Summary: Problems With Manifest Destiny

Problems with Manifest Destiny
The philosophy of Manifest Destiny has impacted the United States and its expansion in many ways. The United States would not be nearly the world power that it is today without practicing Manifest Destiny. That is not to say, however, that Manifest Destiny is without its flaws and negative effects. These detriments were mainly felt in four main areas: Texas, California, Arizona, and Mexico.
The first area where negative effects of Manifest Destiny could be witnessed was in Texas. Texas fought for independence from Mexico and was granted this freedom on April 21, 1836. However, America wanted Texas as a part of the union despite many Texans feeling that Texas should remain an independent country. Because of

America’s belief that acquiring Texas was their God given right, Texas was annexed by president James K.

Polk on December 29, 1845, just nine years after gaining independence, becoming the twenty-eighth state to join the Union. Another place where these effects were felt was California. After acquiring Texas, the United States was keen on making the gold-dense region known as California a part of the Union as well. The problem was that Santa Ana, Mexico’s president, was unwilling to sell the region. With a fair purchase off the table, the United States decided they would take California by force, since, after all, it was God’s destiny for them to have it. And take it by force they would indeed; in what would be known as the Mexican-American war the United States overwhelmed Mexico, forcing a surrender from Santa Anna in 1848. The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the treaty ending the war, had provisions that ceded all of Texas, California and all land in between; which would eventually become the states of Arizona and New Mexico as well as parts of Utah, Colorado, and Nevada. California was quickly added to the Union just two years later in 1850 without ever being a territory, becoming the thirty-first United State of America. Arizona and New

Mexico were not so swift in adopting to the United States’ regime. Both formed from the New Mexico Territory, most inhabitants were Mexican citizens by birth and felt nothing but aversion for the United States. These two states were very slow to adopt to the American way and were the final two of the contiguous forty eight states to join the Union both in 1912, with New Mexico as the forty-seventh and Arizona as the forty-eighth.
Perhaps where the detractors of Manifest Destiny were felt the harshest was not a state at all but in Mexico.

During the time discussed, known as the Mexican cession, the total land area of Mexico was cut in half. Not only did Mexico lose size, but it also lost many man to the Mexican-American War as well as many citizens who became Americans after their land was ceded. This was also a huge blow to Mexico economically, one that they have still not recovered from today. In 2016, Mexico’s total gross domestic product was just over one trillion US dollars, respectable enough to rank fifteenth internationally. By comparison, the combined gdp of Texas and California was over four times higher at more than four trillion USD. Also, Mexico has nearly twice the people as these two States, giving it an abysmally low eight thousand dollars gdp per capita, making Mexico the poorest country on average in North

America.
While the leaders in 1800’s America may have seen it as their right to add to their nation as they saw fit, they failed to see the many devastating impacts that this had upon many of its own citizens as well as those foreign. One of the most divisive issues in our country at the present is immigration, specifically, immigration from Mexico. Many take issue with these immigrants coming to the United States illegally, but it is hard to blame them when they are trying to escape a country ravaged by gangs, drugs, and poverty to get to a country which provides more opportunity than any other in the world. What is often overlooked is the colossal butterfly effect that started over two hundred years ago with a simple ideal: Manifest Destiny.