# Manifest Destiny is controversial **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 17, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manifest-destiny-is-controversial/638025 "2012-10-17T16:34:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manifest-destiny-is-controversial/638025/121 "2012-10-23T21:06:30Z")
Your argument makes no sense. Of course expansionism is racism. It’s saying that my culture is better than the culture of those who live in the places to which I wish to expand. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manifest-destiny-is-controversial/638025/122 "2012-10-23T21:15:03Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > It’d be like saying that we were primarily motivated by the desire to keep California’s gold out of the hands of Mexicans, while the desire to acquire the gold ourselves was of secondary importance. It’s nonsensical. No, that’s what your statement is, because we have statements by people saying that they wanted to obtain California gold. We also have statements saying that Manifest Destiny was about thinking that white man was superior to any other race they displaced. You’re the one claiming a goal that was not said. > [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > I really can’t understand what you’re trying to say. You defended Manifest Destiny by pointing out how it ultimately helped the people it was intended to discriminate against. Remember this whole thing where **Marley** referred to it as being similar to saying slavery helped black people? The use of Americans is to point out how it can’t even qualify as patriotism, as some of the people who were discriminated against are Americans today. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manifest-destiny-is-controversial/638025/123 "2012-10-23T22:50:57Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > I guess the argument being made is that it’s not _totally_ racist, it’s only _partly_ racist? I think that’s fair. I think it’s hard to find many American movements from the 19th century that did not contain a bit of xenophobia, racism, religious conflict and other forms of bigotry we find distasteful today. I don’t know if anyone has brought up the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. According to provisions in the treaty, Mexican nationals who choose to remain in what was now part of the United States were to have their property rights respected. It was all too common for their property rights to be ignored. Even if they had the documentation to prove they owned the land it was often ignored by local and state governments. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manifest-destiny-is-controversial/638025/124 "2012-10-23T23:08:28Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I think that’s fair. I think it’s hard to find many American movements from the 19th century that did not contain a bit of xenophobia, racism, religious conflict and other forms of bigotry we find distasteful today. > > I don’t know if anyone has brought up the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. According to provisions in the treaty, Mexican nationals who choose to remain in what was now part of the United States were to have their property rights respected. It was all too common for their property rights to be ignored. Even if they had the documentation to prove they owned the land it was often ignored by local and state governments. Ignored or legislated in such a way as to deprive them of their lands. Check out the “Greaser Act” and other laws passed in California soon after the theft. The freedoms the US took such pride in were meant solely for white men. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manifest-destiny-is-controversial/638025.md?page=6)