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Manifest Destiny: Nineteenth Century Concept Of American Expansion

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Manifest Destiny was a nineteenth century concept of American expansion. This concept gave Americans the belief that they were destined to move United States territory into the West, and that America should fulfill its duty of settling and civilizing all the land that was available to them. There were many different aspects of Manifest Destiny, such as its overlying racist ideology, as this concept gave citizens of the United States a mindset that it is America’s duty to civilize the “uncivilized” world to the West, inhabited by the Native Americans. American expansion West oppressed the cultures of the Natives, and replaced them with forced conversion and adaptation of American culture. The system of expansion Manifest Destiny brought about also had a positive influence on the economic culture of America, expanding its borders, allowing for railways to be built, trade to expand, and new goods to be discovered. However, the former two aspects that came along with Manifest Destiny ultimately …show more content…

The North, wanting to limit slavery to the South where it currently existed and eventually abolish the labor system all together, were hesitant to allow the formation of large territories in the Southwest. The South had a fierce ambition to expand slavery into the Southwest, and the concept of Manifest Destiny played right along with their beliefs and motivation to do so. Whenever new territories were added, the North and South would begin a process to decide the fate of the newly established territories, which would lead to many compromises, such as the Missouri Compromise of 1820, The Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. All of these compromises would solve the immediate territorial disputes, but was just delaying the inevitable conflict that would become the Civil

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