Manifest destiny

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Manifest destiny good or evil? For some it was a God “given” right that white supremacy should rule a whole continent. For others, it meant lives. Manifest Destiny affected the U.S, Mexico, and Native Americans. The proposal of Manifest Destiny influenced the U.S. The Mexican-American War was the first American military conflict fought entirely on another country's soil and the first to be closely recorded by the press. Jackson declared the war by invoking congress to recognize the existence of war (James k. Polk, Message on war). The war ended with American victory and a treaty that increased the nation's size by more than 500,000 square miles (2014 Shmoop University, Inc.). The next diplomatic settlement was a disagreement over the boundaries of the Oregon Territory, known as the Fifty-Four Forty or Fight (United States History, Harcourt Education Company), was between the United States and Britain in 1818. They established a joint claim over the Oregon Territory ,but ended in the addition another quarter million square miles to the U.S nation. This rapid ex...

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    The point of view upon Manifest Destiny that I found most convincing and close to my own interpretation was “Manifest Destiny as an expression of white superiority is but one explanation for what became a clear rise of anti-Mexican sentiments in the 1850s”. This perspective to me seemed to be the only one that did not skirt around what seemed to be the logical truth and explanations for why Manifest Destiny took place: for the pursuit of Native American lands; anti-Mexican sentiments; for the prospects they were able to gain from western lands; and for political reasons. While a lot of other perspectives saw Manifest Destiny in the light of goodness and or because of religious reasons, I believe there was a bitter and more realistic truth;

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    Behind the scenes of Manifest Destiny, what really transformed the country was the ability to move products across great distances and the Erie Canal was a huge turning point for economic growth in America. Opened in 1825, the Erie Canal was the engineering breakthrough of the nineteenth century: Its four waterways would connect manufacturing and eastern ports with the rest of the country. Farmers could now ship their goods, they could move out, come down the Hudson River and this way of commuting became a part of a global economy. This Moment would bring about the thought of expansion which will become the fuse to enormous economic growth that will ultimately in the next century, become the belief of manifest destiny. The nation that both reflected the pride which reflected American nationalism, and the idealistic image of social perfection through God and the Church caused the nation to separate.

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  • Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Manifest Destiny

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    The term “Manifest Destiny” was never actually used until 1845, but the idea was always implied from the Doctrine of Discovery. Without understanding the Doctrine, it is impossible to understand the reasons and fundamentals behind why Manifest Destiny began.This Doctrine was a set of ten steps and rules that European nations followed in order to avoid conflict over land holdings, created in the early 1400s. The first few steps give the discovering country full rights to buy the land from the native peoples. This is important, since it gave the discovering country the power of preemption. Conquered Indian peoples lose sovereign powers and the rights to free trade and diplomatic relations, and the land they occupy is said to be vacant. Religion played a massive role in the regulations of the Doctrine, since “non-Christian people were not deemed to have the same rights to land, sovereignty, and self determination as Christians”(Miller 4). These rules were all meant to favor the ethnocentric, with full understanding of the repercussions on those who lived in the places being conquered.

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  • Manifest Destiny and the Genocide of the Native American Indian

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    Manifest Destiny was the motivating force behind the rapid expansion of America into the West. This ideal was highly sponsored by posters, newspapers, and various other methods of communication. Propaganda is and is still an incredibly common way to spread an idea to the masses. Though Manifest Destiny was not an official government policy, it led to the passing of the Homestead Act. The Homestead Act gave applicants freehold titles of undeveloped land outside of the original thirteen colonies.

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  • Manifest Destiny and American Politics

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    Manifest Destiny was the idea that it was the United States’ destiny to take over all of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Most of the public was in favor of territorial expansion, though some politicians felt it contradicted the constitution.

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  • Manifest Destiny

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    Americans throughout history have always felt that they were superior. The concept of “Manifest Destiny” has been the fuel to the fire of superiority. Manifest Destiny is the belief that it is American’s are the chosen ones and have the obvious right to conquer and own land between the eastern and western seaboards and that such expansion was inevitable. Manifest Destiny along with Christianity were two reasons that drove and encouraged both expansion within North Amer...

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  • Manifest Destiny Justified

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    Even though there are a couple well fought reasons on why the manifest destiny wasn't justified I strongly believe that it was. Even though many of the natives died and there land was taken, I think they should be able to do this since they spend a lot of money for new land that no longer should belong to the natives. It helped encourage the use for transportation and the transportation industry and offered many, many acres of farming land that consisted of many resources. This is why I believe that the manifest destiny was

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  • What Is The Purpose Of Manifest Destiny

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    Approaching the mid-1800’s, a movement coined as “Manifest Destiny” took over the American nation. Manifest Destiny was the overall idea that Americans had the “divine right” to expand towards the west. Many reasons were considered when talking about settling west, reasons such as cheap land, economic growth, and job opportunities, etc. Americans wanted to expand the national territory from ocean to ocean and express their superiority. Overall, the purpose of Manifest Destiny was to spread American values and expand the geographical borders of the nation.

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  • Manifest Destiny

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    The United States of America has never been content with stagnation. The landmass of the Thirteen Colonies was enough to rival that of the Mother country from which they separated. The forefathers believed that it was the manifest destiny of this nation to eventually claim the expansion from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. By 1890, nearly a hundred years following the original claim of Manifest Destiny, the land that was once open, was now under American control. But no sooner was the Great American Frontier closed, than was the door to East Asian expansion opened with the great gold key of American diplomacy. In a world where imperialism was contagious, and cartographers had to work around the clock to keep up with an ever-changing geopolitical landscape, the United States seized the opportunity to establish herself as a significant world power. With great expansionist minds at her helm, such as Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft the United States began to grow beyond her border to claim stake in this wide-open world. This new expansionism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was a different institution than its early to mid nineteenth century counterpart. Still, the drive to exercise the sovereignty of the United State and to propel itself over the world’s stage was the same then as it was in the time of Thomas Jefferson. In order to understand this assertion, attention must be given to three levels of analysis. First, the similarities that exist between the drive and purpose of old and new expansion must be taken into account. Second, the differences in the global political scene must be considered. Finally, there exits differences in the means by which expansion occurred.

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  • Manifest Destiny

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    The Manifest Destiny, the migration to the West, brought a great change in the history of United States. With this Western movement, the half of our country was formed and developed. The improvements of United States western land made the nation stronger and richer than any other country. Initiated by the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails, Manifest Destiny of United States never stopped from the expansion of the West.

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  • Manifest Destiny And Territorial Expansion

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    Manifest Destiny is a term that was used during the 19th century to demonstrate the expansion of the United States. (history.com)The territorial expansion due to the Manifest Destiny united and divided the United States from 1830 to 1860. One of the significant divisions that arose during the Manifest Destiny was the controversy of slavery. Another controversy that caused division was the thought of expanding the United States territory further. A work that helped to unite the United States during this time was the US’s expansion into Texas.

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  • Manifest Destiny

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    One of the largest and most wealthy countries in the world, the United States of America, has gone through many changes in its long history. From winning its independence from Great Britain to present day, America has changed dramatically and continues to change. A term first coined in the 1840s, "Manifest Destiny" helped push America into the next century and make the country part of what it is today. The ideas behind Manifest Destiny played an important role in the development of the United States by allowing the territorial expansion of the 1800s. Without the expansion of the era, America would not have most of the western part of the country it does now.

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  • DBQ on Western Front

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    Many Americans packed few belongings and headed west during the middle to the late nineteenth century. It was during this time period that the idea of manifest destiny became rooted in American customs and ideals. Manifest Destiny is the idea that supported and justified expansionist policies, it declared that expansion was both necessary and right. America’s expansionist attitudes were prominent during the debate over the territorial rights of the Oregon territory. America wanted to claim the Oregon territory as its own, but Great Britain would not allow that. Eventually the two nations came to an agreement and a compromise was reached, as seen in document B. The first major party of settlers that traveled to the west settled in Oregon.

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  • American Exceptionalism

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    popular. Manifest destiny is the name of the time period where Americans believed that it is their mission to overspread over the continent beginning with the Western territories of the frontier and then to export the nations ideals of democracy and enlighten the entire world. Manifest destiny played a major role in the creation of the theory of American exceptionalism. According to Loch K. Johnson, exceptionalism is a “belief in a mission to disperse this nations value around the world.” During this time many people in America thought that their country was looked on by God and was chosen to save humanity by spreading their ideals across the world. Many of our political leaders at the time believed that America’s ideals of democracy were truly exceptional and decided to make it their mission to help other countries to make them better and make them conform to the same democratic ideals that the United States of America follows.

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  • Manifest Destiny

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    Manifest destiny, the name given by John L. O’Sullivan to an aggressive territorial expansion, is responsible for the face of America today. O’Sullivan coined the movement, “Manifest Destiny” in 1845. The ideology originated long before the philosophy was named. Traces of the movement can be seen in Columbus’ exploration, and even in the developmental Jamestown colonies. Throughout America’s history, examples of the “Manifest Destiny” are apparent as ("Manifest destiny - the philosophy that created a nation") Americans gradually expanded settlements westward to increase their boundaries, however, during the 1830s and 1840s, Americans pushed farther across the continent. After the natural and inevitable travels of the new White Americans, the phenomenon of land expansion was then publicised and advertised in newspapers as the “Manifest Destiny”, it was the fuel for American expansion and for America to maintain its overall power and good morality as a country. The concept of the “Manifest Destiny” is pivotal to the nation and its future.

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