The Manifest Destiny is the idea of continental expansion by the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, which naturally occurred out of a deep want and need to explore and conquer new lands and establish new borders. This idea contributed to several wars, including the US-Mexican War.
Mexico and the United States had its share of territorial issues. With only four more days of his presidency, on March 1, 1845, President John Tyler signed the Texas annexation bill. When the United States formally offered annexation to Texas in 1845, Mexico, protested. On December 29, 1845, Texas was formally admitted to the Union. Mexico refused to accept the loss of Texas, as written in the Treaty of Velasco that was created after the Battle of San Jacinto, in April 21, 1836, and still considered Texas to be Mexican territory, which obtained independence from Spain in 1821, that was under temporary rule of a rebel government. Mexico declared that the annexation of Texas was the same as an act of war. Around the same time, American President, James K. Polk (who took office on March 4, 1845) sent diplomat John Slidell to Mexico with an offer to buy Texas, New Mexico and California for about $30 million. Mexico rejected the offer.
President Polk wanted to define the “borderline” of America. He sent orders to US Army General Zachary Taylor to set up a defense system on the north bank of the Rio Grande River. In addition, Polk also wanted to influence the people who lived in the region to pressure the Mexicans to sell off the territory that was not actually under any established form of government at that time since Mexico’s frontiers had no formal king or leader. Polk ordered US Colonel Stephen Kearney to the New Mexico territor...
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... and the Oregon Territory establishment with Britain, along with the Missouri Compromise ended in a political aftermath of irreconcilable conflicts between the North and the South over the expansion of slavery, led to the beginning of the Civil War.
Source Cited
1. Hofstadter, Beatrice K. and Richard. Great Issues in American History, Volume II: From the Revolution to the Civil War, 1765 - 1865. Alfred A. knopf, Inc. and Random House, Inc., NY (1958) page 341.
Note: Document of the James K. Polk, War Message given to the US congress on May 11, 1846.
Other Recourses
PBS, "The U.S. - Mexican War: Homepage, " KERA, http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/index_flash.html (accessed 11.3.2006, 2006). http://millercenter.org/president/events/03_01 http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=26
http://www.nps.gov/cham/historyculture/mexican-american-war.htm
In President James Polk’s War Message to Congress, he states that the Congress of Texas had declared the Rio Grande to be the official boundary between Mexico and Texas. James Polk said, “Sixty-three men and officers, were … dispatched from the American camp up the Rio del Norte, on its [North] bank, to ascertain whether the Mexican troops had crosse, or were preparing to cross, the river…. [They] became engaged with a large body of these [Mexican] troops, and, after a short affair, in which some sixteen [Americans] were killed and wounded, appear to have been surrounded and compelled to surrender….” The invasion was almost like a ticket to declare war against Mexico for James Polk. He began to say that America had given its best efforts to mend the relationship between the countries, but even before the small battle, peace was not an option. “Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil.” This evidence shows that the United States was justified in declaring war against Mexico because they were trying to protect their own country. In trying to protect their own country and its borders, they were engaged in an attack from Mexico. Mexico threatened America first, this gives a reason for America to declare war against
Polk supported the acquisition of Texas into the United States. It was a major part of his campaign.President Polk banned hard liquor and dancing in the White House.
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.
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 is 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.
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.
From western expansion to foreign imperialism the United States has always been an expansionist country. Early America’s focus was to conquer the natives and obtain western land within North America, but in the latter of America’s history, specifically in the nineteenth and twentieth century, foreign imperialism became the new focus. America’s activity in foreign imperialism was a continuation and departure of the United States’ early expansionism. It was a continuation in terms of manifest destiny, the spread of Christianity, and by the concept of “the city on a hill” and a departure in terms of foreign involvement.
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.
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.
In 1844 the new president Polk got elected he had a vision to expand the U.S westward, provoking the war with Mexico. When Polk first got elected he concentrated on the land northwestward which was possessed b...
Polk took office in 1845. His youth and strong views proved difficult, and conflict filled his tenure as president. Seen both as a brilliant supporter of the manifest destiny ideology and as a incompetent president, the controversy of his presidency revolved around his expansionist dreams of conquering all land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. These issues came to a head in 1845 after President Polk was able to use a false claim to convince Congress to declare war on Mexico. Polk could not prove his claim was completely true, but he was determined to expand America’s land and thus sought to forcibly take the land through war with Mexico after the country refused his offers to purchase the land. These extreme actions were within Polk’s power as president, which were entrusted to him by the people of the United States, but do his ends justify his unethical means? President Polk may have had the best interest of Americans in mind, but his warping of the truth has led me to view his actions, and consequently the entire Mexican-American War, as a pointless
The United States of America has never been content with stagnation. The landmass of the Thirteen Colonies was enough to rival that of the Mother country from which they separated. The forefathers believed that it was the manifest destiny of this nation to eventually claim the expansion from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. By 1890, nearly a hundred years following the original claim of Manifest Destiny, the land that was once open, was now under American control. But no sooner was the Great American Frontier closed, than was the door to East Asian expansion opened with the great gold key of American diplomacy. In a world where imperialism was contagious, and cartographers had to work around the clock to keep up with an ever-changing geopolitical landscape, the United States seized the opportunity to establish herself as a significant world power. With great expansionist minds at her helm, such as Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft the United States began to grow beyond her border to claim stake in this wide-open world. This new expansionism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was a different institution than its early to mid nineteenth century counterpart. Still, the drive to exercise the sovereignty of the United State and to propel itself over the world’s stage was the same then as it was in the time of Thomas Jefferson. In order to understand this assertion, attention must be given to three levels of analysis. First, the similarities that exist between the drive and purpose of old and new expansion must be taken into account. Second, the differences in the global political scene must be considered. Finally, there exits differences in the means by which expansion occurred.
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.
After Mexico declared its independence from Spain, tensions between the United States and Mexico arose. Before the people of Mexico declared their independence, the treaty between the leaders of the US and Spain in 1819, Adams-Onis Treaty, had established that the border of Mexico lied along the Sabine River. In 1821, the US and Mexican governments signed a treaty stating that both governments will strive to maintain the peace and harmony among the Native Americans that live along the border between the two countries. However, due to the unique geography of the Sabine River the US and Mexico had different interpretations of where the border actually lied. This led to US leaders claiming the city of Nacogdoches as their own, while the Mexican government believed that it was within their territory. When the US President sent General Gaines to occupy Nacogdoches, it led to the anti-American sentiment that would fuel the Mexican-American War. There are many causes of the Mexican-American War but a major cause was the US government redefining terms of a treaty for their own benefit. Throughout history US leaders redefined the terms of treaties with other countries and people, such as the Treaty of Alliance with France and the Treaty of Fort Laramie, for the benefit of expanding United States territory.
Hoffman, Elizabeth Cobbs and Jon Gjerde. edit., Major Problems in American History: Volume 1 to 1877. Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007.
In addition, during Polk’s term he expanded the United States’ border to the west coast. His desire to enlarge the country stemmed from his belief in “manifest destiny” which was the idea that the United States was destined to stretch to the Pacific Ocean. His presidency; his decisions for the country were influenced by manifest destiny. In the article titled “Mexican-American War,” James K. Polk wanted to acquire California and the southwestern land of the United States. Polk’s movement of troops into the conflicted zone between the Rio Grande and Nueces River initiated a conflict with Mexico. The conflict developed into a war, with hefty Mexican losses, but finally ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with the U.S. as the victor. In the treaty, Mexico decided to sell all the land north of the Rio G...