The Massachusetts Bay Colony and Manifest Destiny Persuasive Essay by Top Papers

This paper attempts to weave a thread between the westward migrations of the seventeenth-century Puritans and the nineteenth-century frontiersmen of the West. The paper argues that John Winthrop's experiences in reigning in the fanatical elements of his population anticipated the state's dilemma in doing the same with the frontiersmen two centuries later. In order to prove that thesis, the paper briefly notes the similarities between the religious rhetoric of both westward migrations, and follows that with a discussion on the state's ability in both cases to temper the dangerous emotions of overzealous adventurers.