Manifest Destiny Dbq

Sandy Ly Mr. Graham American History; Period 5 14 December 2015 James K. Polk: Boss or Bully? When one talks about the United States presidents and what they did for our country, usually words of positivity will be the first thoughts to come to most minds about the respectable head of our country and all of our former leaders. James K. Polk was the 11th president of the United States and he brought the country into war against Mexico in order to expand the nation.

Polk still having in mind the idea about manifest destiny, thought that he had to defend Texas’ land and to do this he sent troops, but Mexico

In the 1800s, many Americans believed that the mission of the United States was to occupy the entire continent, this idea was declared by John Quincy Adams that expressed that the expansion to the Pacific was as inevitable. The president and the secretaries of states never used the phrase "Manifest Destiny" when they wanted to refer to the expansion of the United States. It was a newspaper editor John O’Sullivan, who put the idea of a national mission, so O’Sullivan declared it was America’s “Manifest Destiny" that was a slogan that he used, and, in the newspaper, he also declares that the United States was destined to extend its territory all the way to the Pacific and, consequently, white settlers began to settle as far west as the

That is way Haynes refers to Polk as being “an agent of Manifest Destiny, not its creator”. However, the author demonstrates how well Polk was following the path acknowledged in Manifest: the annexation of Texas, Oregon, California, war with Mexico are perfectly aligned with the idea of the United States being a continental

The Manifest Destiny contributed to the Civil War because the expansion of new territories and states added into the United States. If the new territories were to vote in Congress for slavery and no slavery, it could be a threat for slavery in the South. ‘’many Southerners and some Northerners wanted slavery to exist everywhere in the United States, including in the new territories added to the country. Many other Americans did not want slavery to expand at all, and some people wanted slavery to be prohibited across the entire nation. Eventually these tensions would lead to the American Civil War’’ (Manifest Destiny, N/d).

“No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure.” Through the way to achieve glory, a person has to overcome many difficulties, not only that they have to sacrifice many things like age, energy, time and something more relevant to your life, but also in immediate time, you may catch the last straw. For instance, James Knox Polk, who tried to run for a position in political government, unfortunately, he failed many times since the age of 29, but angle smiled with him, he became 11th President of United States. Firstly, we should joint down about his background.

Gunshots thundered across the Rio Grande, closely followed by the distressed cries and pain filled shouts of men as bullets and bayonets ripped through white and bronze flesh alike; the war had officially begun, but who was responsible? In the years of 1846- 1848, America and Mexico had buried themselves into a quickly growing conflict concerning what would be determined as the Mexican-American border after Texas was annexed. Texas had finally, after several failed attempts, convinced the U.S. to annex the them into the union, however Mexico immediately decided to claim a large chunk of rightful Texan land as “Mexican land” while America and Texas claimed that the Rio Grande was the rightful border of Mexico and America; not the Nueces

Following the Mexican-American War, America had gained the Utah and New Mexico territories as well as California from the Bear Flag Revolt. The onset of Manifest Destiny occurred faster than ever before, with territories vying to become full US states. Northerners fought to stop the expansion of slavery, whereas Southerners argued for the opposite. Over the 20 years since Clay’s last compromise, sectional divisions grew worse than ever before seen in the country. Still not having decided his opinion on the issue of slavery, Clay saw how important it was to compromise.

In the year 1846 America went to war with Mexico over a simple land dispute. Quite like children they fought over boundaries and borders. The land in dispute in the beginning was Texas, but then it grew to include much much more land, enough to double the size of America and basically half Mexico. America made claims, Mexico refuted them and the United States took charge anyway, attempting underhandedly to get Mexico to act against the political bullying, making war justifiable. All in all a rather undignified encounter.

Manifest Destiny was the belief Americans had that they were destined to stretch from coast to coast. All throughout the 19th century, this attitude was enforced. To reach the goal of successful expansion, The United States tried to get all land possible. These territories were no easy task to achieve, however. Not only for America, but for the country on the other side of the agreement, it was difficult.

The Manifest Destiny ideology, that it was a divinely ordained right and destiny for America to expand westward, towards the Pacific Ocean, was protracted throughout the nineteenth century. Oregon, which was in part occupied by England and in part by the U.S., and the lands owned by Mexico, were an obstacle to such expansion and, consequently, to the economic development. The presidential candidate James K. Polk, guided by the ideology of Manifest Destiny, promised that, if elected, he would push the United States territory westward. His campaign slogan for the occupation of Oregon was “Fifty-four forty or fight”, which was the north latitude that he intended to occupy. In 1846, Great Britain agreed to set the border at the 49th parallel.

One of the consequences of Manifest Destiny was the Mexican-American War. Following the ideology of Manifest Destiny, Texas was annexed into the United States in 1845, creating tensions with the Mexican government. While the annexation of Texas had great benefits for America, from the Mexican point of view it caused many issues legally and threatened national security (Document C). In pursuit of the grand ambitions of Manifest Destiny, President Polk and many Americans forgot to consider the consequences of achieving their ultimate goal of controlling the whole of North America. While before the United States had supported the independent countries, such as Mexico, that had broken free of Spanish rule, during this time period America lost sight of their ideals and made

Justified is defined as having, done for, or marked by a good or legitimate reason. Texas won its independence in 1836. America’s wars are often very controversial. The United States was justified in going to war with Mexico because of three main reasons: Americans were killed, Texas was already annexed, and Manifest Destiny allows it.

The United States were being forceful while one of their men were being sent to Mexico City to try and buy California because they were sitting at the Rio Grande with their army. Also in this article it says, “He felt America’s honor had been challenged… President Polk had a reason for going to war.” Polk thought that Mexico was

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