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Usii.4A westward expansion
Effect of manifest destiny
Effect of manifest destiny
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Usii.4A westward expansion
Effect of manifest destiny
Effect of manifest destiny
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Recommended: Usii.4A westward expansion
In 1845, when John L. O’Sullivan used the term “manifest destiny” to describe America’s given right to expand west, he did not know what impact it would have on the United States. Manifest destiny influenced the expansion and settlement of America, as well as the culture and economy. As the United States expanded west in the 1800s, wars and treaties impacted the growth of the nation. War and treaties, specifically the Mexican-American War and the Oregon Treaty of 1846, impacted the westward expansion of the United States. At the end of the Mexican-American War, which occurred from 1846 to 1848, the U.S. and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
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
“Manifest Destiny” is a phrase that perfectly sums up the American experience in the early 19th century. During this time, Americans were moving west with the idea that they had the god given right to do so and this idea didn’t stop there. Continuing into the American imperialism ages of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States never abandoned the “justification” given to them by God and used this to drive their expansion into foreign nations and beyond, as stated in Document B. It could be argued that the expansion of the late 1800s and early 1900s is a continuation of the previous westward expansion, but many aspects of expansion changed during this time as well. Obviously, the expansion of the early 19th century and
Most Americans were pleased with the new outlines of their country. Still, not everyone rejoiced in this expansion. Until the Mexican- American War, many people had believed that the United States was too good a nation to bully or invade its weaker neighbors. Now they knew that such behavior was the dark side of manifest
In the 1800’s Manifest Destiny became a widely-held belief among settlers, their mentality was that they were destined to expand across North America pushing the natives out of their land. This attitude among western settlers fueled the removal of Native Americans and war with Mexico. The thinking of some of these settlers was both inevitable and justified by their God to expand and take more land with no limit. Geographically speaking, modern day America is the result of this “Manifest Destiny”. This was also happening around the time the United States experienced its second “Great Awakening”, which was another protestant religious revival movement happening in the early 19th century.
Manifest Destiny was the belief that many Americans held, that the United States was destined to someday hold land “from sea to shining sea”. Emigrants came to the new world seeking their own land and freedom. For some it was freedom for religion, and for others freedom from the feudal system of Europe. With seeming unlimited land for the taking, anyone could be a lord of the new world.
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.
The Manifest Destiny of the United States affected many countries, some of the countries that had been more affected by it were Canada, Mexico, and Brazil (Manifest Destiny, 65). All three of these countries had a similar idea of what the U.S. Manifest Destiny was but they each defined it in there own way since each country's experience was different. To Canada, Manifest Destiny was America's way of saying it's their right to take the land that they need to expand (Finkel et al., 12). Mexico saw America’s Manifest Destiny as “the belief that the USA was the “country chosen by providence” to inhibit the American continent and the US people had been chosen by divine will to Cultivate and benefit from the land. ”(Lopez
However, it was not Gods mission on wanting to expand the US territory it was the mission of Americans. Not only did whites conquer the lands of the Spanish speaking people but they also had taken the lands of Native Americans. Senator Lewis Cass stated that “We do not want the people of Mexico, either as citizens or as subjects. All we want is their territory” (469). This statements shows how manifest destiny had a strong influence on Americans because all they wanted was Mexico’s land and to remove its people and culture for their own benefit.
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.
spread westward, intense conflict with both the Native Americans and Mexico were inevitable. Already heavily depopulated due to the diseases, the Native American peoples were unable to compete against the encroaching settlers and the advanced military that accompanied them; the rapidity and force of disappearance from the West is one of the major blemishes on American history; particularly brutal episodes such as the Trail of Tears are merely examples of the widespread and systematic extermination of these people. Conflict with Mexico was more formal but also resulted in the (perhaps opportunistic) large scale acquisition of land for U.S. settlers. These two effects of Manifest Destiny have strongly colored its representation in historical hindsight; in spite of (or perhaps because of) strong belief in God and democracy, the imposition of majority rule on minorities can be
In the later part of the 1800’s, the United States had started to become increasingly roaming. The creation of a new mode of transportation dubbed the Transcontinental Railroad shortened a 6 month wagon journey to just a 7 day train ride. This allowed settlers to move west and fulfill the assumed manifest destiny. This combined with the Homestead Act gave settlers the freedom and prosperity they had always dreamed of. The settlers could claim as much as 160 acres of free 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.
World War III is currently on the edge of falling off the ‘shelf’ of controlled events as tensions, once again, build up between North Korea and America, one of the world’s leading superpowers. To this very day, the United States is one of the most powerful contributors to worldwide conflicts, needless to say, its recent contributions were due to its foreign policy. However, the foreign policy embodied by the United States has portrayed adjustments to accompany the ever-changing public opinion, continuing to instill the American ideological views of the ‘New Manifest Destiny.’ Similar to the concept of ‘Manifest Destiny,’ coined by John L. O'Sullivan in 1845, and described by Josiah Strong in his book, Our Country: Its Possible Future and
“it was God’s plan that America extend its territory.” (Roden 317) God wants America to take Texas. The Mexicans are “limiting our greatness checking the fulfillment of our Manifest Destiny” (O’Sullivan 323) People are wrongly stopping God’s plan. Later America got Texas, California, and Oregon Territory.(Roden 317)