Summary Of Manifest Destiny

In order to understand manifest destiny one should come to an understanding of the origins of the term and what it meant to Americans. In the middle of the nineteen century Americans were eager to move west. They had wanted to see the span of the United States from the Atlantic Ocean to the pacific. Americans felt that open land meant opportunity and potential wealth. They also believed that America was destined to be a great nation and by moving west, they could share their unique form of government, and the freedom it represented. This concept of discovery was not new; Europeans had believed they had a right to claim their discovery, and thought of the new world as a wilderness waiting to be tamed. The Europeans however found out that

O’Sullivan wanted the United States to annex Texas and the Oregon territory. “That claim is by the right of our manifest destiny, to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent, which providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty” (John L. O'Sullivan). Americans had believed it was their divine duty, to spread democracy, from coast to coast. Many people didn’t think America should take the continent by force; they believed that as Americans moved west, the Indians would gradually relinquish their lands, and adapt the way of the Christian American society. Churches and missionaries also shared in this belief. There was little or no consideration, as to the affects settlements would have on the native peoples. As the eastern Indian tribes were moved west, to make way for the settlers, places like the Shawnee Indian mission were established, to help with the transition and pave the way for expansion. Manifest destiny was not just a political concept; millions of ordinary Americans believed that their best opportunities laid westward. At least four million people had followed this dream; in the first half of the 1800’s. Many people stopped at missions like the Shawnee Indian mission, some for comfort and others for supplies, making these places a symbol of the American dream for some, and the loss of a traditional way of life for

Some of these points of views come from writers like Anders Stephanson, Frederick Merk and Thomas Hietala. First of all, one should start with Thomas Hietala. Hietala states, that as the idea of manifest destiny gained popular support in the South, it would make sense both intellectually and economically to bring into play a sort of messianic imagery, out of the concept. Hietala believe that the world’s progress relied on American progression and that Europeans were doing an injustice to their people by discouraging American expansion. Hietala also goes into another view stating that the administrations of both Polk and Tyler were hypocritical and imperialistic by pushing around the Mexican government, and by withdrawing on the issue with Britain on Oregon. "To reconcile American imperialism with an extremely favorable national image, the concept of manifest destiny is often glossed over" (Hietala,