People think of Manifest Destiny as the official policy of territorial expansion and the idea that God had ‘blessed’ America to become an ocean-bound republic in the 19th century. The truth, however, is that presidents and secretaries of state never really used the phrase ‘manifest destiny’; it was the slogan of the journalist John L. O’Sullivan who created it in 1845 when he was writing editorials about the annexation of Texas and about the boundary dispute with Britain over the Oregon territory. He stated that it was blessed by providence – it was the manifest destiny of the country to become this continental power. It immediately sparked controversy at the time. The phrase itself ended up being used more by critics than supporters as a way…
Although it resulted in a significant expansion of U.S. territory and made the United States a dominant power in the Western Hemisphere, the concept of Manifest Destiny proved contentious among citizens and political leaders. The expansion of the United States was detrimental to Native Americans, who were often ruthlessly killed or evacuated from land that had been their home for generations. Manifest Destiny also heightened conflicts over slavery, because abolitionists and pro-slavery factions…
Manifest Destiny was one of the main reasons behind actions such as the Gadsden Purchase and the Oregon Cession, which in turn, expanded the US borders. However, with the enormous amount of expansion, traditional methods of manufacturing and transportation were not able to support a thriving nation.…
Almost everyone believed that America should extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The two words Manifest Destiny soon became in meaning that those who favored expansion had God on their side. It appealed to both the supporters of slavery, those who wanted Texas annexed, and to antislavery supporters who favored adding California to the Union. The Manifest Destiny claimed that the United States would benefit from trade, commercial advantages, and from lower tariffs. It was a belief that the United States was divinely mandated to expand from coast to coast, the country began to use any means necessary to expand. Among these were unprovoked wars, purchases from other countries, and…
Manifest Destiny was the belief during the 1800s that the United States was destined to expand across the continent, from Atlantic coast to Pacific Coast. Americans wanted to own all the land across the continent because that is why they believed God had created the land like that. In addition, there were economic depressions in 1818 and 1839 that lead many people searching for land in frontier areas. In many cases frontier land was much more inexpensive or even free so they wanted to take advantage of the land. Americans also saw this as a good opportunity to promote and expand commerce and trade by building ports on the west coast. The original US-Mexico border was defined by the Sabine River north from the Gulf of Mexico to the 32nd parallel north (32°N), then due north to the Red River, west along the Red River to the 100th meridian west (100°W), due north to the Arkansas River, west to its headwaters, north to the 42nd parallel north (42°N), and finally west along that parallel to the Pacific Ocean. In the 1800s, Mexico had owned much of the land out by the west coast. Mexico owned present-day California, Nevada, Utah and the rest of Colorado as well as most of northern New Mexico and Arizona, parts of the…
In the 19th century, Manifest Destiny, which is the idea that the United States’ expansion was inevitable and justified throughout the continent, became prevalent and was used a way to validate the nation’s acquirement of new territories. The idea brought forth a sense of nationalism and led to the nation working towards expanding and laying a foundation for an empire. However, as the US made an effort in developing a dominating country, the nation became divided as conflicts regarding the spread of slavery and the beginning of the Mexican war lead to disagreements and a lack of unity.…
The term Manifest Destiny was first used by John O´Sullivan in July-August 1845, in the Democratic review; “our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions” O´Sullivan said this while asking Congress for the annexation of Texas. The annexation followed quickly after but O´Sullivan´s use of sentence was barely noticed. Later in 1845, O´Sullivan reused the phrase but this time it created an extremely influential political idea.…
During the mid 1800s the United States had one main goal, that goal is commonly referred to as Manifest Destiny. This means that the United states wanted to stretch from ocean to ocean. With this goal came to inventions like the telegraph and the railroad, and with these inventions came the Westward Expansion. Although Manifest Destiny benefited the United States, it harmed the Native Americans. Due to Manifest Destiny and the Westward expansion, the Native Americans were stripped of their land and culture.…
In 1846 the United States went to war with Mexico. It was a brutal time. This country has gone to war with Mexico and no one was prepared for what was going to happen next. America was not justified in going to war with Mexico for these three reasons: provoking the war, territory was not decided, and Polk ordered troops to go to Mexico. Before the war, Texas declared its independence from Mexico. After James K. Polk was elected President, he sent an envoy to Mexico City to try and buy California, and then he sent troops to Texas. The Manifest Destiny is a belief that America would eventually become all 50 states like they are today.…
On the other hand Americans hold on to a belief that was popular with one candidate. John O’ Sullivan focused on a concept, manifest destiny. The idea of this concept was that Americans had a God given right to take the land in the west, eventually the land between the Atlantic and Pacific ocean. In the election of 1844 James K. Polk used manifest destiny to resolve the issue that many had to make Texas a part of the United States. He would later annex Oregon a s a free state so the their would be no strange dynamic between free and slave states. Unfortunately, this solution had a…
Manifest Destiny was a massive emotional push from the American Citizens to expand the United States boarders born during the 1844 presidential campaign. The American people believe they were destined by god to expand and apply the U.S. democratic institution to all the land on the continent. The Democratic Party supported this philosophy, taking the name Expansionist Democrats, and nominated Polk, a slave owner. As soon as Polk was elected president he began to work toward the reannexation of Texas, the reoccupation of Oregon, and the seizure of California from Mexico. Each of these expansionist moves brought up more slavery issues and sectional strife that caused the American Civil War.…
The idea that the United States had a “manifest destiny” led to more than simply acquiring land, though between 1845 and 1848, the United States would almost double in size, from 1.8 million square miles to almost 3 million. Many Americans supported versions of Manifest destiny for their own reasons. Land speculators and those promoting the extension of the nation’s railroads wanted to exploit the vast lands in the west. Farmers dreamed of starting over rich and cheap new lands. Workers believed that rapid national expansion would guarantee industrial profits and thus their jobs, or give them a chance to start over if necessary.…
Confrontation arose with Great Britain due to the fact that the United States wanted to expand. It also started a war with Mexico. President John Tyler initiated Manifest Destiny, which later had three main ideas behind it. John L. O’Sullivan stated the 3 ideas were that God was on the side of American expansion, free development was the spread of American rule, and population growth required the outlet that territorial acquisitions provided. Overall, this led to the Mexican-American war that lasted for a long majority of…
The phrase Manifest Destiny became known in 1895. It was a phrase that inspired Americans, or rather drove them to want to expand west of America. It was believed to be a right they had as Americans, something decided by god. (Nelson, 2004). According to Nelson (2004), Texas has been a deciding factor towards the Civil War. The Kansas Nebraska act was a bill that allowed settlers to decide whether or not slavery would be allowed within new state borders. (Kansas-Nebraska-Act, 2009) According to the article, Kansas Nebraska Act(2009), the disagreements between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers was a leading factor on the rode of the civil war. Not only did it divide nations, it worsened the relationship between the North…
The expansion of the United States from its thirteen original colonies to the nation it is today was a very extensive process, involving numerous wars and treaties. The greatest one of these expansion periods occurred from the 1830s to the 1860s, largely due to the idea of Manifest Destiny, the belief that American settlers were destined to expand across the continent to the Pacific coast. This development played a major role in dividing the North and the South by contributing to contrasting ideologies of the two regions towards social and economic foundations of the new territory, and would eventually lead up to the Civil War, literally dividing the nation into two. Territorial expansion fashioned racial and social divisions in the American society due to slavery, created new enemies for the States as a result of the annexation of Texas against the will of Mexico, and endangered the harmony between the North and the South by cause of the Dred vs. Scott decision.…