Manifest Destiny is the belief created by John O'Sullivan in 1845. This means the United States was meant to expand from coast to coast. There were many factors and events that supported this belief and made it happen. These include the Louisiana purchase on April 30th, 1803. The Louisiana purchase helped the united states double its size by purchasing current day Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and part of Colorado, South Dakota, Minnesota, Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. The Lewis and Clark expedition also helped the United States work towards manifest destiny. This expedition was led by Meriwether Lewis and his partner William Clark from 1804 to 1806. It helped the United States gain knowledge of …show more content…
Shortly after in 1836 the trail of tears took place. This was where the Cherokees were forced out of their land and moved west. Majority of the Cherokees fought against it, and few agreed. It was a troubling time for the native Americans, and the United States got their land to expand on. The next and one of the most important factors that led to the end of manifest destiny was the Texas revolution. The Texas revolution was the war between Mexico, the Tejanos, and the Americans. It included a series of battles, the most important were the Battle of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto. The battle of the Alamo was in 1836 and was a battle between Texas and Mexico Where Santa Anna ( a Mexican president) led his army of 1,800 men against James Bowie and William Travis’s men. This battle showed the Texans how hard they would have to fight to win their independence and get the land. After this battle, there was the battle of San Jacinto. The battle of San Jacinto happened in 1836. This battle was significant because it was the last battle of the war and ended the Texas revolution. Texas then gained the Mexicans land further leading them to manifest destiny. Another event that was crucial to manifest destiny was the bear flag
Manifest destiny then led to the Mexican-American war where Mexico was fighting to try and keep the land of Texas that they thought was
In 1845, the idea of Manifest Destiny was created by John O’Sullivan. Manifest Destiny continued to have a large impact on the development of the U.S. Furthermore, Manifest Destiny helped unite the U.S. through the common goal to expand, however, it further developed the split on slavery. Documents one, four, and six show that Manifest destiny led to a common goal to expand westward, specifically, unifying whig and democratic parties to a common objective. The first document was from a Whig journal and it is clear that he was for expansion,” the natural progress of events will undoubtedly give us that province[California]”(document one).
Both of them were involved in the corps of discovery. On June 20, 1803 the same year when the Louisiana purchase happened Thomas Jefferson asked Lewis to lead an expedition from the Mississippi to the west coast he chose William Clark to go on the expedition as his partner. Throughout their journey Lewis and Clark would find ways to make the fur trade more successful, find a water route across the states to travel on, and find more about the animals on the plains. They even found some new animals and discovered and studied land on their expedition. They learned more about the Indians in the west and how they lived there.
As mentioned there were numerous goals of the expedition, each rivaling one another for their level of importance. Perhaps one of the most important goals of the expedition was to introduce diplomatic relations to the Native Americans that they were surely to encounter along their journey, as well as, gain access to trade rights with the Indians. Under the terms of Louisiana Purchase, the Americans, in this case, Lewis & Clark were to notify the Indians of the new sovereignty of the United States. Jefferson also had specifically instructed Lewis and Clark to form suitable relations with the Natives in order to carry out linguistic and ethnological studies.
In the early 1800’s President Thomas Jefferson requested money from Congress to explore the trans-Mississippi west, however this expedition was intended to explore land which would become part of the United States through the Louisiana purchase. This plan for exploration included Jefferson’s secretary, Meriwether Lewis. Lewis selected William Clark to be his co-captain throughout the trip. Jefferson’s main goals were to have the new lands’ fit his commercial and military needs. He hoped that a northwest passage would be found to make an easier access to the Pacific Ocean.
Throughout 1803, Jefferson had talked with Meriwether Lewis, a young army veteran and his private secretary, about the Louisiana Territory. Jefferson wanted Lewis to lead a group of people out into the west to explore as much land as he could. Lewis, an adventurer at heart, accepted Jefferson’s request, and in early 1804, went to Philadelphia to recruit the men he wanted to accompany him on his journey. Among the men that were recruited was William Clark, an old friend of Lewis and the man that would share command of the band of explorers with Lewis. Together, Lewis and Clark decided to call their group “The Corps of Discovery.”
The Lewis and Clark expedition was the first America expedition to cross what is now the western portion of the United States which making their way westward through the continental divide to Pacific Coast. The expedition was commissioned shortly after the Louisiana purchase and was led by Jefferson and the journey lasted from May 1804 to September 1806. The purpose of the expedition was to explore and map newly acquired territory and find a practical route across the Western had of the continent and establish an American presence in the territory before Britain and European powers tried to claim
The phrase “manifest destiny” was in the air, exciting United State citizens. President James Polk declared that it was America’s right to expand to the Pacific Ocean. However, the land west from Texas was Mexican soil. As a result, the United States asked to buy the California territory. When Mexico declined their offer, President James Polk needed an excuse to go to war with Mexico to steal California right from underneath them.
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.
Manifest Destiny is known as the nations biggest attempt to expand westward and possibly to gain control of the world. The idea imperialism started off the idea of gaining power over the wen led to bloody battles and successful wars for the United states. The Louisiana Purchase was the first territory the U.S gained in 1803. James Monroe and Livingston were sent by the president to Paris to negotiate the sale.
Manifest Destiny was a positive force in American History. Because of Manifest Destiny, American settlers were able to travel to the more Western parts of our country like Texas. A lot of events took place in Texas which also helped us build our country throughout history. One of the main reasons why Manifest destiny was very important to our American history is because of its political effect. When Americans started to travel Westward, they had come across Texas, which was near Mexico.
Manifest destiny also affected the relationship with Mexico. Several factors led to the Mexican- American War in 1846. The factors were that the U.S citizens were moving into California and Mexico. Since there were many revolutions happening in Mexico throughout this time period the Mexican government was not able to protect the U.S citizens in this region. Another factor was that Mexico was upset that Texas declared independence from them and then the U. S annexed Texas in 1845.
One of the most significant conflicts little known in history is the Battle of San Jacinto and is considered the most critical dispute of the Texas Revolution (Williams, 2014). On April 21, 1836, General Sam Houston launched a surprise attack against the Mexican army. The event took place near present day Houston, Texas and only lasted a total of eighteen minutes. The Mexican army was led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The Texans thoroughly routed the superior Mexican force at the Battle of San Jacinto and captured hundreds of Mexican soldiers including Santa Anna.
“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.
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.