Manifest Destiny (Framing Words) 1845 | A Youth Work Project
The framing words of the westward movement in the mid-1800s ‘Manifest Destiny’ were penned by a petticoat hustler, Jane Storm. Most internet search results credit John L. O’Sullivan, an American newspaper editor.
Moses Yale Beach| Expansionist
Early in our excavation of the Moses Yale Beach story, we realized that a better understanding of the period in which he lived was critical to understanding the man, his time, and ours. We anticipated encountering stories of innovation. We still struggle with defining his Antebellum America, pre-Civil War views on “the other”. But the biggest revelation in our slo- moving discovery process is how his core motivation “prosperity” influenced the mythicizing of America’s Manifest Destiny.
Beyond his role as editor of New York newspaper, The Sun, he literally placed himself into the expansionist story with a trip to Mexico via Cuba from Dec 1846 to April 1847. He was escorted by his 26-year-old daughter Drusilla, and the journalist, Jane McManus Storm, who was fluent in Spanish. His primary interest was in trade routes. He also financed his son William’s San Francisco Gold Rush Trading Post. Trading posts were among the most lucrative ventures of the period.
President Polk’s journal entry, “… it would be a good joke if Beach made a treaty” confirms the ‘spy’ intention of Beach and Storm to maintain peace in the region. However, Polk was committed to power, not peace, knowledge, and progress.
Origin of Manifest Destiny
An 1845 editorial published by John Louis O’Sullivan and ascribed to him, highly mythicized the American westward saga. A recent biography Mistress of Manifest Destiny: A Biography of Jane McManus Storm Cazneau, 1807-1878, by Linda S Hudson, sheds light on the myth and the woman who foresaw the entire continent including Cuba and Canada as ‘manifest’ one nation under a Christian God.
The term “manifest destiny” first appeared in the July-August 1845 issue of the Democratic Review, a publication that was no longer in print a year later. The missive argued for support of the annexation of Texas and acquisition of the Oregon territory, alluding to the fear that Great Britain intended to block American expansion west of the Mississippi. Storm wrote: “Other nations have undertaken to intrude themselves … in a spirit of hostile interference against us, for the avowed object of thwarting our policy and hampering our power, limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” In another short-lived O’Sullivan publication, New York Morning News, the phrase appears a year later: “…that claim is by the right of our ‘manifest destiny’ to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given to us…”
Ideas fundamental to this predestination of America perspective included protecting the western hemisphere from European interference and owning a proactive response to Mexico’s vulnerability to European intrigue. Underlying personal and political motivations were access to Mexico’s silver mines, agricultural potential, and transcontinental routes in the South. A significant complication was how racism fueled Manifest Destiny. In 1824, the Mexican government banned the slave trade, and in 1829, it abolished slavery. This granted Black people full citizenship and land rights
Unintended Consequences
In this period, Storm wrote forty-three columns in the New York Sun and dozens of personal letters to members of the James K. Polk administration. The ‘peace mission’ propelled her to the national stage as a public figure. Publishing in favor of a Republic of the Rio Grande, she was motivated by both civic and financial interests. Neither Beach nor Storm favored war, or the ambition and greed of war. They directly facilitated communication among Catholic Priests. Indirectly, news articles informed the public and administration. Division over Manifest Destiny— Democrats in favor, Whigs against— was the news of the day. The partisan Press ‘in association to gather war news’ was a very out-of-the-box idea. Correspondence from the Mexican- American War would be the basis for organizing the newspaper collaboration which would evolve into The Associated Press.
Storm’s providential language harkens back to what early settlers heard from the pulpit about their settling of ‘America’. Ironically, Storm’s providential language was adopted by factions with a racial doctrine of white supremacy. In policy and behavior, it involved the expropriation of Indian lands and justification for the Mexican-American War. Tragedies like the Trail of Tears were justified by claiming the support of the Creator.
Layers & Balance | Youth Media in The Public Interest
The Community Media station, WPAA-TV is a host location for a Workforce Alliance summer work program. A handful of socially or economically challenged youth are assigned to businesses for six weeks to benefit from real work experiences. For fourteen years, youth assigned to WPAA-TV acquired transferable skills related to teamwork, planning, interviewing, letter or script writing, as well as industry-specific skills such as storytelling, camera operation, lighting, set design, and editing.
The WPAA-TV business goal is content creation of Wallingford stories that represent the mission as a media, arts and culture organization. Each summer youth select from multiple projects with incremental skill levels. The whole team works cooperatively on a capstone project. In 2024, production of a music video about Manifest Destiny was the introduced as a possible capstone. The business goal was to support a broader initiative: Moses Yale Beach_Revealed. Ideally the video would touch upon several themes: the role of the penny paper in the Manifest Destiny story, the role of ‘We The People’ (all people) and extraordinary ordinary people that went west, to suggest democracy is a journey not a destination, and to introduce a journalist who worked with Moses Yale Beach: Jane Storm. Primarily, the content was to demonstrate an updated interpretation of history from a local perspective using newly acquired media production skills.
It was a lot to ask for one of many projects in a six-week time frame. They rocked their video production skills. The complexity of this period in history is challenging.
Moving Beyond Shallow Understanding Is a Challenge
Contesting media with a confirmation, or affinity bias, has extended to how many accept history. As media educators, we suggest that, “How we consume content, including history, starts with knowing what we know is fractured. Missing points of view makes history incomplete.” Exposing the potential of fracture without adding our bias in order to discover a more ‘whole’ truth is challenging.
In conversation, the immediate answer to the question: Can our understanding of history be changed? was ‘No’. History is history. We can not change it. But the youth team discussion concluded with, “What we know is limited to what is available in school books and found in Google searches. Yes, they did say Google not internet.
To explore the potential to change our understanding, a team member read a familiar piece of literature. It was an Arabic version of the Lord’s Prayer. It begins: “O Cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration, soften the ground of our being…” It was foreign and familiar. From this exercise emerged an openness to new understanding from a different point-of-view.
Within the hour, the consensus was, “We have a shallow understanding of history”. We also confirmed the public internet readily affirms our shallow understanding. Search criteria and prompts, results improve based on what you already know. Lazy is the enemy of accuracy.
Appreciation for historians who have done the deep dive into journals, early publications, and other primary sources was manifested. Pondering how primary and secondary sources, where most new understanding of history is culled, could inform the public internet was more than the group could imagine. More consensus: It would be a good thing.
After this session, the team received an AI-generated lyric sheet. They were split into pre, production, and post- production teams. The pre-production team needed to determine the storyline. The production team would later scavenge our space for potential mid-1800 set ideas. The post-production team would search for b-roll images with keywords like ‘Indigenous’, ‘trader’, and ‘historian’. The video results were strongly influenced by 4th of July props, developing a few characters, and the idea that destiny was personal.
What Appealed to the Young Content Creators?
The beat, the fighting righting words, and the tools & stage captivated the creators.
Mastering the wall-to-floor green screen, turning random objects into sets, and stretching their imagination with choreography and camera angles brought the neophyte crew together in common purpose. But it all started with correcting, from their perspective, the beat and rhythm in the AI version of the Manifest Destiny song. Pursing the ‘sellers prospered more than We the People’ theme led them to the story of denim, Levi Strauss, and fur trader Robert Stuart— a complete hop & skip over the lesser figure William Beach, Son of Moses Y. There was fierce competition among early 19th-century fur traders. Navigating what would become the Oregon Trail was critical to success. A connection between a props closet red, white & blue coat and the Oregon Trail metastasized into an obscure but accurate verse in the youth’s version of Manifest Destiny.
Fur coat, Robert Stuart made/He found the path that’ll get us paid/Wagon built and we moving weight/Oregon Trail, uniting states
Several very good lines landed on the cutting floor.
- Enter journalist Jane, an anonymous woman, she hide her name
- I called for the crusade, I gave it a name
- Hustling for money and power,
- Behind the lines, the body count got higher.
- The man stole my lines, I write more, a witness to history
Integrating AI| A Rap Music Video
A ChatGPT prompt for a Manifest Destiny Rap provided rhyming lyrics. A comparison with middle school history books confirmed what the public internet knows and what is taught in school tracks: Dreams, timelines, and key events. The team’s instant analysis leaned into lines that required personal decisions, where “we the people” were in the story, and dissatisfaction with the beat.
(Verse 1)
Yo, gather ’round, listen up, it’s time for class,
Manifest Destiny, a concept from the past. (Does it have meaning today?)
In the 1800s, the vision was cast, (Role of newspapers?)
From sea to shining sea, the land was vast.
The settlers moved west, with a fervent desire,
Fueled by dreams and a pioneer fire. (What fueled the fire within?)
Louisiana Purchase, the land was acquired,
From the Mississippi River, the journey aspired. (Awkward)
Homestead Act, gave ’em land to claim,
For a little bit of work, they could stake their name.
They battled harsh winters, and the scorching sun,
Dreams of opportunity for everyone. (Everyone is not accurate.)
(Chorus)
Manifest Destiny, the westward quest,
Moving ever forward, no time to rest.
From the East Coast to the wild frontier, (What was included? Mexico?)
A new way of life, the vision was clear. (Was it clear?)
(Verse 2)
Gold rush fever, California dreams,
1849, with pickaxes and schemes. (The sellers prospered.)
They struck it rich, or so they thought,
But many found hardship, and the dreams they sought.
The Oregon Trail, it was rough and tough,
Wagons breaking down, food was never enough.
Native lands taken, treaties betrayed,
The darker side of progress, a high price paid. (Truth)
Railroads stretched, across the land, (Big influence.)
Steel tracks laid down by a hardworking hand. (Source of labor?)
Connecting east to west, a nation was born,
But in the shadows, many lives were torn. (Truth)
(Chorus) (Bridge)
But let’s not forget, the cost it incurred,
For the native peoples, voices unheard. (Where is this story told?)
Displacement and sorrow, a cultural tear,
A legacy of pain that lingers in the air. (Awkward)
(Verse 3)
It’s a complex story, this destiny divine, (too complex to for us to sort out)
With triumphs and tragedies intertwined.
Expansion and growth, a nation’s dream, (What did the people dream?)
But justice and equity, we still redeem. (What? Whitewash)
So remember the past, as we look ahead,
To the lessons learned, and the tears that shed.
In the spirit of progress, we move and grow,
With respect for all, as our history shows. (What?/ Whitewash)
(Chorus) (Outro)
So here we stand, on this land so wide,
With a future to build, side by side.
Manifest Destiny, a story told,
Of a nation’s journey, brave and bold. (What? /Whitewash)
Jane Storm: Not Easy to Represent
And Jane, who wrote for various publishers under various names [pseuds.: Montgomery, Cora Montgomery, Corrine Montgomery], did not anticipate that Providence would involve grit, gore, and often deadly germs. It was a democratic movement she espoused. Writing as Montgomery, columns in the New York Sun helped swing United States public opinion in favor of the annexation of the Republic of Texas. At that time she was preoccupied with Texas where she, according to her will, acquired 1,000 acres at Eagle Pass and other Texas properties. Her preoccupations typically aligned with her acquisition of property. She did argue with the President, predominantly over economics and policy. She viewed expansion as an opportunity for a more perfect union. Her own prosperity was an engine in her propagandizing.
As with much of history, the white man took center stage in the rap. Jane was the counter point. The youth voices were the reprise. But the chorus did anchor the production in the truth that all the players in the story shared: Doing What Is Best for Me. Hardship likely brought communities together along the journey, but the journey was personal.
(Chorus)
I’m gonna manifest destiny
I’m tryna do what’s best for me
Destiny, I’m ‘gon manifest
Best for me, gaining benefits
West Coast, where I’ll make the bread
Forge ahead, get my family fed
Fur coat, Robert Stuart made
He found the path that’ll get us paid
Wagon built and we moving weight
Oregon Trail, uniting states
John O’Sullivan, I’m that mastermind
With my pen, I’mma redefine the grand design
It’s our destiny, written in the stars
To spread democracy, freedom, near and far
From the East to the West, it’s our grand plan,
The mission as gos: we will take all’ve their land,
And withstand, understand, and defend
Can’t think of a better way to bring a brand
(Chorus)
The vision is clear, we’re heaven sent
We only came here to represent
This feeling of fear is irrelevant
If we move west we are sparing no innocent
The miles and miles they’ve strolled
Their legs getting weak, the spirits say no
The blistering blazing of cold
O’Suv’s the name that everyone knows
Behold, this story god told
Wipe out the foes to gain all’ve our goals
We’re grabbing the gold, and hit a new low
Spread the details, the brave and the bold
Critics can whisper, but they can’t deny
Our destiny’s written in all of gods eyes
We’ll build a nation that’s so mighty and grand
O’sully will lead, with a steady hand.
(Chorus)
Where the Youth Got It Right
Our nation’s story has been glorified. The transition from the voice of Jane to one representing themselves is on target with the program’s goals: Finding a new understanding and exposing fractures.
The youth participants became a team as they acquired new skills. They moved out from feigned curiosity with no interest in the news or history, to creators of content from a fresh perspective. It has been more than twenty years since Ms. Hudson provided conclusive evidence that Jane Storm coined the framing words of a consequential period in our country’s history: Manifest Destiny. Today you can find this fact on the public internet as presented in Manifest Destiny Framing Words 1845 by the TeenTigerTV youth community media project.
In conclusion, this project exemplifies where Humanities & Community Media intersect: Expression about what to trust, what to dismiss, and what to debunk using new media. AI was integrated to save time with research and confirm the assumption of historical bias as a “story of glory”.
Humanities in the public interest relies on experts, individuals who pursue better knowledge with an open mind. The Moses Yale Beach_Revealed Project is indebted to historians Linda S Hudson and Robert E. May for providing their excavation of our collective history.