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Comparing The Foundations Of Manifest Destiny And Social Darwinism

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The foundations that were originated in American culture are Manifest Destiny and Social Darwinism. To Americans, Manifest Destiny meant gaining land from coast to coast. From the original 13 colonies, America's mission to expand was partially fulfilled with the Louisiana Purchase. The United States then expanded from North Atlantic coast to the South. In need of more land, high rates of immigration encouraged Americans to expand westward. With the influx of immigration along the Pacific coast, Oregon was annexed from Great Britain. The Mexican-American war which was won by the U.S. led to the annexation of Mexican territory. This allowed Americans to lay claim to land from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from coast to coast. To encourage …show more content…

government, they used Social Darwinism as an excuse. Darwin stated that in natural selection the fittest are the ones that survive. This differentiated the strong from the weak. Darwin's ideas were applied politically and socially to the idea of acquiring more land. The U.S. government claimed that the reason that they were able to gain so much land in such rapid amount of time is that they were the stronger force. The U.S. government had rifles and cannons, had the stronger military force. If the British objected during the American Revolution, they were met with military force; their ships were sunk and their troops killed. The reason that the U.S. government was able to take such actions against the French, the Mexicans, and the British was due to their influence and ability to purchase and manufacture weaponry. Even during the Civil War, the U.S. government had more firepower and more …show more content…

Manifest Destiny is still happens in our modern times. Though the states that make up the United States are secure, we have had additions. Alaska was purchased from Russia, and Hawaii was annexed to the U.S. for it's valuable sugarcane. The addition of both states did not require war. The display of force and the history of victory in itself might be enough for countries to forgo fighting for their land, and allow the U.S. to purchase. The U.S. military is one of the most powerful in the world. If the strong survive, according to Darwin's natural selection, the U.S. would be one of the most desirable countries to be a member of. The greatness of being an American, living in a country with a strong military is that I can travel to distant places and still be under American jurisdiction. I can go ice fishing in Alaska. I can live in the tropical paradise of Hawaii and still be protected under the U.S. government. I can travel to New York and go shopping without much hassle. I can go to Los Angeles and go to Disneyland. I can even go to Las Vegas and spend a weekend gambling. The reason why I have these freedoms is due to America's vast amount of land and resources, and to the American military that protects my

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The Civil War, 1861-1865, ended up being so calamitous, with the United States leading up to becoming a World Power in the 20th century. There was a collapse in industrialization, initiating the courage and hope of the Americans. The U.S tried to become this world power by attempting to first make their military stronger, offering trades with different countries, by joining different territories as well as buying different ones; they did whatever they had to do in order to become a world power. Setting up markets for raw material, as well as, keeping the inferior people well acquainted is what the imperialists insisted on building the economy. In addition, they felt as though our military force was not strong enough to overcome the obstacles

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Manifest Destiny is a unique, yet mysterious fundamental series of events in American history. No other country’s history contains such an eventful history as the United States. Amy Greenberg’s book, Manifest Destiny and American Territorial Expansion, provides documented evidence that settlers believed they were destined for expansion throughout the continent. In other words, many religious settlers believed that it was a call from God for the United States to expand west. On the other hand, people believed that Manifest Destiny vindicated the war against Mexico.

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James K. Polk and the Expansionist Impulse by Sam W. Haynes Haynes’ biography of James K. Polk is a little bit different from the traditional biographical book with enumeration of important dates from life of historical figure. Instead the author takes different approach: while recounting development of Polk’s career, he looks at the Polk’s presidency through the lens of expansionism. Though he frames the 11th President as a strong adherent of aggressive territorial expansionism, Haynes also emphasises that Polk’s decisions cannot be separated from the political and social climate of his time. The author renders Polk from one side as the initiator of expansionists political moves, and from the other, as a product of contemporary social beliefs,

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In the 1800s, Manifest Destiny, or also known as “obvious fate,” stretched all over the country, and intrigued many people. It took on many forms. The United States expanded through treaties, settlement, and war. But before that, the US only owned from the Atlantic ocean to the Mississippi river. The rest was owned by Great Britain, Russia, France, and Spain.

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Manifest Destiny was the belief that many Americans held, that the United States was destined to someday hold land “from sea to shining sea”. Emigrants came to the new world seeking their own land and freedom. For some it was freedom for religion, and for others freedom from the feudal system of Europe. With seeming unlimited land for the taking, anyone could be a lord of the new world.

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Final 1. During the nineteenth century the newly formed United States of America began to expand westward towards the pacific. Many people began to think that it was the destiny of the newly formed country to expand as much as possible. John L. Sullivan employed the term in an article on the annexation of Texas that was published in the United States Magazine from July to August in 1845.The term expressed the God-given mission to Anglo-Saxon Americans that they should spread than and conquer many lands.

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It was evident in both cases of expansion that the United States was a stubborn nation that would take what they wanted at any cost. Americans risked war and national safety for the purpose of gaining land, or simply proving their dominance as a World Power. Americans pushed aside the Native Americans who inhabited the land they wanted in the early years of expansionism. They believed that the land was

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In the 19th Century, there were strong supporters of the ideology of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was basically the belief of expansion by settlers expanding all over America because god supposedly destined the Americans for expansions by their resources. This resulted for the Americans to find a modern mode of transportation that would make traveling from the east to the west coast easier. This resulted in a mega construction known as the Transcontinental Railroad. The railroad not only helps with transportation but with trading.

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“Manifest Destiny,” written by John L. O’Sullivan, explains how expansion is needed for america and how it could better our nation. The painting “American Progress,”supports expansion by displaying what it looked like when the settlers moved in. The text, “Reporting to the President, September 23-December 31,1806,” by Stephen Ambrose, supports westward expansion by talking about how lewis and Clarke did good things to help westward expansion. What do you think about westward expansion?

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On every twelfth of October, nations across the world, from Spain to the Bahamas, celebrate the voyage and discovery of the soon to be Americas led by the notorious European explorer Christopher Columbus. On August 3rd, 1492, Columbus led his “three ships - the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria - out of the Spanish port of Palos” in order to sail west until he reached the Indies where the riches of gold, pearls and spice awaited him! However, instead of landing in Asia he found himself in one of the Bahamian islands, being greeted by indigenous people in which he described “as naked as when their mothers bore them” and were “very well made, with very handsome bodies, and very good countenances" (Christopher Columbus Discovers America, 1492).

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The Manifest Destiny ideology, that it was a divinely ordained right and destiny for America to expand westward, towards the Pacific Ocean, was protracted throughout the nineteenth century. Oregon, which was in part occupied by England and in part by the U.S., and the lands owned by Mexico, were an obstacle to such expansion and, consequently, to the economic development. The presidential candidate James K. Polk, guided by the ideology of Manifest Destiny, promised that, if elected, he would push the United States territory westward. His campaign slogan for the occupation of Oregon was “Fifty-four forty or fight”, which was the north latitude that he intended to occupy. In 1846, Great Britain agreed to set the border at the 49th parallel.

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Manifest Destiny was the term used by John O’Sullivan to describe America’s desire to expand West due to reasons including both the vast amount of unclaimed land and the opportunities Americans wanted to explore. During this time, Americans believed that it was their God-given right to expand West, and therefore they were entitled to push away any groups that were in their way. Due to the mindset that the Americans could do as they pleased with the groups of people who got in their way, Manifest Destiny affected many groups of people, including the American Indians and Slaves, and continued to build up the preexisting tension between the North and South. One of the groups of people affected greatly by Manifest Destiny were the Native Americans. Manifest Destiny affected the American Indians by spreading foreign diseases to them as they moved Westward, through the Native American territory.

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The citizens of the United States felt they had the best form of government and culture and felt the obligation to expand it across the nation. Manifest Destiny had both positive and negative effects on social and political values during this time. Americans felt because they were experiencing such growth that God was blessing them and that by incorporating others into their culture they would be blessed too. However, greed eventually took over and the belief that the white man could destroy anyone or anything that got in the way of its progress led to many wars and lives lost over the acquisition of much needed land.

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At the start of the 19th century, America was already expanding its territory. In 1803, the United States of America had bought the Louisiana Territory, it was bought from France which had made the country two times larger. In 1819 Spain had given up their territory of Florida to the United States. President Monroe issued the “Monroe Doctrine” in 1823, its main purpose was to warn the European countries to not enter the Western Hemisphere. In order for America to achieve its goal of becoming an imperialist nation they had conquered other countries economically, culturally, and with a strong military in the late 1800’s.

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In the 19th century, Manifest Destiny was a theory created by John O'Sullivan, an American editor and columnist, where he believes that the destiny of American settlers was to expand to the west, while at the same time spread their traditions and their institutions. As a result, many Americans settlers expanded beyond the west coast and gained more land as it caused them to built transcontinental railroads and many other great things. In addition, the American settlers considered the United States to be the best possible way to remake the world in the image of their own country as they believe God had blessed them with the growth of American nation. After encouragement to the Western Expansion, major changes such as technology, social economics, and the roles of women had great effects toward the Americans’ way of living, where it became known as the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution sparked the way how Americans’ lives changed thanks to advance and new modern technologies that were invented.

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