Negative Effects Of Manifest Destiny On Americans

In the 1840’s there were many effects of tension going on. As the Manifest Destiny began, people had the belief that god has given the claim of all lands were wanted. Great improving transformations such as, railroads helped them transfer to the west. Later in 1845, James K. Polk, a man who sent troops into a region claimed by both the united states and mexico, becomes the 11th president. He accomplished leading his nation and fighting war with Mexico. Which lead the United states to gained the advantage of them getting much larger and wealthier as a country. Manifest Destiny had a negative effect on the American Indians, slavery, and the relationship between free and slaveholding states.

The American Indians were struggling through these times such as when they were removed from their lands. The non

Indians thought that the American Indians were not using their land towards their full potential. The non Indians used the advantage of the Manifest Destiny to invade their land. As shown in the Oregon Population graph, the more and more the non Indians expanded westward, the more and more American Indians decreased. This lead the Native Americans to move west of the Mississippi river. Which lead a lot of natives dying during the journey. Buffalo was one of the many things that benefited the Native americans. They would make dried buffalo, which was their provided food during the winter. The buffalo bone they recycled turned into tools such as, knives and some boiled for glue. It was also how they made for their everyday lifestyle needs, like clothes and tipis. However the non Americans used it in a negative way. They began building railroads which made the buffalo percent decrease. The non Americans did use buffalo during their days but wasted most of the meat. Which hurted the Native Americans because that was their source of food source. According to the Frank H. Mayer, “ A couple of years before it was nothing to see 5,000, 10,000 buff in a day’s ride. Now if I saw 50 I was lucky.” As when the Natives used the buffalo to their full potential, the non Indians did not. They ended up wasting more meat than the Natives did. The Natives were truly hurt with their lack of buffalo and not only did they happen but slavery was impacted as the war began.

With the Texas and Mexico American war happened, the United States gained a large amount of land.

During the war, the Mexicans were defeated by the Americans which they celebrated afterwards. Soon after their accomplishment, slavery was decided on whether it should be added to the new territories. When the gold rush in California was introduced, the slave percent grew bigger and bigger. This expanded in the land across the North America which opened more farms, therefore more room was opened for more slaves. As shown in the Spread of Slavery Population Chart, Americans brought slaves along with them. However mexico ended slavery in Texas, however the American population continued to grow. To add, William Lloyd Garrison had given a portion of a letter out to the public. As said by in the letter, “ It is certainly not a popular war ; it was begun and carried on against the deep moral conviction of the sober portion of the people” ( Garrison). This shows us that he is against Manifest Destiny. He believed that all of this did not has no effect of god given right to expand. Slavery was its way for expansion to interfere with their own economic

opportunity.

As Texas was a slave state, many northerners were not feeling confident about the balance between slave states and free states. If the free states gained a majority of the new territories then it could threaten the future slavery in the south. According to document 7, it was shown a goddess bringing light to the west.
This painting represents that civilization in the east is more advance. The Native Americans of the west seem to be running away from their lands, which shows us that they were feared of the struggle in the west. The goddess was presented as the westward expansion. As similar to this, the slave holding states kept Maine as a slave state. As said in document 9, “ so the issue of slavery continued to fester as the nation expanded." This meant that slavery still had a negative impact as the nation grew. Some of the areas were already homes for some people. Expanding in new areas included the increase of slaves.

Throughout the Manifest Destiny, positive things have occurred but mostly the negative impacts are what most people remember. Native americans were excluded from their homelands and buffalo was lacking for their food source and supplies to survive. As America gained more land, there was more jobs for slaves. Which meant that slavery increased during the time. Lastly, the free and slave states were both affected by conflict adding off of what they have decided.