Manifest Destiny's Westward Expansion In The United States

Manifest Destiny and the Westward Expansion was made so that the Americans could expand as far as the Pacific Ocean. All though this was a benefit for the Americans, it caused the Native Americans and the Mexicans to deal with a lot of hardship. There were many political, economic, and social reasons for Manifest Destiny, but these reasons did not always have positive outcomes.

The US wanted to expand its territory for the growth of slavery, which was a dehumanizing and morally wrong practice. Although many Americans wanted slavery to expand, many did not.

From the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 to the time of the Gadsden Purchase, westward expansion was a fuel to the issue of slavery extension to the West, causing sectionalism to increase between the North and South. Although westward expansion was one of the factors that accelerated sectionalism between the North and the South, other factors such as the imbalance between the states, the gag rule, the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Compromise of 1850, the tariff of Abomination, popular sovereignty, and many more played their roles in the sectionalism between the North and the South. The more the United States grew and expanded westward, more factors appeared to hinder the growth of slavery, causing the South to threaten to secede from the Union due to their pro-slavery views.

Lauren Williams Period 11 Group 5 The United States was united by the addition of states through Manifest Destiny and territorial expansion, which inflicted feelings of Nationalism, until the existence of slavery was threatened. Disagreements over whether the newly acquired territory should be slave or free led to the Kansas – Nebraska Act, which did not prevent slave rebellions or the Wilmot Proviso that proposed the outlawing of slavery.

Based on the following three sources, did the concept of Manifest Destiny motivate Americans to try to develop a relationship with land and to control something that cannot truly be possessed?

The Market Revolution generated a drastic change in the United States economy and altered gender barriers while at the same time accomplishing this in a provocative manner. This economic boom occurred around the first half of the 19th Century. The economic boom was achieved by inventions such as a transcontinental railroad system which resulted in a better transportation system which improved trade and the cotton gin which sped up the rate of removing seeds from cotton fiber. However like what the great Hugo said, “The brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over we realize this: that the human race has been roughly handled, but that it has advanced”. That is exactly what happened with this revolution in fact and the progress

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.

“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. The time of Manifest Destiny was a time of true American brotherhood and comradeship. With Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk being the leading presidents of the cause during this time, it not only led to continental expansion but homicide as well. While the Americans believed they were expanding into free land, Native Americans had already settled the land centuries earlier. This led to the dark side of Manifest Destiny. Native Americans were forced to pick up their homes and resettle in areas that were less than sufficient to meet their basic needs. If Native Americans were not compliant, Americans would murder them. Although Manifest Destiny was seen as an inevitable movement among Americans and resulted in the formation of the American West in the Nineteenth century, it was truthfully an act of invasion and subjugation against peoples who had settled the land for hundreds of years earlier. Manifest Destiny led to an obvious upsurge in racial

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.

Manifest Destiny changed the United States socially, economically and politically. It was affected socially because it became more culturally diffused; it also affected relationship with the Native Americans due to the Americans belief that they were the better race and others were inferior to them. It was affected economically because there was more land to profit off of and politically it damaged the United States and Mexico’s foreign relations. Those who believed in the manifest destiny forcefully removed Native Americans from their lands in order for the United States to gain more land. America was shifted politically, due to new tense relations with Mexico, as an effect of the Mexican

Manifest Destiny was a phrase that was made up by journalist John L. O’sullivan back in 1844. The United States wanted to push westward to the frontier such as Texas, California, and Oregon. The reason behind Manifest Destiny was to expand to provide new places to live and jobs. Manifest Destiny is the belief that the Americans could extend themselves from coast to coast. The way Americans conquered the new land were removing the Native Americans from their land.

During the pre-civil war time period— also known as the antebellum years— America experienced a widespread transformation for the sake of its economy. With the booming belief of the Manifest Destiny, America’s constant desire for westward expansion caused disputes between the North and the South regarding the establishment of free states and slave states, which led to certain compromises such as the Missouri Compromise. After the Market Revolution, the North and South used its new gained land to create different means of economic gains; the North became industrialized through manufacturing, while the South became an agricultural industry dependent on cotton. However, as America’s boundaries expanded, tensions between the North and South grew, often leading to compromises in bloodshed. The drastic differences between the two groups eventually transformed America into a divided nation of sectionalism economically, politically, and socially.

Southern opposition soon surfaced claiming that all Americans had equal rights in new lands. They argued slaves were their property and they had to right to do with their property as they see fit. A possible solution was offered by extended the Missouri Compromise line but the debate waged on. (American History, p359)

Manifest Destiny can be described as a phenomen that created America 's history, a movement that would embody American beliefs and American culture, it implied imperialistic expansion that the Americans believed was there right, this right led to hardships, several wars and hostilities between countries and also between people occupying the American land. Though this destiny also led to new lives, comradery and development it achieved the ultimate goal of possession. Manifest Destiny was the philosophy that created a

Riddle me this: how do you get away with thieving land from another country and have it looked back on as heroic and just? The answer is, ¨be the United States.¨ Somehow, throughout history, this seems to be a recurring theme. A country, no matter how many terrible things they have wrought, are still regarded as great justices by their citizens, as mindless, sheep-like followers of the belief that their country can do no wrong. The United States is one of the greatest founders of this ideology, being able to do horrible things in their past and still wave the same flag through and through with only few eyes batted. The idea of justice is only ever held by the United States if it is in their favour, and one explicit example of this would have