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.
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.
The Manifest Destiny was the 1800s belief that Americans should expand westward. The Manifest Destiny benefited the country and the people of the United States. For example, the United States doubled in size through the Louisiana Purchase (A Growing Nation Notes). All of the different purchases at this time made the US the size that it is now. In result of the United States growing, more people came to the country for a new beginning so it was beneficial to the people in the country.
While the Louisiana Purchase was a key starting point for American expansionism, aggressive imperialism into the West didn’t begin until the middle of the Jacksonian Period. Many Americans considered Manifest Destiny as a benevolent movement and a divinely ordained right to move west toward the Pacific Ocean. It combined discourses of imperialism and freedom by claiming that it was the duty of the US as a Christian, democratic country to take over lands in the Southwest. Manifest Destiny was aggressive imperialism that created a greater need for slavery, oppressed natives, and lead to the Mexican-American War.
The manifest Destiny is a nineteenth-century belief that the United States were destined to expand west across the North America continent. In which they would claim the land, and spread their form of freedom, culture, and democracy. Many believed the mission was inspired to them by god, while others felt it was more of a selfless right to expand the territory of liberty. This mission led Americans to move and develop the land from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
As America became a great power, it has continued its legacy of territorial expansionism through neo-imperialist policies. Aside from acquiring land and expanding American territory, the United States has established policies that have allowed direct and often indirect military and political control, economic exploitation, and the introduction of American ideals. The U.S. has justified this form of colonialism by claiming that it is for mutual economic pursuits, the spreading of democracy, and the establishment of stable governments in developing countries. Despite America’s noble causes, American imperialism has caused many repercussions. The United States should cease to be an imperialist power as it is economically damaging to countries under its rule, costly to America, violates the fundamental American principle of self-governance, and exacerbates social and political situations in countries America has tampered with.
Manifest Destiny is the belief or doctrine about the US expansion. It is the assumption that white Americans were “special people” and this came back from the beliefs of the puritans. This doctrine influenced the the settlement of the west because it let white Americans believe that they could control the natives. This doctrine influenced the settlement to the west because it made the migration more likely. Americans attitude towards this was that they thought they deserved all the land.
Manifest Destiny was a phrase used by politicians and leaders in the United States in the 1840s to justify and promote territorial expansion across the North American continent by providing a sense of mission to citizens. It promoted this sense of mission by fomenting a desire to establish a large empire-like nation in which the ideals of democracy, freedom, and progress are ostensibly protected and promoted. It strongly characterized U.S. internal and external policies and has continued to do so to this day. In theory, one aspect of this desire was its principle to bring the ideals of democratic self-government to any peoples capable of it; in practice, however, this often meant excluding Native Americans and those with non-European ancestry.
Manifest Destiny was an era of expansion of the U.S. to the western side of the North American continent. It took place from 1812 to 1867. Manifest Destiny was the belief that America was destined, by God, to expand its territory westward. Manifest destiny was caused by acute American supremacy; it widely affected natives while being essentially negative in that it promoted racism, encouraged Americans’ culture superiority, and generated the extermination of Native American people. Manifest Destiny was the cause of plummeting numbers in the Native American population.
Imperialism means that one country controls all political, economic, or cultural life in another country or region. Europe successfully did this in the Americas and established colonies in South Asia, Africa, and China. Although this would seem like a substantial amount of power, Europe did not gain much influence until later on. Once Europe recognized their own growing control, they embarked on what is now called the “New Imperialism”. Many components played into this seemingly rapid success, but one significant reason was that of the
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.
Imperialism is the idea of a country forcefully gaining ideas, resources, and people from another country or territory. Imperialism brought many ideas and inventions, but there were also adverse effects. Many attributes like racism, infrastructure, and war were used to gain more territory. One of the pros of imperialism was the advancements in infrastructure. In document 1 the author references the banks giving loans to build railways and streamlines.
“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.
It is undeniably true that imperialism, as an ancient fact, has left conflicting traces in the remembrance of thousands of people. For many, Empire was the main factor leading to the victory and prosperity which offered Britain some crucial advantages as well as positively changed the economic state of India as a subcontinent. For an influential novelist of the twentieth century - Rudyard Kipling, imperialism was a doctrine which presumed England supremacy over India along with its duties to bring law and edification to the colonize people. This imperial idea, as seen by some literacy critics, was the inspiration and the main theme for most of his published novels. One of the best examples for his pro-imperialist work is Kim.
The imperialism of the European Countries in the East Asian Region is due to the demand of the basic commodities such as spices that are common in the South East Asia. Along with the increased economic benefits of the trades between the West and the East especially in China, the trades are also accompanied by the drain of wealth and the exploitation of the natural resources in the East. These major disadvantages are recognized majorly in the colonial powers of the Portuguese in the South East Asia, the Dutch in India and the British colony in Hong Kong. The effect of the colonialism in the economic structure of the East Asian Region has an indirect approach since the major influenced is based on the changes that occur in the colonialism outside
