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Manifest Destiny In The 19th Century

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Before the 19th century, the United States West, was a collection of diverse groups and cultures interactions in unincorporated territory. The West offered land, resources, and a new life just to about anyone who was willing to take the trip out West. This is what drew many people to the idea of West, the desire for a fresh start. A chance, that enticed many people regardless of race hoping to seek better fortune. Western fever would reach an all time high through the concept of Manifest Destiny, that essentially declared that the United States should expand west. American supporters of western expansion, viewed the West as the solution to brewing economic troubles. Jefferson and others thought that Manifest Destiny, was crucial in laying …show more content…

While, imperialistic dynasties in Europe struggled to hold on to their waning empires across the globe due to the rise of ideas like nationalism. America was still able to participate in this same imperial structure, and expand its borders, but also look to other social and political movements for legitimacy . The United States made sure there was a difference between its god given right of expansion versus european imperialism. “The distinction they drew between their own “empire of liberty” and contemporary weren’t always concrete.” This quote further exemplifies that the true identity behind Manifest Destiny as Americanized imperialism. Just like its European counterpart, American imperialism took a huge toll on the inhabitants in the West. Thousands of Native Americans that were violently displaced, as a result of Manifest Destiny and were often forced to relocate elsewhere. Those that stayed were dehumanized and found themselves at the bottom of the power dynamic. Greenberg describes the effects of dehumanization of the Native people by also means of gender“ by feminizing Native Americans, white Americans could prove themselves to be the legitimate possessors of American

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Many Americans thought occupying foreign countries, like the Philippines after the Spanish American War, was a bad idea because it contradicts the American values of equality found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. (Doc D) However, a majority of America sided with people like Senator Albert J. Beveridge who believed people were chosen by God to expand into China and the Philippines to open more Asian markets. (Doc E) This was a continuation of past expansionism because acquiring land for money Manifest Destiny have been motives for expansionism for

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As the 1800s began, the belief of Manifest Destiny rose throughout the United States. Previously, because of Thomas Jefferson, the United States gained land from the Louisiana Purchase. This doubled the size of the United States, allowing America to grow westward. This westward land provided food for America, whereas the North provided manufactured goods and the South provided cash crops, such as cotton. The West and North soon became very interconnected through similar economies and views.

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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.

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It was the time when Manifest Destiny concept, an idea in special role and destiny of the United States, was highly popular. The concept that consequently justified the expansionism and nationalism. Therefore, Polk’s expansionist impulse, though strong and quite successful, was a product of dominant thoughts that were circulating among Americans.

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The Westward Expansion consisted of almost 7 million Americans migrating west, hoping to get land and be wealthy. It is often called Manifest Destiny, because many people believed settlers was intended to expand the west. Because so many people thought this way it was also thought the U.S was physically separated from Europe. This migration of people included people from Spain, France, Mexico, and other countries. The Western Expansion had a part in the foreign policies in the expansion towards the pacific and the way the U.S treated their relationship with other

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It was a widely held belief that it was the predetermined destiny of the United States to expand beyond its borders and to project its culture on that of other civilizations. The belief that the American way was the better way was the theme of this time. As Manifest destiny turned into International Destiny, American businessmen believed that America should extend its authority over other countries. They believed that the way to expand America’s economy was through imperialism and should be the main effort of America during this time. The Monroe Doctrine and The White Man’s Burden promoted the ideas of Manifest Destiny in ways that justified its reality.

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Manifest Destiny was a phrase that was made up by journalist John L. O’sullivan back in 1844. The United States wanted to push westward to the frontier such as Texas, California, and Oregon. The reason behind Manifest Destiny was to expand to provide new places to live and jobs. Manifest Destiny is the belief that the Americans could extend themselves from coast to coast. The way Americans conquered the new land were removing the Native Americans from their land.

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As few know, the very root cause of all the Pre-Civil War events was Manifest Destiny, a powerful and ruthless belief that had changed the course of history. Manifest Destiny caused the US to go for a greater goal that scarred others, driving all Natives off their land and expand until every other country knew of their power. They went from protecting newly freed countries, to taking all important possessions from the natives before them. The belief of the US to expand all over North America and be seen as a powerful nation has caused their minds to want more and more of what is around them, land.

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The late 19th century was a time of exploration, innovation, and continued westward expansion. The West, however, was not as glorified as people today like to think it was. Westward expansion had many benefits, the main being lots of new land for both the Americans and immigrants, but many ideas of the West have been altered throughout the years. The West was romanticized in many ways, people moved to the West in the pursuit of happiness, but today many hardships of westward expansion have been ignored. Cowboys and homesteads are two major concepts that have been romanticized today about the West.

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In the 19th Century, there were strong supporters of the ideology of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was basically the belief of expansion by settlers expanding all over America because god supposedly destined the Americans for expansions by their resources. This resulted for the Americans to find a modern mode of transportation that would make traveling from the east to the west coast easier. This resulted in a mega construction known as the Transcontinental Railroad. The railroad not only helps with transportation but with trading.

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Manifest Destiny and the Westward Expansion was made so that the Americans could expand as far as the Pacific Ocean. All though this was a benefit for the Americans, it caused the Native Americans and the Mexicans to deal with a lot of hardship. There were many political, economic, and social reasons for Manifest Destiny, but these reasons did not always have positive outcomes. The Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny negatively impacted the economic vision of America.

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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.

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The citizens of the United States felt they had the best form of government and culture and felt the obligation to expand it across the nation. Manifest Destiny had both positive and negative effects on social and political values during this time. Americans felt because they were experiencing such growth that God was blessing them and that by incorporating others into their culture they would be blessed too. However, greed eventually took over and the belief that the white man could destroy anyone or anything that got in the way of its progress led to many wars and lives lost over the acquisition of much needed land.

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If Native Americans were not compliant, Americans would murder them. Although Manifest Destiny was seen as an inevitable movement among Americans and resulted in the formation of the American West in the Nineteenth century, it was truthfully an act of invasion and subjugation against peoples who had settled the land for hundreds of years earlier. Manifest Destiny led to an obvious upsurge in racial

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Following the end of the Industrialist Era and the emergence of countless technological advancements, the United States entered the world stage. The United States was attempting to create an empire by expanding to land outside of its own borders in order to benefit the country’s economic interests. Many citizens, whose views were greatly influenced by their understandings of national identity, saw this overseas expansion in conflicting ways. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these groups differed in their opinions on the idea of expansion due to either their wanting to remain a democratic country built on the ideals of freedom and liberty to preserve their sense of national identity, or their wanting to expand for economic reasons and nationalism. Imperialism, which is the extension of a country’s power and influence through expansion, began as early as the 17th century, when Britain colonized the New World in order to expand economically and gain natural resources for manufacturing.

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