The Eagle of Unity

Throughout history the eagle has been associated with courage and power. Zeus, the king of the Olympian gods of Greece, used the eagle as messenger or herald. Borrowing from the Greeks, in Roman myths, the eagle is associated with the principal god Jupiter. Many Roman legions used the eagle as an emblem suggesting their courage. Later, in the fifteenth century, Ivan III took the symbol of the eagle when he declared Kiev to be the “third Rome.” Golden eagles, distributed through most of the Northern Hemisphere have wingspans of as much as seven-and-a-half feet. They build their nests courageously on a high ledge or rock. Also copying the powerful eagle image from the Romans, Napoleon Bonaparte employed the eagle as a symbol of France. Likewise, in the early twentieth century, Germany and Austro-Hungary recognized the eagle’s association with power and courage and adopted it as a national emblem. Even today, the bald eagle is depicted on the Great Seal of the United States. For centuries, the eagle in its many forms has stood as a symbol of power and courage for nations.

Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny represented a new wave of American nationalism. The term was first started by a newspaper editor, John L. O'Sullivan. It influenced people to move westward and once again reinforced the American people's superiority with aspirations to gain control of the entire North America. This was preceded, to an extent, by the Monroe Doctrine which gave the United States a superior status in the American continent. Manifest Destiny told the Americans that God was on their side in American expansionism. It also implied "free development" where Americans are to spread their democratic policies to the entire America, so that people can have local self-government and the democratic institutions that other foreign governments did not provide in North America. The third premise was that population growth required America to expand its territory. Manifest Destiny overall indirectly led to the expansion of US territory.