From “Undoing Manifest Destiny: Settler America, Christian Colonists, and the Pursuit of Justice” by L. Daniel Hawk
The settler mind had long since resolved the conflict between its ideals and its theft of Indian land. In short, settler Christians claimed rightful ownership of Indigenous land by warping Christian theology to serve colonial ends. In particular, they justified the colonial project by casting it as an extension of Christendom (defined here as land dominated by Christian culture, rule, or religion). The justification for taking Indigenous land rested on two pillars. The first, commonly called the doctrine of discovery, dedicated that a Christian power had the right to take land inhabited by non-Christians when discovered and to subjugate its Indigenous population. The second, commonly referred to as the creation mandate, held that Christians have been given a divine calling to take dominion over all the earth and to transform wilderness land into an ordered and productive territory. By the time of the nation’s founding, few questioned these two beliefs. In sum, Christian theology provided theological cover for colonial violence, mendacity, and dispossession.