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Manifest Destiny: The Notion Of American Exceptionalism

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The notion of American exceptionalism swept through the nation, and the concept of moving West was very important in the 1840’s and 50’s. Americans believed that Indians lacked civilization and they wanted to obtain their land in order to expand the United States. They believed that it was their destiny to seize land from native people and admit it into the U.S. as their own. Manifest Destiny was a mentality that American people had in which they believed it was their destiny to proceed West and obtain land through the notion of American exceptionalism, stripping the land from the native people and forcing the creation of Indian reservations. With Texas consisting of fertile soil that was ideal for the growing of cotton, Americans viewed this as a very profitable portion …show more content…

Mexico offered land grants to Americans due to their economical issues. The Mexican government did not allow the use of slave labor, but the newly established Texans introduced slavery into the land anyway. The Mexicans were furious when they discovered this, and they threatened to resend their land grants, which provoked the Texans, or Americans, to declare autonomy. Santa Anna marched his army into Texas and charged at the Texans; many of them were executed. Sam Houston, a Texan with a military mind, captured Santa Anna and forced him to sign a treaty, granting Texas as independent. Eventually, after about 10 years, Texas was annexed into America as a slave state. Americans’ view of Manifest Destiny allowed for them to take the territory they wanted, no matter the consequence, demonstrating their yearning for expansion. Americans viewed the Willamette Valley as legendary because of its fertility, and wanted to officially make it a part of the United States. They believed that in order to be civilized, a community must have a democracy, have capitalism, and had to be christian. They didn’t view

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The Mexican government allowed the Anglos to settle in Texas, but they had to follow the Mexican policies and laws set forth. Living in Mexican Texas, Juan involved

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Manifest Destiny is the belief created by John O'Sullivan in 1845. This means the United States was meant to expand from coast to coast. There were many factors and events that supported this belief and made it happen. These include the Louisiana purchase on April 30th, 1803. The Louisiana purchase helped the united states double its size by purchasing current day Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and part of Colorado, South Dakota, Minnesota, Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan.

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From 1820-1860 Manifest Destiny played a major role in American Politics. Manifest Destiny was the expansion of American settlement onto Western land, and the belief that it is God-given land. Manifest Destiny impacted America politically because Americans felt they had a right to all Western land, so this resulted in the creation of the Missouri Compromise of 1820,and the Mexican American War of 1846. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 created a border line between free-soil states, and slave States in Western territories. The Mexican American War of 1846 was a war between the Mexicans, and Americans for Western land.

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America’s urgency and continuous interest to expand Westward helped drive the idea of “Manifest Destiny” within the budding nation. Within the early 1800s Americans believed that it was right and justified to expand west and claim the unorganized area to the west. Manifest Destiny helped to drive the young and evolving nation of America by creating changes within its political system, its societal ideologies, and its ever-expanding economy. In the late 1700s to early 1800s politics was mainly influenced by the realm of the wealthier, upper class; politicians would attempt to grab the attention and endorsement of men who owned large amounts of land and money.

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Manifest Destiny wasn’t a prominent thought, but the land so viciously fought for by the Colonists was supposed to be only theirs. In this way, it was believed “guiding” the Native Americans to more of an agricultural lifestyle was beneficial to the United States since then the Indians would not need as much land. (Document F) Of course, the façade of friendship and boundaries was kept with

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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.

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Conflict between settlers and Native American tribes was frequent and sometimes violent, as differing visions of land ownership and sovereignty often were argued over. Territorial acquisition is another key part of Manifest Destiny. The belief in the right of the United States to continue to expand its borders led to a series of land grabbing, treaties, and seizers that significantly expanded the United States territory. From the Louisiana Purchase to the addition of Texas and the Oregon Territory, the United States steadily gained land and domain, often at the expense of other groups of people such as Mexico and Native American tribes who were forcibly displaced from their ancestral lands. The ideology of Manifest Destiny also played a significant role in shaping America's foreign policy during the 19th century.

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The belief of manifest destiny spread and took hold of the country incredibly fast. The common definition of Manifest Destiny is the “god given right to expand westward”. People wanted to expand west for new opportunities. This mass movement of people from east to west started in 1812 and ended in 1867. Although the US hadn’t been granted the land west of them specifically or bought it, because of their military power and belief in expanding patriotism and influence, they were justified in expanding west.

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After Texas became their own Republic and later became part of the United States, Mexico still had not officially recognized Texas as not being part of Mexico; this is what started the Mexican-American war and helped the United States reach their goal of stretching across the whole continent. War is never pretty, but in this case, the outcome was a successful Westward Expansion. Manifest Destiny was very important, and nothing was going to stop the U.S. from accomplishing it. Manifest Destiny was used by the Americans to give reasoning to their expansion to the West. Manifest Destiny refers to the God-given right for the Americans to take as much territory as possible to the west, across the whole continent to be exact.

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Each new territorial addition opened up new land for settlers. In 1803, Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from France. The Louisiana Purchase Treaty pushed the West boundary of the U.S from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. The Manifest Destiny that occurred during the 1840s was inspired by the belief that our nation was destined to expand, so Americans acquired vast Western lands and began a movement to settle into these new territories. One group that made the journey west in the 1840s were the Mormons.

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The 1840s saw the start of the ideas of Manifest Destiny and eventually expansion in the United States. Many people wanted to move out West in order to find new resources, find new liberties, and hopefully be able to create a better life. These lands were populated with natural resources and opportunities that made it irresistible to the American people. Although there were inhabitants and that other countries already had a stake in this land, it did not stop the people from finding a way to make it theirs. However, this idea of Manifest Destiny would prove to cause many problems between Americans that would only make westward expansion difficult.

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According to the text “ Manifest Destiny is the belief that the United States had an absolute obligation and right to spread democratic settlement, briefly lost force once the American outskirts filled in with American settlement” (Barnes & Bowles, 2014). Some people might put Manifest Destiny as the idea of taking it by force, the attitude of taking and conquering lands and territory no matter what it cost. American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is a remarkably free country in light of equitable goals and individual freedom. According to (Tyrell, n.d) “ in its classic forms, American exceptionalism refers to the distinctive character of the United States as a uniquely free nation based on democratic ideals and personal

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Before its independence, Mexico had to figure out what to do with the state of Texas. Soon enough, Anglo settlers started moving into Texas for land. Americans would do whatever it would take to get as much power as possible. This included battling against Native Americans. Like the US, Spain saw the Native Americans as

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The United States has grown rapidly throughout the years, gaining power and wealth as it has expanded. One way the United States was able to expand its nation and gain power through acquiring territory was Manifest Destiny; the 19th-century belief that it was the God-given right of the United States to expand its territory across the North American continent. The belief that Manifest Destiny was reasonable and inevitable contributed greatly in shaping America by furthering westward expansion and led to the United States benefiting from their violent acts whilst “justifiably” harming others. The implementation of this ideology had far-reaching consequences for various groups, including the British, Mexicans, and Native Americans. Through westward

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“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.

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