ipl-logo

Manifest Destiny Or Excuses

569 Words3 Pages

Manifest Destiny or Excuses? The westward expansion was a period of ambition for many Americans who wanted to extend US territory for resources, personal reasons, business and etc. The problem they faced was that it was all Mexican territory. In order to settle in the West, people must become citizens of the Mexican government and follow its rules. This fact upset many Americans as it does not benefit their own country and so the idea of Manifest Destiny was born. Texas and America plotted to overthrow the Mexican government through several underhanded ways that pinned the blame on Mexico. One of the several lies told was made by President Polk, leader of Texas. He lied to Congress by saying, “Mexico has passed the boundary of the United …show more content…

According to John O’ Sullivan, “Other nations have undertaken...hostile interference against us, …hampering our power, limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence (God) for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions”. The Americans are using God’s will as an excuse to go to war with Mexico. The fact that other countries are also trying to taking territory from Mexico shows that the United States is willing to enter the competition for Mexico’s territory in order to gain more resources to support themselves and strengthen themselves by doing this. Manifest Destiny is nothing more than a concocted lie meant to persuade the masses the advantages of gaining more territory. To conclude, the US was truly not justified in going to war with Mexico because of the number of lies and excuses told to persuade the population that Mexico was the actual villain. It was also nothing more than competition between countries to gain more territory and Mexico happened to be the target of those countries. Land could also be gained by buying land or negotiating but the US just charged through and grabbed what they wanted. Due to the ungainly manner by which they gained territory it is safe to that there really was no point to this

Show More
Related
447 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
1622 Words | 7 Pages

Whatever its true purpose, Manifest Destiny has indeed stretched the U.S territory and seized half of Mexico’s land. On the contrary, Manifest Destiny resulted in a conflict with

Read More
350 Words | 2 Pages

Was the US justified in going to war with Mexico? This eternal question is arguable and could be thought of both ways. The US and Mexico had an argument about the southern border of Texas, which recently annexed with US. The basic reason behind this war was to get hold on territory between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River. This question has several answers and opinions because of 3 main reasons: Manifest Destiny, Treaty of Velasco, and the war of Palo Alto.

Read More
492 Words | 2 Pages

This war happened mainly because the U.S. wanted to expand to the Pacific Ocean to fulfill their Manifest Destiny, trying to take away Mexico’s land. Mexico refused to to give land to the U.S. The big question is whether the U.S. was justified in fighting Mexico in the Mexican-American War. The United States was justified in going to war with Mexico because Manifest Destiny, too much Mexican interference, and Texas was invaded. One reason the Mexican War was justified was Manifest Destiny. In Document A, John O’Sullivan writes: “Texas is now ours...Let their reception into the “family be frank, kindly, and cheerful….”

Read More
465 Words | 2 Pages

Was the United States justified in going to war with Mexico? The United States was not justified in going to war with Mexico because they did not respect their laws, culture, and their beliefs. Second of all, this evidence shows that the US was not justified in going to war because it was useless to fight if the Mexicans were going to lose Texas if it was not now, it would be later on. Truly, it was very clear that the Americans won the war because Texas wanted to become part of the US, and the United States wanted to adopt Texas into their union.

Read More
541 Words | 3 Pages

Manifest destiny also affected the relationship with Mexico. Several factors led to the Mexican- American War in 1846. The factors were that the U.S citizens were moving into California and Mexico. Since there were many revolutions happening in Mexico throughout this time period the Mexican government was not able to protect the U.S citizens in this region. Another factor was that Mexico was upset that Texas declared independence from them and then the U. S annexed Texas in 1845.

Read More
1015 Words | 5 Pages

The United States war with Mexico was over 160 years ago and still continues to be a divisive and widely debated topic, was it justifiable or not? The first war to be fought mostly on foreign land, was the Mexican-American War that started in 1846. America, lead by President Polk, who believed the U.S had a “manifest destiny”, fought against Mexico who had a weak military and was politically divided. After the war ended in 1848, Mexico lost one-third of its territory which included present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. Although the United States war against Mexico resulted in the gaining of America’s most valuable land, the war itself was unjust because their goal was to expand slavery, Texas was wrong from the beginning, and the war was based on false pretenses.

Read More
1199 Words | 5 Pages

When Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, a string of ruthless dictators and weak presidents made Mexico an easy target for its powerful neighbor, the United States. The US swooped in to expand its territory and its popular institution of slavery. By doing so, the US started a war with Mexico that was justified for illegitimate reasons. The Mexican-American War was not justified because the US took Mexico’s land for the expansion of slavery, and justified their taking advantage of Mexico when it was politically weak by hiding behind Manifest Destiny.

Read More
703 Words | 3 Pages

Manifest destiny was one of the most significant concepts in U.S. history. It was the belief that the U.S.’s national birth was the start of new history and that it was destined by God for everyone to follow American culture and expand their land from “Sea to shining sea.” They wanted to carry on this idea into a reality until they grew to their full potential as a nation. They wanted to spread to and gain all the land they possibly could, and take control of everything. Although there were many positives like gaining more land and resources, the negatives outweigh the positives drastically.

Read More
930 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
552 Words | 3 Pages

Manifest Destiny The concept of Manifest Destiny originated in the United States in the 19th century, when Americans believed that it was their divine mission, their manifest destiny, to expand their territory from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. This belief, which was rooted in notions of American exceptionalism and a sense of cultural and religious superiority, played a significant role in shaping the American policy and the territorial expansion of the US. First of all we need to know what manifest destiny is. In an article written by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica it says: “Manifest Destiny, in U.S. history is, the supposed inevitability of the continued territorial expansion of the boundaries of the United States westward

Read More
886 Words | 4 Pages

Timothy Diyanov 6/12/23 Social Studies/English Language Arts Ms.Cordell / Mr.Van Zweeden Manifest Destiny Manifest Destiny… you probably thought you were reading a fantasy novella, but actually, Manifest Destiny was a very important and positive point in American History. It acted like bedrock and a springboard for American society as a whole and effectively brought us to our current greatness. Manifest Destiny (also known as Westward Expansion) was a belief that it was the destiny of the United States to have control over the entire continent, not only the eastern shore, and it all began in 1803 with the Louisiana purchase, and after some time, ended with the civil war. Even

Read More
2016 Words | 9 Pages

“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.

Read More
1083 Words | 5 Pages

Although the United States war against Mexico resulted in the gaining of America’s most valuable land, the war itself wasn’t legitimate because of the revolution in Texas, motivation for superiority, and the U.S. government’s actions. To begin, the Texans began an unreasonable war because they didn’t follow Mexico’s laws and conditions. When Mexico started selling cheap land, they set conditions for the people moving in. The people had to convert to Catholicism, learn Spanish, become a Mexican citizen, and have no slaves. Many Americans didn’t like being told what to do, and disobeyed the rules and laws.

Read More
568 Words | 3 Pages

As stated before, the US was justified in going to war with Mexico because of three reasons, Americans were killed, Texas was already annexed, and Manifest Destiny allows it. The United states had many superb reasons for going to war with Mexico. This essay is significant because it helps explain the United States’ choice to go to war with

Read More

More about Manifest Destiny Or Excuses

Open Document