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Why did manifest destiny motivate western expansion in the united states
Westward expansion ,manifest destiny and imperialism
Impact of westward expansion on the us
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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.
The Mexican-American War was a war fought between the United States and Mexico during the years 1846-1848. It was the first American war that took place in another country that being Mexico. It pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. President James K. Polk, who believed the United States had a “manifest destiny” to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean (History.com) Manifest Destiny was a term used in the 19th century in which Americans felt that it was their destiny and right ‘by god’ to expand their country from coast to coast. President Polk felt the United States needed a westward expansion and the territories he wanted were: California, New Mexico
Manifest Destiny changed the United States socially, economically and politically. It was affected socially because it became more culturally diffused; it also affected relationship with the Native Americans due to the Americans belief that they were the better race and others were inferior to them. It was affected economically because there was more land to profit off of and politically it damaged the United States and Mexico’s foreign relations. Those who believed in the manifest destiny forcefully removed Native Americans from their lands in order for the United States to gain more land. America was shifted politically, due to new tense relations with Mexico, as an effect of the Mexican
Have you ever been forced to do something? If so, you and the Natives have something in common. Manifest Destiny and Westward Expansion was mutually beneficial to the U.S because they gained land from Mexicans which was Texas and then gained land from the French which is also known as the Louisiana purchase but the Natives were heavily impacted by the Westward Expansion and Manifest Disney because the U.S wanted more land and Native lands was in the west but the U.S wanted to expand west so the they could have a bigger population. The Natives also had to fight for their land but not only the Natives had to fight the U.S and Mexicans troops also had to fight each other to maintain their land but a lot of U.S and Mexians died due to the war. Some people think that Manifest Destiny And Westward Expansion was helpful to the Indians also called the Natives because Manifest Destiny was a phase that people believe that god was trying to expanded more land and Westward Expansion was when the U.S expanded west so Natives thought they would have more land
The westward expansion of America in the 1800s shaped the borders of the country and changed the nation as a whole, but was it really destiny? The idea that changed Americans’ attitudes and encouraged them to bravely travel into the wild west was essential to the growth of the new country. The growth of America at the time would ultimately lead to the ending of slavery, a major shift in the economy, and would allow Americans to live the life they dreamed of. The United States before westward expansion was overpopulated, and cities on the East coast were unsanitary and crowded. America’s population grew by 8 million people from 1850 to 1860.
Philosopher John Rawls, in his book A Theory of Justice, postulated that an ideal society excludes bias from its decision calculus. Specifically, people in the Original Position, a hypothetical scenario of forming a new government, ought create a system while behind a Veil of Ignorance, where “no one knows his place in society, his class position or social status; nor does he know his fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilities.” Practically, however, there always exists an implicit bias in one’s decision-making: people want actions that favor them. Consequently, a southern land speculator, a Native American, and a Latin American government official would have different reasons to support or oppose westward expansion and Manifest Destiny based on their situation in society.
At the time, the Monroe Doctrine had little impact on European Powers, but it is significant to the U.S foreign policy because it provided justification for the following presidents to intervene in Latin America during the 20th century. Manifest Destiny was the belief that God had given Americans the right to spread west across the continent; as a result, there was more territory gain. The Mexican- American War started in 1846 and was fought for two years over land; it started as as the result of the annexation of Texas, a boundary dispute and the U.S’s desire to obtain Mexico’s northern territories. In 1848, America wins big by gaining California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.
American expansionism from 1830-1850 affected America. Manifest destiny was the central idea behind the expansion, from coast to coast. Expanding the U.S was the main goal of Americans, as well as the government. Many things happened to expand the U.S, such as the Battle of San Jacinto or the Gadsden Purchase. Slavery separated the states in the union, although expanding was in a way supposed to join the United States.
In the 19th century, many American settlers believed in the idea of “manifest destiny,” to inevitably and justifiably expand U.S. territory across North America and beyond. This philosophical view the Americans had to expand U.S. territory soon led to the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. Soon in 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War. Thus, the U.S. won and “acquired more than 500,000 square miles of Mexican territory—all or part of the states of Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and Texas.” (Congress)
America’s Westward Expansion Mexican-American War is a war between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. Through this war United States invaded the land of 2 million 300 thousand square kilometers, which help it became a big country across the Atlantic and the Pacific. On the other side, Mexico lost most of the land. There were different voices during the war, various reasons Americans wanted to settle farther west, and also a huge effect that bring to America behind this war. There are two major contradictive images of America’s westward expansion.
Late 19th Century and early 20th Century expansionism was a clear continuation of earlier 19th century Manifest Destiny displaying the ideals of God and westward expansion, and the use of aggression. Manifest Destiny was the God-Given right for the American people to expand westward. Once we did expand to our full country today of America, our expansion was not done. It was time for America to expand out of its contiguous region and become an imperialist nation. Leaders like Josiah Strong, believed it was the God-Given right to spread the Anglo-Saxon culture, and Beveridge, believed we needed to expand our markets and for more opportunities.
Population boomed because of immigrant going for the open land and americans reproducing like crazy after the war. During the western expansion Americans justified the things they did as something that god would want, like going westward. Some americans did stuff like kick natives off their land and fooled them into selling their land cheaper than it actually was. Manifest destiny went in the favor of white people and against natives and african americans. Manifest destiny helped americans have a reason to go west which resulted in more people getting land which caused war.
“The Mexican-American War marked the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil”. It was fought between the dates 1846-1848, it began with the United States’ annexation of Texas in 1845 and from a dispute over whether Texas ended at the Nueces River, which was the Mexican claim or the Rio Grande, the U.S. claim. The war in which U.S. forces were consistently victorious resulted in the United States’ acquiring more than 500,000 square miles of Mexican territory extending westward from the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean. It created a large conflict between Mexico, who was military unprepared and politically divided, and the United States and its administration including President James K Polk whose focus was on expanding, and the nations “manifest destiny” . The manifest destiny was a strong belief in the 19th century held by the people of the Unite States.
The first half of the nineteenth century was a period of successful expansion for the United States. American hunger for westward expansion resulted in several and political disputes between the United States and Mexico. Americans believed in the Manifest Destiny as an act to spread across from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean to seek for wealth and land . Tensions sparked when the American settlers encountered an obstacle with the indigenous tribes against the annexation of Texas along with various frontier states in Mexico. Primary causes of the Mexican-American War were the Louisiana Purchase, the Manifest Destiny, and the Texas Annexation.
Westward expansion impacted Americans in both positive and negative ways. Firstly, the Westward expansion impacted white settlers from America in a positive way. The white settlers were moving westward to have a better life which included free religion. Many of the settlers moved to the West in hopes of becoming rich by mining, farming, ranching, logging in Oregon and Washington, or selling equipment for mining or farming.
