Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee Essay

The term “Manifest Destiny” was, in part, an expression of a genuine ideal on the part of Americans. Yet it was also a justification to a push and to assume territory. The idea of Manifest Destiny was sparked by revolutionary American writings that encouraged appropriation of Canada. These writings rationalized that the Louisiana Purchase and the Untied States’ annexation of Texas ordained American complete domination of the North American continent. More broadly stated, Manifest destiny was a conviction that God intended North America to be under the control Americans. It’s an assertion of Anglo-Saxon supremacy.

Manifest Destiny is a term coined by John L. Sullivan in 1845 when talking about the annexation of Texas. He believed, along with other expansionists, that it’s inevitable that the US population would spread across North America because the land is given by Providence to the United States and that it’s natural that the land should be part of the country [Doc 1]. The idea of westward expansion and Manifest Destiny had positive and negative effects on the politics, society and the economics of the United States and

While some were driven on what they believe was God’s will others saw Manifest Destiny as the historical inevitability domination of North America from sea to sea. Before, manifest destiny, many Americans had small families not by choice, but for the mere fact that many of the people would die before they would reach forty. By the mid 1800’s technology began to rise, and the life span for many Americans increased. The U.S. population grew from more than 5 million in 1800 to more than 23 million by the mid century. By the increasing of families in town many of the towns became overcrowded. At this point many Americans looked to the west for possible permanent homes.

Manifest destiny was the idea that the citizens of the United States had a God-given right to extend their way of life from the Atlantic to the Pacific and that no physical barrier or human force could stop the settlement of these lands. This idea became a prevalent thought in the minds of many United States citizens. The expansion into new territories across the continent was a direct link in the chain of events leading to the Civil War.

Manifest destiny was the idea that the US was destined to expand from sea to sea. This idea brought on a growing amount of land and a growing amount of freedoms. As seen in the picture, the angel is leading the way westward and shining the light of freedom. This idea of more land made the Americans hopeful that they would gain liberty and opportunity with the growing nation. The natives, slaves, and free blacks sought liberty themselves. Just like how the Americans sought freedoms William Apes stated that “ they want what I want” (Apes, GML 388). The idea of more liberty and freedom is what drove the Americans and the minorities during this time.

Thomas Jefferson purchased land from the French during the Louisiana Purchase which gave the United States land west. He sent Lewis and Clark west to explore what he had just purchased. During the same time of the Louisiana Purchase, there was a concept of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was a main idea during the 1800s. It is the belief that the land west was the Americans land to settle and that the resources were theirs to use. This belief was self-centered and did not focus on the Native Americans. The Americans did not reach out to the Natives to build a strong nation and instead they took the tools, ideas, and materials to build their nation and left the Natives out of it. Americans saw their dream as a free country and it was their right to conquer others’ property without their consent. During westward expansion, American identity evolved into one image for all Americans that emphasized greed and power and the belief that American settlers should create their own sovereign land.

Manifest Destiny, caused the tribes to wipe out causing a cultural divide in the Native American

Subsequent to the political, social, and economical changes that occurred because of the "Manifest Destiny", the lives of the Native Americans had been changed forever. " Manifest Destiny is a term for the attitude prevalent during the 19th century period of American expansion that the United States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast." (Manifest Destiny). This attitude encouraged the United States to begin to build settlements westward, which resulted in the removal of Native Americans. It deprived them of their land, and in some ways, their independence; they were faced with inequality and were forced to fight with the Americans. "

What is the manifest destiny? Everyone or every group have their own definitions. According to many historians, there are three basic themes to manifest destiny: The special virtues of the American people and their institutions; America 's mission to redeem and remake the west in the image of agrarian America; and an irresistible destiny to accomplish this essential duty. To

The book Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee was written by Dee Brown. Dee Brown wrote a handful of books and the central theme around those books were tales of Native Americans and civil war stories. He spent a long time studying different tribes all around the United States. He has brought out the voice of the Native Americans which was muffled and silenced by the army and government. This book brought much awareness to a cause many had forgotten about, and to the shock of many when they realized he was not a Native American. Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee tells the stories of many Native American tribes and their hardships when facing the government, army, and settlers. While reading this book, I came to quite a shock. I learned the point of view that was hidden in history books, the loss instead of the win, and the sadness felt throughout the book that made it unpleasant to read. I believe this book has brought to light the mistreatment of Native Americans in the past, the main hardships including countless false treaties, harsh treatments from the settlers, and the unjust massacres. I found this book to be quite a difficult read but incredibly worth it. It is written in such a manner that you feel immersed, you feel the all the emotions and imagine how everything came to be. It is figurative, but also incredibly factual. In the beginning of almost every chapter, before the actual start, there is small paragraph with the year and the events in that following year, a quote, or

Throughout the American history, we have seen “Manifest Destiny” at work, and how it has helped grow our nation. The idea of Manifest Destiny helped in creating revolutions that would help them find freedom in the U.S., but it also had some negative effects. Most believe that “Manifest Destiny” began in the 1840’s, when John L.O’Sullivan coined the term “Manifest Destiny” in 1845, but if we look closer we can see that even all the way back to the first settlers we can see that“Manifest Destiny” was already at work as in, the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The term is defined and recognized as, the Americans belief that it was their destiny given to them by God, to expand into the Western territories “ The whole continent was to be theirs.”1 We

Manifest Destiny was a mindset that played a crucial role in the expansion of the United States, and if it had not been thought of, America would not be the way we know it today in regards to how big it is. In this essay, I will discuss how it helped shape America, how it began, how it would affect events that happened later on in American history as a result, and how it led to making America what it is today.

In a short history, American manifest destiny was a big mistake for Indian people in the past. The Indian people lived on the land before the Americans came. However, manifest destiny is the affliction Americans have that makes them believe God and took control all their land. For example, American settlers took their land and forced them into another uncomfortable place, less nature resource, and difficult to survive. Moreover, America settlers brought diseases into Indian tribes that made a lot of Indian people sick and dead. In addition, American settlers had a negative impact to the environment and natures resource such as more hunting and fishing that cost extinction, more cutting trees to build houses due to deforestation. In conclusion,

For Americans, the increase in population and the unwavering desire to expand their land engraved this belief of manifest destiny in the minds of many White Americans during the nineteenth century. This belief was that Americans had the undeniable right to claim the land of North America that span from coast to coast; consequently, the victims of manifest destiny became the Native Americans. Due to this presumption, it drove out a multitude of Native Americans from their homes and lands that they have lived on for countless centuries.

The Manifest Destiny was the name given to the Anglo-American (white) expansion into the West. The Manifest Destiny was based on an idea that white Americans were superior people who believed in God. Americans were to populate North America “sea to shining sea” and spread the religion of Christianity. The Manifest Destiny displayed American’s confidence. Americans moved west for more land, the Manifest Destiny also uplifted American’s freedom and democracy. And it encouraged independence. The United States used the Manifest Destiny to start a war with Mexico from1846 until 1848. The Manifest Destiny communicated American claims to western lands, at once highlighting the nation’s superiority and offering a solution to national anxieties. Ironically, the new territories exacerbated sectional divisions and caused the civil war (Bailey et al., 2015, p 319, and Hardesty 2015).