Walt Whitman Binns, p. 8. Download an uncompressed TIFF (.tif) version of this image. |
Whitman made a few predictions for the future of the U.S. in his essay, "Democratic Vistas". In this November 1868 passage Whitman's prediction is mostly false; however, it does reveal a confidence in an ever-expanding America.
Whitman mentions Canada in "Democratic Vistas", and he would often speak of the country as if it were to become part of the United States. His expansionist ideal was not limited to Canada; Cuba comes into the picture in another one of his predictions, this from another series of essays published in Specimen Days and Collect, published in 1882. Once again, he foresees the United States as becoming a dominant super power, a view shared by many during the Spanish-American war.
Other notable lines by Whitman, full of national confidence and pride:
"We want the germinal idea that America, inheritor of the past, is the custodian of the future of humanity." (From Specimen Days and Collect)
"It seems as if the Almighty had spread before this nation charts of imperial destinies, dazzling as the sun. . .[America] will be empire of empires, overshadowing all else, past and present. . ." (From Specimen Days and Collect)
"For America, if eligible at all to downfall and ruin, is eligible within herself, not without; for I see clearly that the combined foreign world could not beat her down." (from "Democratic Vistas")