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John O Sullivan's Manifest Destiny

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In 1845 Manifest Destiny was a phrase that John O’Sullivan came up with. This phrase was made to describe the mindset that the people had the God-given right to make the nation grow. The right to expand throughout the land. It was the idea that the American culture had superiority over any other culture. It also birthed the idea that the Native Americans were inferior to the people that were exploring the land. There were going to conquer the west at any cost. Even the cost of the Native Americans. The first problem of Manifest Destiny was that it came at an enormous cost to Native Americans. There were not rights extended to the Native Americans when it came to exploring the west. The Native Americans were stereotyped as savage and are was …show more content…

However, hindsight is twenty, twenty. The American people might have worked better with the Native Americans side by side, rather than making enemies of them. If this was not an option, then there was probably no better way to handle the conquering of the west. Today would be totally different if the Native Americans were not forced to give up their lands. If the Native Americans were given the opportunity to keep the land they lived on, rather than forcing them to move we would live in a totally different America. Americans would be condensed into a smaller place and would not have all the different issues with the Nave American. We would look at other cultures as equals, rather than seeing them as less. The American mindset would be totally different if we had accepted the Native Americans, and not thought we were better than them. Looking back on the decisions our ancestors made leaves several questions. Manifest Destiny and the exploration of the west is just one of that point that could dug into. Even if there were a hundred things that could be changed about Manifest Destiny there is no way of knowing if the changes would make any difference. Manifest Destiny made America the great nation it is

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