preview

John O'sullivan's Manifest Destiny

Decent Essays

Manifest Destiny was a phase that was made up by journalist John L. O’sullivan back in 1844. O’sullivan thought that expansion of the country would make it a stronger nation. The United States wanted to push westward to the frontier, towards Texas, California, and Oregon. The reason behind Manifest Destiny was to expand to provide new places to live and more job opportunities. Manifest Destiny is the belief that the Americans could extend themselves from coast to coast. It is known as an ideology that started American history. The Americans were determined to conquer the land so they began to remove the Native Americans.
Religion played a big part of the expansion in America. Americans believe that they had a future destined by God to expand both their …show more content…

The Native Americans on the land were already raising families, hunting, and farming before settlers began to take what was not theirs. It was thought that the Native Americans did not fit in with civilization and they needed to be removed from the land so that they could continue their way of live elsewhere. In reality they were civilized and educated even more than most of the white population.

The growth in population played a key part in the reason to expand to the west. The birth rate was rising as immigration rose. Large families that could work farms were a key asset during this time period. The population if america grew from around 5 million to 23 million in by the middle of the century. Land became essential part in providing for a large family.
Land was an important factor in the expansion of the west. Land ownership became associated with wealth and growth in the economy. Most land was cheap or free which help to provide a cheap way to start a family and source of income. There was a desire to find more land for cotton plantations. This desire also drove the need for more slaves as they expanded towards the

Get Access