From “Undoing Manifest Destiny: Settler America, Christian Colonists, and the Pursuit of Justice” by L. Daniel Hawk
The doctrine of discovery and the creation mandate evolved over the course of centuries as the circumstances of colonial expansion warranted. By the time the United States was constituted a nation, the two justifications had become unquestioned assumptions, which can be summarized as follows.
- Christian powers, by virtue of being Christian, have the right to take dominion over any land they discover, provided that it is not already under the dominion of a Christian power.
- The United States acquired the title to its land legitimately. WHen the British relinquished their claims to the land, the British title to the land passed to the United States.
- Christian colonization is a missionary enterprise that is undertaken by the hand of Providence to spread the gospel and to restore creation.
- Christians have been given a mandate to subdue and take dominion over wilderness land and to render it ordered and productive.
- Land that is not ordered, settled, and improved belongs to no one and is available for the taking.
- When improved and transformed into private property, land generates the wealth that is necessary for the prosperity of a market economy. Land as property forms the bedrock of a Christian civilization.
- The cultivation of land for the benefit of the nation is a moral imperative.
- An individual or nation has the right only to as much land as it can cultivate or improve. Indians have far more land than they can use.
- To the extent that they maintain their traditions and lifestyle, and refuse to improve or sell their land, Indians resist the advance of a Christian civilization that will benefit all of humanity.
- The United States therefore has the right to take land that it needs and that Indians are not using.