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Essay on native american manifest destiny
Analyze The Manifest Destiny
Essay on native american manifest destiny
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The Manifest Destiny took place in the 19th century, and during this time, America expanded the size of the country dramatically. This was a result of various different wars that occurred. One of the most significant one was the Mexican-American War. This war was the first war the Americans had to fight on foreign land. During the war, there was continuous bloodshed due to the determined soldiers on both sides of the country. In the end, the war officially ended in 1848 and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in which it officially gives up California and New Mexico for a cost of 15 million dollars. After the war, the Native Americans were displaced, the size of the country increased, and the country’s economy boosted.
Foremost, the Manifest Destiny caused many Native Americans to become separated from the rest of the population. The Americans claimed that “God had placed the Anglo-Saxon race, (the white race) above all others, and had allotted the continent
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to them” (California 1). The Americans were immersed in the idea that they were the superior race compared to all the different races in the country because of the idea that God created the world like that. But in reality, everyone is equal, and nobody is superior compared to others. Furthermore, the Americans not only felt this way, but they also took physical action to exclude the Native Americans. They held “specific abuses against the Indians, such as: the exemption of the Native American people from the 14th Amendment, a refusal to acknowledge that the Indians owned any land”(California 1). The Native Americans were not only forced to move into “Native Reserves” but they were also forbidden to own any land. This is an example of extreme discriminance against the Native Americans because it is denying them the basic human rights they should have. If they live in the United States, then they should have the right to own land since in the U.S Constitution it stated that everyone should have the right to own property. Afterall, the Manifest Destiny lead to many social discriminations against the Native Americans. To continue on, the Manifest Destiny also caused the size of America to expand dramatically. This was all because John O’Sulliva, the creator of the idea of Manifest Destiny said that the Americans “carry the great experiment of liberty to the edge of the continent: to overspread and to possess the whole of the [land] which Providence has given us”(History 1). He persuaded the Americans that it was their duty to go out and conquer more land for the country. Therefore, the Americans were able to have faith in themselves when they explored in foreign land and fought for the country. In the end, after the Mexican-American War, “Mexico accepted the Rio Grande border and gave up California and New Mexico to the United States”(Founders Edtell 1). Due to the faith the American fighters had in them when they fought the Mexicans, the size of America was able to grow and make the country more powerful. When the country became larger and more powerful, the foreign countries began to notice the rather new and inexperienced country. So, the Manifest Destiny ultimately led the country to become greater in its size and seem more important to the other countries. To continue on, the economy of the country got better after the Manifest Destiny.
Other than the other benefits the Manifest Destiny brought, it made America a more industrialized country. During this period of time, America was still undeveloped compared to all of the other powerful countries, such as England and France. However, the Manifest Destiny “created an expanse of roads and railroads that aided in the development of industry”(Reference 1). The Manifest Destiny created a brighter future for America because through the industrialization, America would finally be at the same stage the other countries are at. Also, the increase in the country’s economy can mean that the life of the people will become better too. With more new transportation devices in the countries, such as trains that can run across various cities, the life of many Americans will become faster and more efficient. Therefore, the Manifest Destiny helped America become a country with a stable economy that can support its
people To conclude, there were many arguments on whether or not the Manifest Destiny caused a positive impact on America. While it did prohibit some Native American’s rights, it did expand the size of the country and boosted the economy of the country. In the end, the impact that the Manifest Destiny brought cannot be measured. It made America a more developed country and allowed many countries to acknowledge this newly developed country.
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.
Manifest Destiny: Ugly Truth Behind Pretty Lies? 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; The interpretation of Manifest Destiny I see as the most obvious is that Manifest Destiny was a cover for many of people’s greed for the future prospects they were able to gain from those western lands.
The United States of America was founded on the basis that we should be a free and independent country from Great Britain and its empire. Rather than simply being a part of its empire, America wanted to become its own country to fend for itself. Great Britain, after the American Revolution, realized that maybe it was the best idea to let America set off and accomplish their own endeavors. After America gained its independence from Great Britain, the Manifest Destiny became a popular idea to follow; it was God’s will for America to expand their land to the West Coast. However, after this was accomplished, Imperialism came about a short time period later. Imperialism is much like the Manifest Destiny, but in a more greedy way. Imperialism is most definitely glorified to seem like a favor America is doing—by becoming an empire—and taking these smaller nations and countries ‘under their wing’ to nurture them and teach them the ways of being a ‘civilized’ person. However, what is the reason for Imperialism being brought about? After claiming from the East to West coast in America, why would they need to expand their area further—other than ‘teaching’ right from wrong to the ‘uncivilized’ people of the world? America’s Manifest Destiny era and America’s Imperialism era definitely have similarities, such as their apparent motives or rewards, but they also have their differences, like their underlying motives and purposes.
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.
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.
In the 1830’s America was highly influenced by the Manifest Destiny Ideal. 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 was 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. It encouraged Westward colonization and territorial acquisition. The Homestead Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. To America, Manifest Destiny was the idea that America was destined to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic, to the Pacific Ocean. Throughout this time Native Americans were seen as obstacles because they occupied land that the United States needed to conquer to continue with their Manifest Destiny Ideal. Many wars were fought between the A...
Manifest Destiny was the idea that the United States not only could, but was destined to stretch from coast to coast. The United States obtained many territories and pieces of land during the 19th century that led to the achievement of Manifest Destiny. After this accomplishment, the nation looked to expand beyond their current borders, so they settled on a collection of islands situated in a desirable location in the middle of the Pacific. These islands, known as Hawaii, would provide our country with an excellent advantage to aid our military, and they would also serve to strengthen our economy.
First, the Manifest Destiny included extremely inexpensive land for sale in the west. In some cases it was free since it was government land, and they passed things like the Homestead Act to encourage westward settlements. With so many people taking part in horizontal mobility by moving west, it gave the economy a chance to expand commerce. We would do this by building ports and increasing trade with countries in the Pacific. The economy also got a kick when there were gold or silver rushes in the west.
In 1845, a fellow named John C. Calhoun coined the term "Manifest Destiny." The term Manifest Destiny was a slogan for westward expansion during the 1840's. In the west there was plenty of land, national security, the spread of democracy, urbanization, but there was also poverty out west. People moved out west in search for a new life such as a new beginning. Moving out west, settlers from the east were taking a risk of a lot of things. The climate was different and there were more cultures that lived out west because of how much land was available.
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.
The United States, as a young nation, had the desire to expand westward and become a true continental United States that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Various factors, strategic and economic, contributed to the desire to expand westward. According to John O’Sullivan, as cited by Hestedt in Manifest Destiny 2004; "the U.S. had manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence to the free development of our yearly multiplying millions" (¶2). As Americans ventured westward to settle the frontier, their inherent superior beliefs, culture and the principles of democracy accompanied them. America’s ruthless ambition to fulfill its manifest destiny had a profound impact on the nation’s economy, social systems and foreign and domestic policies; westward expansion was a tumultuous period in American History that included periods of conflict with the Native Americans and Hispanics and increased in sectionalism that created the backdrop for the Civil War.
Manifest Destiny is a phrase used to express the belief that the United States had a mission to expand its borders, thereby spreading its form of democracy and freedom. Originally a political catchphrase of the nineteenth-century, Manifest Destiny eventually became a standard historical term, often used as a synonym for the territorial expansion of the United States across North America towards the Pacific Ocean. The United States government believed that the Native Americans were a problem that was hindering Manifest Destiny from being fulfilled (or at the very least, used the idea of Manifest Destiny to gain land and resources the Indians possessed), and would do everything in their power to exterminate the “Indian Problem.” The U.S. government, along with the majority of the U.S. population, eradicated this problem through lies, forced removal, and murder. This eradication nearly wiped out a race of people, whose only crime was mere existence in a land they had lived on, respected, and cherished for hundreds of years. The U.S. government had three main ways of solving the “Indian Problem”. They would remove them, kill them, or segregate them from the “civilized” white man by placing the Indian on reservations. The Indians soon learned that the U.S. government could not be trusted, and fought fiercely against the harsh injustices that were being administered. Tragically, the Indians would eventually have their spirits broken, living out their meager existence in the terrible homes called reservations.
In the late nineteenth century the expansion to the west increased the American culture. Since population was growing they needed to satisfy demands equally for every person. The idea of Manifest Destiny was used as a justification for the expansion and westward movement. Natives Americans were against the thought Americans had about the West. As a result Americans put a number of policies that helped remove the Natives Americans of the West. Americans were trying to destroy the culture Natives had.
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.
Although the Americans faced unbeatable odds, it was the belief in the “manifest destiny,” that became their driving force to win an impossible war. The “manifest destiny” was a vision of some American citizens that the territory including California, New Mexico, Utah, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada belonged to the United States. Using this belief gave courage and determination to each soldier to win this war for America and their families. In doing so, their sacrifices would not only improve the wealth and land rights of the United States, but also create more future opportunities for