What is the basis of Manifest Destiny?
US settlers are destined/ have “God-given right” to expand throughout the American continent
Effects of Manifest Destiny
- justifying westward expansion into areas like Texas, Oregon, Cali
- invoked sense of national mission and redeeming Old World (Europe) by high example
Polk and MD
President James Polk
- US has “obvious fate” within “spread(ing) democracy”
- expanding and settling towards West until Pacific
Notes MD
- coined 1845
- US political system (special virtues and lifestyle) > any other -> US has right and duty to spread across whole continent
- idea used by Europe to justify and conquest in past
- Controversial: Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant reject BUT Theodore Roosvelt embraced
How did the Manifest Destiny influence the expansion of
the US in the 19th c.?
- provided ideological and moral justifications for territorial growth across continent
- Louisiana Purchase (1803): doubled U.S. territory, giving control over the Mississippi basin and supporting the belief in westward expansion
- annexation of Florida (1810–1821) and Texas (1845), and the Oregon Territory (1846): reflected the idea that the U.S. was destined to control the continent from coast to coast
- The Mexican–American War (1846–48), driven by Polk’s Manifest Destiny policy, led to U.S. control of California, New Mexico, and Arizona
- The Gadsden Purchase (1853) and Alaska Purchase (1867) completed the continental expansion
- forced removal of Native Americans: Indian Removal Act (1830)
-> Hundreds of thousands were displaced from their lands
-> most infamously in the Trail of Tears
= open territory for white settlers and fulfill the “divine mission” of expansion
How is the Manifest Destiny being invoked in the new US
Administration?
- 2025 inaugural address, Trump explicitly used the phrase “Manifest Destiny,” linking expansionist language to modern ambitions, and laying out plans for space exploration: “pursue our manifest destiny into the stars,”
-> poured billions of federal dollars into SpaceX, billionaire and tech giant Elon Musk’s company
-> champions the privatization of space exploration
-> vowed to “take back” the Panama Canal, calling its 1999 transfer a “foolish gift.”
-> revived talk of acquiring Greenland and perhaps making Canada a U.S. state
- reviving this language in the context of modern expansionism, Trump’s rhetoric suggests a continuation of the colonial mindset: one that views expansion as both inevitable and righteous
Connection new US administration MD and Monroe Doctrine
- rhetoric draws directly from the Monroe Doctrine (1823), which asserted U.S. dominance over the Western Hemisphere and warned Europe not to interfere
- like President Polk, who used the Monroe Doctrine to justify annexing Texas and waging war against Mexico, Trump links it to a renewed U.S. claim of hemispheric influence
Trump vs. Biden Overall stance toward IO of 1945
Trump: weakened internationalism / US centrality in 1945 IO
Biden: aimed to ‘repair’ Trump’s Foreign Policy globally and multilaterally
Approach to international organisations
Trump: Distrust of alliances like NATO and withdrawal from partnerships (e.g. Afghanistan, TPP)
Biden: Rebuilt ties with NATO and rejoined WHO and the Paris Climate Agreement
View of internationalism
Trump: Rejected global leadership role, promoted economic nationalism and isolationism
Biden: Re-embraced international cooperation but maintained selectivity (not full return to pre-Trump era)
Global Leadership
Trump: Abdicated U.S. leadership (eg. Withdrawal from multilateral agreements (Paris Climate Accord, Iran nuclear deal, Trans-Pacific Partnership) = weakened U.S. influence in global governance=), transactional diplomacy focused on short-term national gains
Biden: Attempted to restore U.S. leadership, particularly Ukraine War (massive funding, sanctions and pressures on Russia)
Multilateral Institutions
Trump: Withdrew or weakened major ones (WHO, UNESCO, Climate Agreement)
Biden: Rejoined and supported existing multilateral frameworks (eg. WHO, NATO ties)
Trade
Trump: Protectionism and trade wars (China, EU, Turkey)
- rejection of free trade (tariff wars)
Biden: Still skeptical of free trade but used it strategically (maintained tariffs on China)
Democracy & Human Rights
Trump: Downplayed democracy promotion, sympathized with autocrats (eg. Putin, Kim Jong-Un (love letter relationship) -> implicit erosion of liberal values
Biden: Publicly defended liberal democratic values and human rights, however said to have “double standards”
-> HRW 2025 world report noted how the US withheld funding to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, amid Gaza’s starvation crisis
BUT
-> the Biden administration provided Israel with an unprecedented $17.9bn in security aid and approved more than 100 arms sales
China Policy
Trump: Confrontational “Tech Cold War” (covering the fields of semiconductors, 5G networks, artificial intelligence (AI), and potassium technology)
> manifested in the form of export bans on advanced technology and investment restrictions but also in each country’s efforts to build its own global technology bloc
+ tariffs and decoupling
Biden: Continued tough stance but within multilateral cooperation (e.g. Quad (saying China is “behaving agressively”))
Free trade
Trump: Rejected; imposed tariffs and promoted economic nationalism
Biden: Partial support; protectionist but within cooperative frameworks
Middle East Policy
Trump:
- Recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital (condemned by many other countries + UN: Palestine claims East Jerusalem as future capital) & moved US embassy from Tel Aviv
- recognition of Golan Heights (territory caputred from Syria (1967), annexed by Israel (1981) -> not recognised under int’l law (violation: aquiring territory by force))
- withdrew from Iran deal (nuclear deal (JCPOA) in 2018)
Biden: Maintained distance from Iran, cautious about re-entering nuclear agreement, ended US-Afghan war 2021
Shared security
Trump: Undermined alliances (eg. critisms in NATO for partners not meeting 2% military spending goals / threatening to remove US, leaving various agreements eg. Paris agreement) ; unilateral military decisions = America First Approach
Biden: Reaffirmed NATO and global security cooperation
Multilateralism
Trump: Undermined global institutions; unilateral approach
Biden: Rejoined multilateral institutions; restored diplomatic presence
Rules - based system
Trump: Eroded norms through unilateral recognition and deal-making
- Rejected multilateral rules
- Violated treaty commitments (eg. Paris Agreement, Iran JCPOA)
- Selective respect for sovereignty
Biden: Reinforced rule-based governance, though pragmatic
Similarities Trump and Biden toward IO of 1945
- exit Afghanistan and end longest ever war
- tough policies toward China
- US should lead key technologyies of 4IR
- favour bigger role of government in economy
(-> Trump: tariffs on imports, protection of U.S. industries, and pressure on companies to produce domestically;
-> Biden: large public investment programs (like the Inflation Reduction Act) to support green energy and high-tech manufacturing) - no belief in free trade (Trump more outright protectionist)
What can we analyse? 10
- approach to int’l organisations
- view of internationalism
- global leadership
- democracy and HR
- free trade
- middle east policy
- shared security
- mulilaterism
- rules-based system
- china policy
foreign policy definition
a government’s strategy for dealing with other nations and international actors to protect its interests and achieve its goals
US exceptionalism
US believes it is better than “old world” because it was born on democratic values like freedom and individual rights
- also has religious roots: Americas were discovered in same period protestant reform was occuring in Europe: “Gods Plan”
- isolationism
- expansionism
- sea power (Alfred Mahan)
