Labor, wealth, land, and violence are tied together, economically and morally shaping the United States—from Manifest Destiny , and the taking of Native homelands, to agriculture and plantation slavery. “The section also asks who gets to call a place home, who is pushed out, who benefits from land, and who decides what is preserved, developed, remembered, or erased,” added Merkt. This section asks visitors to consider how relationships between people and the planet shape life, and how the American story is influenced by the historical environments. “Incarceration, borders, monuments, conservation, and environmental change show that land can be used to organize movement, control access, create public memory, or define responsibility,” said Merkt. Finally, Secure the Blessings of Liberty: Promise and Paradox relies on “the ideals that have shaped American civic life” for definition. Those ideals include freedom, rights, opportunity, service, equality, and participation in democracy. “This section considers American ideals alongside the realities that have complicated them,” clarified Merkt. “It includes works that touch on Native histories, including violence against Native peoples, while also acknowledging the long and significant history of Native military service.”
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