While the Louisiana Purchase was a key starting point for American expansionism, aggressive imperialism into the West didn’t begin until the middle of the Jacksonian Period. Many Americans considered Manifest Destiny as a benevolent movement and a divinely ordained right to move west toward the Pacific Ocean. It combined discourses of imperialism and freedom by claiming that it was the duty of the US as a Christian, democratic country to take over lands in the Southwest. Manifest Destiny was aggressive imperialism that created a greater need for slavery, oppressed natives, and lead to the Mexican-American War. A major impact of the territorial expansion during the Jacksonian Era was the continuation and increased need of slavery. While it
In the 1800s, Manifest Destiny, or also known as “obvious fate,” stretched all over the country, and intrigued many people. It took on many forms. The United States expanded through treaties, settlement, and war. But before that, the US only owned from the Atlantic ocean to the Mississippi river. The rest was owned by Great Britain, Russia, France, and Spain.
“Manifest Destiny” is a phrase that perfectly sums up the American experience in the early 19th century. During this time, Americans were moving west with the idea that they had the god given right to do so and this idea didn’t stop there. Continuing into the American imperialism ages of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States never abandoned the “justification” given to them by God and used this to drive their expansion into foreign nations and beyond, as stated in Document B. It could be argued that the expansion of the late 1800s and early 1900s is a continuation of the previous westward expansion, but many aspects of expansion changed during this time as well. Obviously, the expansion of the early 19th century and
Manifest Destiny is the belief of the nineteenth century that America was destined by God to expand westward. The author of Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis believed that God established Anglo-Saxons as the superior people whose purpose was to spread Christianity. (Doc B) This idea of spreading a superior culture or religion has been a motive for expansion for decades before this. Despite this support for expansionism, there were those who were against it.
The concept of manifest destiny heavily influenced the Mexican-American war. Manifest destiny is the belief that “God” had destined the US to expand from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans and from Canada to the Rio Grande river. Manifest destiny had strong influence. One reason of Manifest destiny’s popularity was to encourage US expansion west. Manifest destiny was a nationalistic idea; however, there is no justification to arrive in Mexico and claim “American” land that was not America’s.
Manifest Destiny was the belief that many Americans held, that the United States was destined to someday hold land “from sea to shining sea”. Emigrants came to the new world seeking their own land and freedom. For some it was freedom for religion, and for others freedom from the feudal system of Europe. With seeming unlimited land for the taking, anyone could be a lord of the new world.
As previously mentioned, the Louisiana Purchase had significant impacts on the size, territory and history of the United States. The purchase that would currently translate to 50 cents per acre (in dollars) increased the size of the United States by 828,000 square miles. Through this purchase, the country increased by ten states and parts of three more states (Wills par, 1). The Louisiana Purchase reflected the increased measures to ensure the growth of the United States and its eventual control and rise to become the world’s super power. Prior to the Louisiana Purchase, many Americans were dreaming of having a bigger country and believed that the United States would grow to become an even greater nation (Landau, p.5).
Throughout the turn of the 19th Century a big question was raised among the American people and their leaders, was America going to become an Imperialist state or not? The question was not really raised previously during the 1800’s. The people of America were previously occupied colonizing its own land and settling towns throughout the area. However, once they reached the end of their exploration, which ended at the Pacific Ocean, where would they go? Should they start to colonize other islands around the world, or shall they be content in their own little world?
The United States was unjust in achieving Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny had a strong influence and was one of the reasons why Americans supported for US expansion. The US felt that they were justified in achieving Manifest Destiny because this notion “offered a moral justification for territorial expansion” (466). However, what they did was unfair because they took control over Mexican territories that wasn’t theirs in the first place. President Polk lust for new land gave him motives in seizing Texas from Mexico.
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.
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.
“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.
Jake Teran Ms. Bruno U.S 1H 3/26/23 Manifest destiny Manifest destiny is a term used to describe the belief prevalent in the 19th century and the United States that it was the destiny of the nation to expand its territorial boundaries and influence from coast to coast. The idea of manifest destiny was popularized during the 1840s, and it played a significant role in shaping US foreign and domestic policies during that time. However, the view of manifest destiny was not uniform, some supported it, and those opposed it. In this essay, I will compare and contrast the different views of manifest destiny.
Expansionism in America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century shared many similarities and differences to that of previous American ideals. In both cases of American expansionism, Americans used the theory of manifest destiny to justify their conquests for new territory. Later, Social Darwinism was added to the mix, which made Americans even more big-headed. Both of these theories caused Americans to believe that the United States was superior to other nations and that all lands were theirs for the taking. However, there were also many differences between the two expansionist periods because some people supported imperialism while others were highly opposed to the idea.
The citizens of the United States felt they had the best form of government and culture and felt the obligation to expand it across the nation. Manifest Destiny had both positive and negative effects on social and political values during this time. Americans felt because they were experiencing such growth that God was blessing them and that by incorporating others into their culture they would be blessed too. However, greed eventually took over and the belief that the white man could destroy anyone or anything that got in the way of its progress led to many wars and lives lost over the acquisition of much needed land.
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.