In the early-mid 1800’s Manifest Destiny occurred. Manifest Destiny is a term for the United States expanding from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican territory. During this time, the United States obtained all the areas west of the original thirteen states. Many Americans had moved west because of personal economic problems. All throughout Manifest Destiny, the United States ran into problems with the Native Americans, faced a battle against Mexico, and obtained new land through battles with Mexico.
With the idea of Manifest Destiny, and that the United States has a God-Given right to North American Land, it is impossible not to perceive this as meaning white Americans are superior to the other residents of North America. And many Americans agreed with this perception, which becomes very impactful throughout the
a belief that was widely held that the destiny of American settlers was to expand and move across the continent to spread their traditions and their institutions, while at the same time enlightening more primitive nations” ("Manifest Destiny." History Net, www.historynet.com/manifest-destiny. Accessed 13 Mar. 2018.”) Basically, this means that the Americans thought that it was their god given right to be able to use the west as a launchpad to gain gold and glory, and spread religion in return. Manifest Destiny took place starting with the Louisiana purchase of 1803, and started to die off in the
policy towards the Mexican War of 1846. Dominated by the editors who strongly believed the concept of Manifest Destiny, the United States Democratic Review justified the war with Mexico. In the article titled, The Mexican War - Its Origin and Conduct, the author listed several reasons to war against Mexico such as the annexation of Texas, boundary dispute, the threat to the U.S. economic interests in the region and above all, the U.S. expansionist policy towards the West. Deeply influenced by the ideas of Manifest Destiny, President Polk framed his foreign policy in his presidency and successfully fulfilled the God-given mission to stretch the U.S. territory as far as the Pacific region, negotiate with the Great Britain to acquire the Oregon territory and sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with Mexico in 1848. Without the ideas of Manifest Destiny, the U.S. expansionism would not thrive, the newly born democratic nation would not increase his territory astronomically and the young republic would not have enough political and economic power to be a giant at the stage of international
Manifest Destiny was the American belief that expansion in North America was justified and a responsibility(Rohrbough and Nash, 217). Many Southerners and Westerners supported the war and the possibilities of expanding west. Two years later, the U.S. army pushed down to Mexico City and forced the Mexican government to surrender. They signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and ceded 40 percent of its territory, including present day California and Texas. This only fueled America’s desire to acquire more land and fulfill Manifest Destiny(Rohrbough and Nash, 218).
In an attempt to increase trade and prove itself as an economic and military superpower, the US began to expand overseas and increase its military size; the US believed in International Darwinism and saw these actions as an expansion of Manifest Destiny which led to imperialism. People like William H. Seward pushed to annex Midway Island and purchased Alaska to expand the size of the US. However, imperialism became a controversial debate among the American people throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Expansionists and Jingoists like Theodore Roosevelt wanted to protect and gain control of other nations including Puerto Rico, Philippines, and Guam, whereas anti-imperialists such as William Jennings Bryan, Mark Twain, and Jane Addams were against entangling the US in unneeded conflicts overseas and depriving other nations of their rights. Thus, while advocates of expansionism wanted to civilize other nations, become a superpower, and improve US unity, oppositions wanted the US to improve domestic conflicts instead of involving itself in foreign affairs and should not force America’s ideals on other nations.
“By 1840s, territorial expansion was viewed by many to be a measure of that [America’s] greatness”. 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. That is way Haynes refers to Polk as being “an agent of Manifest Destiny, not its creator”.
Manifest Destiny Essay A long, long time ago in a the 19th century the people of America use money and brutal force to make Mexico give America more land. Also during this time the industrial revolution was happening and this increase the need for slaves incredibly. Manifest Destiny was during the 19th century belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable. Although, some people believe that Manifest Destiny gave America the right to expand their borders, the concept of Manifest Destiny did not give them this right because they bullied Mexico, they used brutal ways, and they ended up killing a lot of people. First, during the 19th century, many people believed in Manifest Destiny so they bullied Mexico into giving them land.
In 1814 the Manifest Destiny occurred, manifest destiny is when lots of United States citizens moved out west so they could be start their lives and gain lots of property. The main reason Americans wanted to move out west was so they can gave the mass quantities of land and be able to farm and make a great living off of it. But the Manifest Destiny affected lots of things three of them being the Native Americans, slavery, and the relationship between the North and South States. The Manifest Destiny affect the Native Americans greatly in multiple ways, their population their food and their culture. One example of this the document 1, in this document it's just the population of Native Americans before Americans moved West and after they moved West.” There was a graph showing the starting population of Native Americans before Americans moved over being About 45,000 and after being 10,000”(Document 1).
By the 1900s, the word Manifest Destiny was everywhere. Every American believed that the expansion of the US was a “God-given right.” America had already doubled its size through the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, but it had gotten another opportunity to expand in 1846. Texas had declared independence from Mexico in 1845, and applied for statehood. Ten years later, it was accepted into the Union and became one of the US states (province). Around this time, James K. Polk was president.