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Expansion & manifest destiny essay
Expansion & manifest destiny essay
How did manifest destiny cause expansion
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Between 1830 and 1860, Manifest Destiny and territorial expansion did more to divide America than it did to unite. While it was not the main for the divide of America that was shown in the South’s secession from the United States, it brought up many issues that ultimately led to the Civil War. These issues are shown in the annexation of Texas, the Mexican-American War that resulted from that, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Until 1836, the area of Texas was controlled by the Republic of Mexico and was a distant and irrelevant piece of land in most American’s minds. A few Americans had emigrated there from the South at the invitation of the Mexican government, but not many.
Manifest Destiny is the belief of the nineteenth century that America was destined by God to expand westward. The author of Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis believed that God established Anglo-Saxons as the superior people whose purpose was to spread Christianity. (Doc B) This idea of spreading a superior culture or religion has been a motive for expansion for decades before this. Despite this support for expansionism, there were those who were against it.
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.
While the Louisiana Purchase was a key starting point for American expansionism, aggressive imperialism into the West didn’t begin until the middle of the Jacksonian Period. Many Americans considered Manifest Destiny as a benevolent movement and a divinely ordained right to move west toward the Pacific Ocean. It combined discourses of imperialism and freedom by claiming that it was the duty of the US as a Christian, democratic country to take over lands in the Southwest. Manifest Destiny was aggressive imperialism that created a greater need for slavery, oppressed natives, and lead to the Mexican-American War.
Manifest Destiny: the early American settlers believed in moving, the American settlers believed it was their birthright, their god given right to move to The West. Many wanted to go to The West, to start new lives, to get rich or just to start over. President Polk the President of the United States at the time of the dispute with Mexico. Polk wanted the land that is now Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.
American foreign policy during the years 1845-1900 was Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny describes what most of the Americans believed in the 19th Century that, it was America’s responsibility to expand westward, and occupy the whole continental nation including Mexico and Canada. This foreign policy turned into American Imperialism, and how America acquired Hawaii, Alaska and led to Cuban Revolution 1953-1959. Manifest Destiny was first used by John O’Sullivan; he supported expansionist agenda of President James K. Polk from 1845-1849. President James K. Polk wanted to expand America westward, “He wanted to officially claim the southern part of Oregon Territory; annex the whole of the American Southwest from Mexico; and annex Texas” (Jones 1).
a belief that was widely held that the destiny of American settlers was to expand and move across the continent to spread their traditions and their institutions, while at the same time enlightening more primitive nations” ("Manifest Destiny. " History Net, www.historynet.com/manifest-destiny. Accessed 13 Mar. 2018.”) Basically, this means that the Americans thought that it was their god given right to be able to use the west as a launchpad to gain gold and glory, and spread religion in return.
During the mid 1800s America was in its prime, during the American Industrial Revolution. During the revolution, immigrants from many foreign nations began piling on ships and setting sail for America to start a new life. America was the place to be at the time and it was the land of opportunity for many. And after Lewis and Clark’s exploration came to a close, people heard of all of the prominent land and opportunity. And as word got out, people wanted in on this newly seen westward territory.
During the late 19th century, many sensed that America was destined to expand from coast to coast. This belief that many Americans had was termed Manifest Destiny. Religion had a significant factor to the faith of expansion, as many stressed that America had divine providence. God was said had the power and was the reasoning behind the growth of the country. Others on the other hand, emphasized that America’s history made it inevitable to spread its borders throughout North America.
Since its beginnings America has been a land of great progress. After Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon in 1803, we have expanded our land and ideals. We undertook a noble mission to stretch our nation from coast to coast, labeling it Manifest Destiny. Men, women, and children from East coast took hold of their destiny and traveled westward on famous trails such as the Oregon trail. The journey west was not without its hardships.
Title: Manifest Destiny: Economic, Political, and Religious Factors and the Consequences of U.S. Manifest Destiny was a belief prevalent in 19th-century America that asserted the divine right and obligation of the United States to expand across the North American continent. This expansion was driven by a combination of economic, political, and religious factors. The acquisition of territories such as the Oregon Country, Texas, and California and the Southwest was achieved through diplomacy, annexation, and war. However, the pursuit of expansionism was not without its critics, particularly in the case of the U.S.-Mexican War. Economically, Manifest Destiny was fueled by the desire for territorial expansion to secure new resources, trade routes, and markets.
During the 1800s in the United States, the idea that the nation must expand its boundaries to the Pacific was very popular. In the 1840s a newspaper editor by the name of John O'Sullivan gave this nation's idea the title of Manifest Destiny. When naming this idea in his newspaper, O'Sullivan, as many others, believed that the country was destined to take over the whole continent. As the idea of Manifest Destiny overspread the nation, white settlers began moving west, Pacific bound in search for wealth. During 1819 John Quincy Adams also was a key role in this age of Manifest Destiny, as he promoted the Adams- Onis treaty, which was a treaty between the Spanish and America, limiting Spanish settlement and made Spain give up their claim
Throughout the 19th century European settlers in the United States were enthralled by Westward expansion, furthermore, defining the Western region of the country as the ‘frontier’ to represent the challenges and opportunities expanding West would institute. Westward expansion was significantly driven by the concept of Manifest destiny which describes the idea that Europeans have the divine power and inherent right to expand across North America (Burton, January 17th, 2023). Westward expansion was legally encouraged and endorsed by the federal government through the Homestead act of 1862. The Homestead Act encouraged Westward migration/ settlement by offering land grants to settlers from the East willing to migrate to the West to develop the land.
“Once we became an independent people it was as much a law of nature that this [control of all of North America] should become our pretension as that the Mississippi should flow to the sea” –John Quincy Adams (Henretta, p. 384). In the 1840s, Americans had a belief that God destined for them to expand their territory all the way westward to the Pacific Ocean. This idea was called Manifest Destiny. In the nineteenth century, Americans were recognized for coming together and building up one another for one cause: westward expansion.
Manifest Destiny was the cultural belief that America as a whole was destined to move west and expand across America. When talking about the views of manifest destiny, it often takes on two sides of a story. The side that often believed that it was a natural outcome of American economic state,politics, and trends supporting western expansion, or the side that thought it was a clear example of American imperialism driven by land hunger, cultural superiority, and racism. The country at this point in time was described to be “entirely based on the great principle of human equality.” But this was not true.
