. This dehumanization was critical in justifying their displacement.
The most infamous chapter of this era unfolded under President Andrew Jackson, a figure whose populist appeal was built, in part, on his reputation as an "Indian fighter." Despite Supreme Court rulings in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) and Worcester v. Georgia (1832) that affirmed the Cherokee’s sovereignty and the illegality of Georgia’s land seizures, Jackson defiantly pushed forward with the Indian Removal Act of 1830. His alleged response to Chief Justice John Marshall’s ruling – "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!" – epitomized the federal government’s contempt for Native rights and legal precedent.
This act paved the way for the forced removal of the "Five Civilized Tribes" – the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole – from their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States to designated Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. The most tragic manifestation of this policy was the Cherokee’s "Trail of Tears" in 1838-39. Under the brutal supervision of the U.S. Army, over 16,000 Cherokees were forcibly marched more than 1,000 miles. Lacking adequate food, shelter, and medical care, an estimated 4,000 men, women, and children perished from disease, starvation, and exposure. Alexis de Tocqueville, observing the Choctaw removal in 1831, wrote with chilling foresight, "The Americans of the United States do not merely want to acquire the Indians’ lands, but they want to get rid of the Indians themselves." His words captured the essence of a policy driven by greed and a desire for ethnic cleansing.
As the nation barreled towards the Pacific, propelled by the Mexican-American War and the annexation of vast new territories, Manifest Destiny became an almost sacred creed. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 triggered an unprecedented rush of settlers, exacerbating conflicts with Native peoples whose lands suddenly became coveted for their mineral wealth. The construction of the transcontinental railroad, another monumental symbol of American progress, carved through Native hunting grounds and sacred sites, further disrupting traditional lifeways and facilitating the influx of more settlers. The Homestead Act of 1862, which offered 160 acres of "free" land to those who would cultivate it, cemented the government’s policy of populating and claiming lands often still occupied by Native nations, transforming Indigenous territories into private property for white Americans.
Native American resistance to this relentless encroachment was fierce and courageous, but ultimately overwhelmed by superior firepower and numbers. From the Apache wars in the Southwest to the Sioux wars on the Great Plains, battles raged for decades. Iconic figures like Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Geronimo led their people in desperate attempts to defend their homes and cultures. Yet, the ledger of these conflicts is stained with massacres that expose the brutality beneath the veneer of "civilization." The Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 saw U.S. volunteer cavalry indiscriminately slaughtering over 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho, mostly women, children, and the elderly, who had gathered under a white flag of truce. Even a victory for Native forces, like the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 where Lakota and Cheyenne warriors annihilated Custer’s 7th Cavalry, only intensified the military’s resolve to crush all resistance.
The final, tragic chapter of the Indian Wars, and symbolically of the era of Manifest Destiny’s physical conquest, came at Wounded Knee in 1890. As the U.S. Army attempted to disarm a band of Lakota, a shot was fired, triggering a massacre that left nearly 300 Lakota men, women, and children dead. Black Elk, an Oglala Lakota holy man, later lamented, "A people’s dream died there. It was a beautiful dream… The nation’s hoop is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead."
By the late 19th century, with military resistance largely subdued, federal policy shifted from removal to forced assimilation. The Dawes Act (General Allotment Act) of 1887 was designed to dismantle tribal structures and communal land ownership, converting reservations into individual allotments. "Kill the Indian, save the man" became the chilling motto of this era. Native children were forcibly removed from their families and sent to boarding schools, where their languages, religions, and cultural practices were systematically suppressed. Their hair was cut, their traditional clothes replaced, and they were forbidden to speak their native tongues, often under threat of severe punishment. The Dawes Act ultimately led to the loss of two-thirds of the remaining Native American land base, as "surplus" lands not allotted to individuals were sold off to non-Native settlers.
The impact of Manifest Destiny on Native American lands and peoples is profound and enduring. It resulted in the loss of millions of acres of ancestral territory, the destruction of countless lives, the decimation of vibrant cultures, and the imposition of poverty and marginalization that persist on many reservations today. The very concept of land ownership, so central to Western thought, clashed fundamentally with Indigenous philosophies that viewed land as sacred, something to be stewarded, not owned and exploited.
Today, while the overt rhetoric of Manifest Destiny has faded, its legacy continues to shape the United States. The nation’s immense wealth and power were, in large part, built upon the foundation of dispossessed Indigenous lands and resources. The struggles of Native American communities for sovereignty, land rights, environmental justice, and cultural revitalization are ongoing reminders of this unholy covenant. From the fight over sacred sites like Bears Ears to the protests against pipelines crossing Indigenous territories, the echoes of Manifest Destiny resonate.
To truly understand American history, one must confront the uncomfortable truth that the nation’s expansion, celebrated as a triumph of progress and liberty, was simultaneously a catastrophe for its original inhabitants. Manifest Destiny, while a powerful engine of nation-building, was also a blueprint for dispossession and violence, leaving an indelible stain on the American soul and a legacy of injustice that demands continued acknowledgment, understanding, and reconciliation. The path forward requires not just remembering the past, but actively working to heal the wounds that Manifest Destiny inflicted upon Native American lands and peoples.
