It would be a mistake to divide Americans into categories of white, Black, and Native American, and to put all the blame on whites. Until 1850, white Americans were primarily Protestants from the British Isles, with some French areas. The Manifest Destiny was carried out mostly by white Americans of British descent. The Irish started arriving in the 1820s, Germans in the 1870s, and Italians in the 1890s - and Irish, Germans, and especially Italians were despised and impoverished minorities until maybe 1950.

Woody wasn't singing for the wealthy and powerful white people who believed that conquest of the Americas was their Manifest Destiny. He sang for the working people, the immigrants who came later and had to submit to domination of the wealthy class. His song was for the working people of all ethnicities, not the wealthy.

Akenaton writes: Are we talking about Guthrie's song or the abridged version by Seeger?
One bears no relationship to the other. Woody wrote a positive anthem to a new nation, Seeger used it to spread negativity and discord.

Can't say I know what you're talking about, Ake. I did find one recording where Pete sang the three "travelogue" verses made popular by Peter, Paul and Mary and the Weavers and published in school songbooks; but mostly Pete sang all the verses that Woody wrote - including the so-called "Communist" verses.

The song is an anthem of the working class, not an homage to Manifest Destiny.

-Joe-

There's a thorough article on the song in Wikipedia.