What Drove America to Manifest Destiny

653 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: India's response to western imperialism

Manifest destiny is the idea that Americans had, and have, the inherent right to expand the United States from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. As we know, this eventually happened, but it took a lot of time, money, blood, and effort in order to achieve this divine goal. We take for granted the size and span of our country, when for a good part of the 19th century, we shared the land mass with Spanish Mexico. It’s important to understand what drove us to pursue this goal, and the struggles that we encountered in obtaining, exploring, and settling the land. Europeans, for centuries, have been obsessed with the idea of conquest. It brings a person honor and glory to fight to defend the homeland, and to conquer new lands to expand empires. We think of ourselves as Americans today, but during the country’s conception, we were still European, and this idea was brought along with us. This allowed people to justify the idea of manifest destiny, and adding a religious element to that dream was just icing on the cake in terms of getting the population geared up for westward expansion. The term “Manifest Destiny” became “first and foremost a call and justification for an American form of imperialism.” (Scott, “Religious Origins”) The Americans believed that obtaining that land was their God-given right, no matter who was living there previously. There were many obstacles that the Americans faced when expanding westward. The first and foremost among those was the fact that they had to somehow obtain the land from the people already living there. This involved dealing, or fighting, with several different groups of people. We had to fight against Spanish Mexico in the Mexican-American War, which involved the deaths of 13,000 American... ... middle of paper ... ...atives already living there, but at the same time, we are giving the American citizens more opportunities to expand. Our population is expanding rapidly, but for now, we have more than enough land to accommodate it. There are pros and cons to following the dream of Manifest Destiny, but without it, we would be nowhere near the level of advancement that we have achieved today. Works Cited Scott, Donald M. “The Religious Origins of Manifest Destiny.” Divining America, TeacherServe©. National Humanities Center. Dec. 2013. “The Mexican-American War”. U.S. History Online Textbook. USHistory.org. Dec. 2013. “Louisiana Purchase Treaty”. General Records of the U.S. Government. National Archives. April 30, 1803. Dec. 2013. Turner, Frederick Jackson. “The Significance of the Frontier” Skagit River Journal. 1893. Dec. 2013. “Old West Legends”. Legends of America. Dec. 2013.

Show More
Related

  • DBQ on Western Front

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Manifest Destiny: Ugly Truth Behind Pretty Lies?

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    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. If it was true that people truly wanted to expand in the name of religion then why did the Indian Removal Act occur. The real answer I believe is because they were rapacious for prime bountiful land. With the acquisition of the west, they were able to gain valuable resources. By acquiring the west via The Treaty of Hidalgo, people could then move out west to hunt furs, they could mine for precious metals and start up their own farms or plantations. I don’t think there’s anything pertaining to spread of religion and culture Manifest Destiny in there, only the underlying motive of self success and the government’s thought of strengthening it’s own economy and might through land addition. The Mexican-American war was not of religion, but of the sole purpose of acquiring land. America was then able to rapidly increase in population and

    Read More

  • Manifest Destiny and the Genocide of the Native American Indian

    1365 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Reginald Horsman’s Race and Manifest Destiny

    1961 Words  | 4 Pages

    Reginald Horsman’s Race and Manifest Destiny: The Origins of American Racial Anglo-Saxonism explores the evidence and reasons for racial prejudices in America and discusses one of the most controversial topics in American history. The book also navigates the subjects of white superiority, and the creation of Anglo-Saxonism. Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States was destined to expand from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean; it has also been used to advocate for or justify other territorial acquisitions. Advocates of Manifest Destiny believed that expansion was not only good, but that it was obvious and certain. Originally a political catch phrase of the 19th century, "Manifest Destiny" eventually became a standard historical term, often used as a synonym for the expansion of the United States across the North American continent.

    Read More

  • Manifest Destiny and American Politics

    665 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Westward Expansion Thesis

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    John L. O’Sullivan, an editor, coined the term “Manifest Destiny” and gave the expansionist movement its name in 1845. The “Manifest Destiny” was the belief that Americans had the divine right to occupy North America. The Americans believed they were culturally and racially superior over other nations and other races such as the Native American Indians and Mexicans. The notion of the ‘Manifest Destiny’ was that the Americans were morally superior and therefore morally obligated to try to spread enlighten and civilization to the less civilized societies. According to World History Group, “The closest America came to making ‘Manifest Destiny’ an official policy was The Monroe Doctrine, adopted in 1823, it put European nations on notice that the U.S. would defend other nations of the Western Hemisphere from further colonization” (World History, 2015). This divine American mission caused Anglo-Saxon Americans to believe they had the natural right to move west and bring blessings of self-government and religion, more specifically-

    Read More

  • Manifest Destiny

    542 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Manifest Destiny: Western Expansion of America

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Manifest Destiny was a progressive movement starting in the 1840's. John O'Sullivan, a democratic leader, named the movement in 1845. Manifest Destiny meant that westward expansion was America's destiny. The land that was added to the U.S. after 1840 (the start of Manifest Destiny) includes The Texas Annexation (1845), The Oregon Country (1846), The Mexican Cession (1848), The Gadsden Purchase (1853), Alaska (1867), and Hawaii (1898). Although this movement would take several years to complete, things started changing before we knew it.

    Read More

  • Manifest Destiny Justified

    743 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Manifest Destiny

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Manifest Destiny that was painted on the fabric of this nation in red, white and blue was finished before the dawn of the twentieth century. With the nature of polictics and the temperament of political leadership, the ink from that painting spread its pigment across the Western Hemisphere and well into the blue waters and pulsing tides of the Pacific Rim. The stars and stripes would expand from the earth to the moon in the latter half of the twentieth century, they will continue to expand until that day when providence my sign his name to the master piece titled, “Destiny, Manifested.”

    Read More

  • Antebellum Era Essay

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many believed in Manifest Destiny. That is was a God given right to spread Christianity and American ideals such as democracy all over the continent from coast to coast. This idea triggered over a million Americans to get up and sell their homes in the east and set out on Oregon, Mormon, Santa Fe, and California trails. Not everyone agreed with this expansion in the West. The slavery debate, once again, fueled many problems with Westward expansion.

    Read More

  • American Manifest Destiny and the Genocide of the American Indian

    1728 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Manifest Destiny Research Paper

    986 Words  | 2 Pages

    Manifest Destiny resulted in the westward expansion of the United States in evident ways such as the movement to California, Oregon, and Texas. Manifest Destiny is explained as the God given right for Americans to move westward and expand the United States as far as possible. With this expansion, many people suffered, many thrived, and many states were added to the United States. Such states include California, originally founded for the massive amounts of gold located there along with the other amiable resources located in the area. After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, many Californians, originally part of Mexico, now lived in the United States and had to survive with a completely new culture and language. With this, many Americans felt the need to

    Read More

  • Manifest Destiny

    1323 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Essay On Why The Us Won The Mexican American War

    512 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

More about What Drove America to Manifest Destiny

Open Document