Manifest Destiny
Territorial expansion was a top objective in the United States during the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. As president, Andrew Jackson seized thousands of acres of land from Native American and drove them from their lands. He also sponsored the legislation of The Indian Removal Act of 1830 which promised Native Americans lands to the west of the continent. Years later, however, the promise was broken. One of the most significant action that helped to solidify the United States’ authority over America was during James Monroe’s presidency known as the Monroe Doctrine. Crafted by John Quincy Adams in 1823, the Monroe Doctrine made it clear that Britain and other European nations were no longer allowed to explore nor colonize the western hemisphere. Consequently, westwards expansion activities were intensified. The common justification for this westward expansion was Manifest Destiny. The Manifest Destiny was the belief that America’s fate was to conquer western land and enjoy sovereignty over other races. The execution of Manifest Destiny had both political and social implications. The
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The belief was that the United States’ expansion was a divine happening and the rights of all other races were disregarded. Manifest destiny was the expansion of the white Anglo-Saxon race influencing events such as wars and resulting in white supremacy. The white population believed they had the “God given” right to take land from what they deem as inferior races, namely the Mexicans and Native Americans. Furthermore, white people believed they could make better use of the territories they conquered and boost their own economy. There was even a minority group who believed expansion was inevitable because of the rapid growth of the white population. Manifest destiny encouraged racism, segregation, and the persecution of innocent
The term “Manifest Destiny” was never actually used until 1845, but the idea was always implied from the Doctrine of Discovery. Without understanding the Doctrine, it is impossible to understand the reasons and fundamentals behind why Manifest Destiny began.This Doctrine was a set of ten steps and rules that European nations followed in order to avoid conflict over land holdings, created in the early 1400s. The first few steps give the discovering country full rights to buy the land from the native peoples. This is important, since it gave the discovering country the power of preemption. Conquered Indian peoples lose sovereign powers and the rights to free trade and diplomatic relations, and the land they occupy is said to be vacant. Religion played a massive role in the regulations of the Doctrine, since “non-Christian people were not deemed to have the same rights to land, sovereignty, and self determination as Christians”(Miller 4). These rules were all meant to favor the ethnocentric, with full understanding of the repercussions on those who lived in the places being conquered.
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...
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.
The United States saw its territory more than double in the first three decades of the 19th century. Bursting with nationalist fervor, an insatiable desire for more land, and a rapidly increasing population, the western frontiers of the United States would not remain east of the Mississippi. The eventual spread of the American nation beyond the Mississippi into Native and French land, referred to as “Manifest Destiny” by John O’Sullivan, was rationalized as a realization of their God given duty. The Louisiana Purchase set the precedent for unrestricted westward expansion in America, and allowed for others to follow in his footsteps. Characterized by racist overtones, a lack of the “consent of the governed, and ethnic cleansing, there is no valid distinction between this American continental expansion and the international expansion sought by Europe in the late 19th and 20th centuries, and is clearly imperialist in nature.
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 accomplish fully, things started changing before we knew it. New technology took off right away!
In 1845, a fellow named John C. Calhoun coined the term "Manifest Destiny." The term Manifest Destiny was a slogan for westward expansion during the 1840's. In the west there was plenty of land, national security, the spread of democracy, urbanization, but there was also poverty out west. People moved out west in search for a new life such as a new beginning. Moving out west, settlers from the east were taking a risk of a lot of things. The climate was different and there were more cultures that lived out west because of how much land was available.
The “Manifest Destiny,” was the belief that the United States was destined to take occupation and possession of the entire continent. Its intention was to promote further territorial expansion spreading a common system of principles across every area between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the early United States. The concept of American expansion was not a new thought. Years ago, many Europeans had also shared a similar understanding, claiming a divine right to obtain new lands as their own to tame. “A Plea for Compromise” Robert C. Winthrop recalls, “Spain and Portugal, we all know, in the early part of the sixteenth century, laid claim to the jurisdiction of this whole northern continent of America” (Winthrop). However, Journalist John
To begin with, the need Americans felt to expand west caused the government to seek more geographical territory and “Expansion westward seemed perfectly natural to many Americans in the mid-nineteenth century.”. The Louisiana purchase was one of the first expansions that made a big impact on the United States and initiated this movement. Events such as the Texas annexation and the Oregon Treaty of 1846 were parts of Manifest Destiny. These events expanded the national territory and encouraged people to settle further west, north, and south. Many of the treaties signed became controversial, but the governments' priority was for the nation to grow in size and importance.
Manifest Destiny was the belief that started and caused the westward expansion and led to many wars between all different types of people and the different countries that owned the land. The expansion allowed for lifespan to increase, the economy blossomed, and the main goal was accomplished which was getting occupation of America from ocean coast to ocean coast.
The famous phrase “Manifest Destiny” was made up by a journalist in 1844. The idea of Manifest Destiny was that the people of the east had a divine and God-given right to settle in the west. God put the land there for the taking, and so the immigrants answered His call with westward expansion. My belief is that Manifest destiny was a necessary evil. The idea of manifest destiny expanded the west and provided homes and jobs. but on the other side of the coin manifest destiny ran the Native Americans out of their land and kept pushing them further and further west.
Manifest Destiny is the idea that the Americans were destined to settle in the new territories and connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It was the belief that God supported American expansion westward, adding to the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 which, under President Jefferson, had doubled the size of the United States. A journalist by the name of John L. O'Sullivan wrote an article in 1839, through which he coined the term manifest destiny and predicted a divine destiny for the United States. Not only does this destiny have to do with westward expansion, but also each state would share the same values.
Since the early 1800s the United States began a mission of westward expansion. Americans believed that they were entitled to North America which brought upon Manifest Destiny. The concept of Manifest Destiny encouraged Americans to spread their civilization all the way to the Pacific Ocean, and even down into Mexico. Manifest Destiny was the starting point of the development of America in many different aspects.
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.
The United States, as a young nation, had the desire to expand westward and become a true continental United States that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Various factors, strategic and economic, contributed to the desire to expand westward. According to John O’Sullivan, as cited by Hestedt in Manifest Destiny 2004; "the U.S. had manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence to the free development of our yearly multiplying millions" (¶2). As Americans ventured westward to settle the frontier, their inherent superior beliefs, culture and the principles of democracy accompanied them. America’s ruthless ambition to fulfill its manifest destiny had a profound impact on the nation’s economy, social systems and foreign and domestic policies; westward expansion was a tumultuous period in American History that included periods of conflict with the Native Americans and Hispanics and increased in sectionalism that created the backdrop for the Civil War.
President James Monroe declared “In the discussions to which this interest has given rise and in the arrangements by which they may terminate the occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers,” on December 2, 1823 in the Monroe Doctrine. It was the first United States of America foreign policy statement that declared the settlement of the Western Hemisphere off-limits of the European nations. Though reiterated a myriad of times afterwards, it was the first document to state that the United States of America would view any attempt of any European power or allied powers to control any nation in the Western Hemisphere as hostile. The Monroe Doctrine was the United States of America’s first response to the fear that Spain would attempt to restore their former colonies in the Americas, especially Florida. Therefore, the Monroe Doctrine holds great importance to the United States of America history because it solidly produced evidence regarding how the United States would view European nations attempting to attain land in the Americas and that the United States would act upon it in order to protect its people and its land