Manifest Destiny Imperialism Essay

Manifest Destiny was the commonly held American attitude during the 1800s that there was a god given obligation for Americans to expand throughout the natural borders of the continent. Manifest Destiny is generally perceived by Americans to be a benevolent movement due to the positive economic conditions it had created. However, ever since the inception of the concept of Manifest Destiny, many have viewed it not as a movement of benevolence, but rather as a movement of aggressive imperialism. This is because Manifest Destiny resulted in the mass destruction and forced migrations of Native American tribes as well as the Mexican-American War, a long standing statement of American Imperialism. It is clear that through the negative consequences

of the movement of Manifest Destiny, the only one who benefited under the movement of Manifest Destiny was the U.S, validating the statement “Although Americans perceived Manifest Destiny as a benevolent movement, it was in fact an aggressive imperialism pursued at the expense of others.”

Manifest Destiny is perceived as a benevolent movement due to the mass availability of fertile land, agricultural growth, and expansion of U.S territory that had resulted from it. As a result of Manifest Destiny and westward expansion, the U.S population boomed due to vast numbers of new immigrants arriving to settle on the vast unclaimed swathes of land. This had all caused the U.S economy to grow and had generated positive economic conditions which cemented the movement of Manifest Destiny as very positive among many Americans. The Americans, which looked favorably upon the movement cared little about the thousands of Native Americans, which suffered under the practices of the new settlers and forced mass migrations. Subsequently, Manifest Destiny was not a movement of benevolence for Native Americans but rather a movement of pain and suffering.

The movement of Manifest Destiny in 1800s America was without question a movement of imperialism. The land during that settlers expanded to during the 1840s was already owned by Mexico and occupied by dozens of Native American tribes many which have resided there for thousands of years. The settlers cared little about their encroachment on foreign and tribal lands. They saw the Natives and Mexicans not sovereign people, but rather as pests blocking land they believed God had granted to them. The settlers’ desire to take occupied land that did not belong to them fits the definition of Imperialism as a practice or advocacy of extending power and dominion through territorial acquisition.

A main reason why Manifest Destiny is seen as a movement of imperialism is because of the Mexican-American war.

The war was fought primarily as a war to acquire territory as it had resulted in the loss of more than half of Mexico’s land. Due to the territorial acquisitions during the war and the imperialist attitudes of the American people, the war was a war of American imperialism. Even before the war, President James K. Polk had unsuccessfully tried to intimidate Mexico into seceding California, a territory which Mexico had long held. President Polk had denied that expansion was a movement of Imperialism in the quote "Our government is not extended by the sword. By its own merits it extends itself." However, it is apparent that through Polk’s order of Gen. Zachary Taylor and his army into the disputed Rio Grande territory, that expansion was not allowed for by the merits of the American people, but rather on behalf of the aggressive imperialism of the American government.

As a result of the Native American tribes who suffered under the forced migrations and the Mexican government who lost half their territory, the movement of Manifest Destiny was one of aggressive imperialism. The view of the movement as a movement of benevolence is seen only by Americans as they were the only ones who did not suffer under the mass migrations, land encroachment, and imperialistic policies

westward-expansion.