The Debate over Annexing Texas and the Emergence of Manifest Destiny

Authors

Lyon Rathbun, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 2001

Abstract

Scholars have long understood that the ideology of manifest destiny congealed out of the millennial ideals embedded in American culture. However, they have not fully appreciated that manifest destiny only became a national ideology by overwhelming the arguments that were first voiced during the Monroe administration to resist the incorporation of Texas into the Union. Understanding how the secular ideals of the classical republican tradition were used to resist the inclusion of Texas can help us understand the crystallization of manifest destiny into a theologized ideology in the 1840s.

Comments

Copyright © 2001 by Michigan State University. This article originally appeared in Rhetoric & Public Affairs Vol. 4, Iss. 3, 2011, pages 459-493.

Recommended Citation

Rathbun, L. (2001). The Debate over Annexing Texas and the Emergence of Manifest Destiny. Rhetoric & Public Affairs 4(3), 459-493. doi:10.1353/rap.2001.0050.

Publication Title

Rhetoric & Public Affairs

DOI

1353/rap.2001.0050