SPARC: The Quiverfull movement,Manifest Destiny, and 19 Kids and Counting

Yesterday, I was able to attend four different SPARC presentations based on political science-based subjects. However, the one that I found the most interesting, and the most relatable to non-political science majors was one presentation on the Quiverfulls and the Duggars from the famous show: 19 Kids and Counting.The presenter argued that the Quiverfull movement is a form of manifest destiny and that the Duggar children are used as a commodity of the far right to balance out the influx of outside ideologies and races.

For those of you who don’t know, manifest destiny is a concept that surfaced around the 19th century that is often used in conjunction with the United States’ idea that we were destined by god to expand across North America. It was also used to justify the war with Mexico in the 1800s and justify all expansion efforts under the reason that we were destined by god to save people by defending democracy and fighting for god.

Also, for those of you who don’t know(I certainly did not until yesterday) the Quiverfulls are a Christian sect who believe that it is up to god to “close the womb” and until they will have as many children “as god gives them”(this is how the Duggars ended up with 19 children). This movement started during the women’s rights/feminism era in which Mary Pride listed many different quotes from the bible to justify what she felt were “a woman’s duties.” She felt as though women should move away from the radical feminism and go back to basics when women raised children and took care of the home under the authority of their husbands. The name for this movement came from the psalms verse stating that:

Lo,children are an heritage of the LORD:

and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

As arrows are in the hand of the mighty man;

so are children of the youth.

Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:

they shall not be ashamed,

but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

I, and others listening to the presentation were wondering what the difference between the Quiverfulls and the Catholics were, the presenter said(and it appears to me) that the Catholics believe in natural contraception just no medicine, the Quiverfulls believe in no contraception at all and that all children were given by god and are therefore a blessing.

The Duggars are a part of this christian sect. The presenter put this in a political light by externally saying that the Duggars and other families such as theirs are seen as acceptable by society(especially the right wing) because they are balancing out the influx of immigrants that are “messing up” america’s demographic. In some Quiverfull text, it is said that these families with multiple children can also help “save” this world from the devil. I think the presenter said that within 3 or 4 generations of these families with multiple children, they could help bring America back to being “god’s land.” This goes along with the concept of manifest destiny because these Quivefulls could be seen as middle-class,white americans who are saving America from the “godless immigrants” like those during the period of manifest destiny were bringing their god and democracy to these other places to expand. The Duggars have never said that they are doing this, her thesis was drawn from research that she did on this movement and the Duggars.

However, I found this presentation interesting in general because she was able to mix politics and a modern television show to come up with a interesting thesis/presentation. If you are interested in more information, I suggest that you look into the Quiverfull movement, its history and maifest destiny.