Manifest Destiny
Ever since America has gained independence from Britain, America has been able to expand and claim territories mainly in the West. In the 1840s, it has become evident that many people supported the concept of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny combines a belief in expansionism along with other common ideas of the era including “American exceptionalism and Romantic nationalism” (New World Encylopedia, 1). It has commonly held a belief in White supremacy; others might see it in a broader expression as a belief in Americans’ mission in the world. This term meant different things to different people, ultimately conveying messages of freedom, culture, and democracy to others. Journalist John L. O’Sullivan stated, “We must
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This would result into fighting the Mexican- American war of 1846-49 which allowed the United States to capture additional territory otherwise known as the Mexican Cession of 1848. By winning the land, it granted the United States the extension of the 19th century Southern United States territorial acquisition from Mexico all the way to the Pacific Ocean. However, the annexation of Texas was debatable because it would another slave state to the Union. President Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren decided to take up on Texas’ offer to join the United States because they were afraid that the slavery issue would divide the Democratic Party. In addition, supporters of Manifest Destiny such as John L. O’Sullivan had intending to always maintained that the laws of the United States should not force people against their will. He argued that the annexation of “All Mexico” would be considered a violation of the law. Many white supremacists viewed Mexicans as a lesser race and therefore were not qualified to become Americans. Many Americans also used racism to inspire Manifest Destiny. However, in a few instances there were people that used resistance to the annexation of “All Mexico” and use racism to oppose Manifest Destiny. In contrast, advocates of the annexation considered it as an antislavery …show more content…
Weeks stated that there are three components usually brushed upon by supporters of Manifest. The first component of Manifest Destiny was the virtue of White European people and their institutions. Secondly, supporters of Manifest Destiny used their mission to spread these institutions, thereby creating the world in the image of the United States. Lastly, Manifest Destiny advocates believed it was their destiny under God to achieve this task. However, Lincoln sided against “Southern sectionalism, anti-immigrant nativism and the imperialism” of Manifest Destiny as being considered unfair and unreasonable. Although Abraham Lincoln was against slavery, he did not want to blatantly make it a big issue. Abraham Lincoln was a Republican who believed slavery was a moral issue. Even though, he did not have the power to abolish slavery, Lincoln wanted to stop the extension of slavery because it was wrong. He was attempting to expose slavery as an eternal struggle between right and wrong, but he wanted to keep the South together. Following after Lincoln’s election, South Carolina first began calling for a meeting to secede from the Union. Many Southern states did the same thing and held state conventions and inevitably, the Confederate States of America was formed. Jefferson Davis would become the president of the Confederate States of America. There were a few of peace proposals that were attempted to prevent the secession from occurring. Senator James Henry
America’s Manifest Destiny first surfaced around the 1840’s, when John O’Sullivan first titled the ideals that America had recently gained on claiming the West as their ‘Manifest Destiny.’ Americans wanted to settle in the West for multiple reasons, from the idea that God wanted them to settle all the way to the West co...
The Manifest Destiny did not provide a valid reason to start a war with Mexico. The U.S said that “Mexico never can exert any real government authority over such a country” (Doc A). From
As many people will support it, several will oppose the idea of manifest destiny. Most candidates ardently opposed the idea of expansionism proposed and coined by columnist and editor John L. O’Sullivan during the annexation of Texas in 1845. Advocating for prompt liberation distinguished abolitionists from more direct anti-slavery advocates who contended for repressive liberation, and from free-soil activists who looked to confine slavery to existing areas and prevent its spread further west. Just years before the Mexican war, abolitionists like John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States, supported the annexation of Oregon in 1846, which spread from the Pacific coast to the Rocky Mountains. But once the abolitionists caught on to the idea of new territory becoming pro-slavery states, they quickly set against it.
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 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.In the early 1840s John L. O’Sullivan, editor of the Democratic Review, inaugurated the expression Manifest Destiny to depict American expansionism. O’Sullivan described the nation’s extension as inevitable and criticized those that delayed that progression "for the avowed object of thwarting our policy, limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions."(Horsman 219) Horsman notes that even though O’Sullivan laid claim to the phrase manifest destiny, the idea was embedded in Anglo-Saxon heritage. In chapter one of Horsman the concept of ...
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-
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...
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.
Lincoln's election lead to the belief that Southern interests were no longer considered in the federal government, and that the government would outlaw slavery. However, Lincoln's only agenda was to preserve the union and restrict slavery where it already resided. Despite receiving no votes from Southerners, Lincoln was still able to win the election. Southerners viewed this as Northern conspirators planning the destruction of Southern institutions. Southerners virtually lost all political power due to the influx of immigrants in the North and the election of Lincoln. Southerners feared Lincoln would use federal power to push through the abolition of slavery. Lincoln’s desire to restrict slavery caused many Southerners to feel as though their constitutional rights were violated. With no representation in government Southerners felt the only solution was to secede from the Union and form their own government. In addition, Lincoln’s inaugural address made it clear that “the Union of these states is perpetual,” making clear that secession would not be tolerable. Lincoln's attitudes and policies after winning the Election of 1860 fueled the secessionist’s arguments of the South. If any other candidate had been elected, who was more willing to compromise, war would’ve been avoided and concessions could’ve been made to both sides. However, Lincoln couldn’t compromise with the South,
In a speech that Lincoln gave prior to his presidency, we can see how ambiguous his stance on slavery truly was. This speech, known as the ‘House Divided’ speech, was given on the 16th of June, 1858, and outlined his beliefs regarding secession, but did not solidify the abolition of slavery as his main goal. Lincoln states that the nation “could not endure, permanently half slave and half free,” and that the slavery will either cease to exist, or will encompass all states lawfully (Lincoln). At this point in his life, Lincoln’s primary concern is clearly with the preservation of the nation.
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.
In order to understand why the war between the US and Mexico happened, it’s important to understand what each side was fighting for. I found “Manifest Destiny: An Introduction” to be very informative and provided thorough explanations of each side’s struggle. America was in search of manifest destiny and Mexico was coping with becoming a newly independent country.
Abraham Lincoln’s original views on slavery were formed through the way he was raised and the American customs of the period. Throughout Lincoln’s influential years, slavery was a recognized and a legal institution in the United States of America. Even though Lincoln began his career by declaring that he was “anti-slavery,” he was not likely to agree to instant emancipation. However, although Lincoln did not begin as a radical anti-slavery Republican, he eventually issued his Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves and in his last speech, even recommended extending voting to blacks. Although Lincoln’s feeling about blacks and slavery was quite constant over time, the evidence found between his debate with Stephen A. Douglas and his Gettysburg Address, proves that his political position and actions towards slavery have changed profoundly.
Contrary to what today’s society believes about Lincoln, he was not a popular man with the South at this time. The South wanted to expand towards the West, but Lincoln created a geographical containment rule keeping slavery in the states it currently resided in. Despite his trying to rationalize with the South, Lincoln actually believed something different ”Lincoln claimed that he, like the Founding Fathers, saw slavery in the Old South as a regrettable reality whose expansion could and should be arrested, thereby putting it on the long and gradual road ”ultimate extinction” (216). He believed it to be “evil” thus “implying that free southerners were evil for defending it”(275). Lincoln wanted to wipe out slavery for good, and the South could sense his secret motives.