Pros And Cons Of Manifest Destiny

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.

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.

Manifest destiny was almost like a way of life for the American people. It was the idea that something was destined to happen and that it would be better for the people if they followed this instinct. One of the thoughts that they got was traveling West. They thought that it would help them gain more land and become richer. This movement affected many people and places and tribes. The things and people that were most affected were the Native Americans, Slavery, and the relationship between free states and slaveholding states.

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

“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 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.

America had a dream of Manifest Destiny (O’Sullivan). Which they believe that God had set aside the entire North America for United States(Textbook). “Which later started the Westward movement”. During the time Native Americans tribes and Mexico had already had been inhabiting the area(Textbook). They would not leave without a fight.

Around the 1800s, the United Stated government was trying to figure out a way to remove the Indian tribes such as the Seminole, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw from the southeast. Many American settlers wanted to remove the Indians there because they sawDuring President Jackson 's term of office, he signed the Indian Removal Act on May 28, 1830. This Indian Removal Act, President Jackson let to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. There were tribes that left their lands peacefully; however, many other Indian people refused to relocate. In the fall and winter of 1838 and 1839, one of the tribes known as Cherokees were forcibly moved west by the government.

After imposing political and military action on urging the Native American Indians from the southern states of America, President Andrew Jackson decided it was time to enact the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The Indian Removal act of 1830 proclaimed that all Native Americans living east of the Mississippi River were to be forced to move west of the Mississippi River where the region of the Louisiana Purchase remained. This land set aside for these Native Americans was known as the “Indian colonization zone”. Because some of the Indian tribes refused to leave their homelands, “As a result, wars broke about between the U.S. Government and Indian Tribes”(xbox360). The Indian Removal Act was originally created to have the Native Americans vacate

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 Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny negatively impacted the economic vision of America.

Even the soldiers escorting them felt bad for them, but they had to follow orders. Native Americans had long lived in settlements stretching from Georgia to Mississippi. However, President Jackson and other political leaders wanted to open this land to settlement by American farmers. Under pressure from Jackson, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. Congress then established Indian Territory (land in what is now Oklahoma) and planned to move Native Americans there.

Trail of Tears Native Americans experienced a dramatic change in the 1830s. Nearly 125,000 Native Americans who lived on inherited land from ancestors of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida were all cast out by the end of the decade. The federal government forced the natives to leave because white settlers wanted an area to grow their cotton. Andrew Jackson (President of the U.S. during this time) signed into law, the Indian Removal Act, authorizing him to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi River in return for native lands within state borders.

Indian removal President andrew jackson signed a law on may 28, 1830. The law was called the Indian Removal. A few tribes went peacefully but some did not want to go and leave their home. In 1838-39 the cherokee were forcefully removed from their homes. 4,000 cherokee died on this trip which became known as “The trail of Tears”.

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 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).