Manifest Destiny Research Paper

In 1846 America had taken more than a million square miles from the newly independent Mexican Republic because of what they called Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was the thought that Americans had the right and duty to expand their territory across North America. The U.S. was not justified in going to war with Mexico. reason: One reason was that President James K. Polk was provoking Mexico to go to war with America. Document D is about Joshua Giddings announcing a speech in the House of Representatives on May 23, 1846.

Manifest Destiny is the belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable that occurred in the late 1800s. The Americans moved westward into native lands and they killed off a great percentage of the buffalo population. Was it smart to move West? What were some of the consequences of their actions? When did manifest destiny start and stop?

The phrase “manifest destiny” suggested that expansion across the American continent was obvious, inevitable, and a divine right of the United States. Manifest destiny was used by Democrats in the 1840s to justify the war with Mexico. In 1845, John L. O’Sullivan, a New York newspaper editor, introduced the concept of “manifest destiny” in the July/August issue of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review, in an article titled, “Annexation.” The term described the very popular idea of the special role of the United States in overtaking the continent—the divine right and duty of white Americans to seize and settle the continent’s western territory, thus spreading Protestant, democratic values. Manifest Destiny, a phrase coined in 1845,

The Manifest Destiny was a popular idea during the 1840s. Many people thought that the U.S. was destined to stretch from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. As a part of the U.S. journey to achieve the Manifest Destiny, many people wanted the annexation of Texas and California. While, Mexico did not want to give Texas or California to the U.S.; over time. These territorial disagreements between the U.S. and Mexico started to become a stimulus for war. When the U.S. started to gain territory from Mexico, the issue of slavery became more frequent because lawmakers argued over whether the adopted territory allowed for slavery or not. Although the idea of the Manifest Destiny sparked a wave of patriotism among Americans, territorial expansion ultimately divided the U.S. between advocates and opponents of slavery. Americans not only wanted the land for economic purposes but they also felt that they needed to teach Mexico a lesson; these ideas were used as the basis of unity during the mid-19th century.

The United States uses war as a tool of expansion and defense. Since the moment, American declared its independence in 1776, a vision of westward expansion beyond the thirteen colonies was already in the minds of the American people. America would finally obtain land that stretched from coast to coast, under the Mexican cession of 1848. The belief of American superiority generated the idea of Manifest Destiny in which, America had the god given right to expand and prompted the Mexican–American War of 1846 to be imperialistic. The War of 1846 to 1848 between Mexicans and Americans was imperialistic because of Manifest Destiny, territorial expansion, and The Treaty of Velasco.

Manifest Destiny is the idea that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire continent of North America. Compared to other wars such as the civil war, the Mexican American war was seen as a smaller thing, but it was because of the thousands of Americans and Mexicans that were killed, territorial issues, and more. 1846 Was the starting year of the Mexican/American War. This war lasted until 1848, and was mostly driven by the idea of “Manifest Destiny”.

Manifest Destiny in America in the 1800s outcomes have many political, economic, and social factors.

The biggest impact the United States had on the Native American society was that they kept pushing them off of their land. There is a quote from Chief Joseph from document 4, Perspectives from the Chiefs, talking about how the United States keep taking things that aren't rightfully theirs. He compared the US government to grizzly bears and Native Americans as deer. The grizzlies who repeatedly went at the deer needing more. Even after the US was given more land they asked for more. Year after year they were pushed further west and then all around when manifest destiny began. Document 1 shows a map of Native American land loss from year to year. The NAtive Americans have been pushed around since the first English settlers came over. They had lost most of their land between 1850 and 1870. (Doc 1) The US invaded peaceful lands of the Native Americans out of pure greed. In document 3, 2nd Treaty of Fort Laramie 1868, shows a map of a piece of land owned by Indians with a treaty and a few years after. In 1868 there was a treaty that was signed so that Americans couldn’t even enter the land. After gold was found in that area the treaty did not matter. ( Doc 2) The forced them into a reservation nearly ten times smaller than their original land area. Court actions made it worse, their land was even smaller. America forced the Native Americans to go and move to places they did not want to go despite treaties and people’s actions.

From 1776 to 1865, slavery influenced many of the events that happened in the United States and the actions of the Anglo-American man. The concept of manifest destiny was the idea that it was Gods divine will that America expand and move west (Carnes and Garraty 303). This expansion westward gained more land for the United States and started anew the problems with slave and non-slave states being in balance. Texas was outside of American territory but in 1831 Americans led by Stephen Austin began to move and settle the area, and at the same time, Mexico declared independence from Spain and Texas was officially part of Mexico (Carnes and Garraty 301). American settlers started flooding into Texas. Soon Americans and their slaves outnumbered

Manifest Destiny took place in the US in the mid-1800. Manifest Destiny was used among the Americans in the 1840’s as a defense for U.S. territorial expansion. It is the presumption that God had destined the American people to at divine mission of American movement and conquest in the name of Christianity and democracy.

Manifest destiny was the belief that God wanted the United States to own all of North America (Hall 301). But John O’Sullivan really only envisioned that white men were the only ones privileged enough to receive liberty (Hal 301). The Manifest Destiny was caused by the American people it gave them a sense of superiority over the other peoples who lived in North America. The declaration of the Manifest destiny wanted to expand the U.S. territory over the whole of North America and to extend and enhance its political, social, and economic influences. Eventually the United States won the war it had ended on February 2, 1848 when Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United

The belief in Manifest Destiny, that settlers were destined to expand across North America, was held by most Americans. At the same time the belief came about, debates in Washington were going on about the future of America. While many debates were held in Washington, there was also a lot of conflicts in states like Kansas and Nebraska. Both the debates in Washington regarding the westward expansion of the new nation and the laws by which it should govern itself, as well as the conflicts on the ground regarding those very same issues, set America on the path that could lead to only one destination; the Civil War.

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,

The Manifest Destiny was 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 was mainly accomplished by the Monroe Doctrine, the annexation of Texas, and the Mexican-American War, but we were not a true continental power yet. After 1850, the Civil War, westward expansion, and the rise of big business made the United States a true continental power.

The famous phrase “Manifest Destiny” was made up by a journalist in 1844. The idea of Manifest Destiny was that the people of the east had a divine and God-given right to settle in the west. God put the land there for the taking, and so the immigrants answered His call with westward expansion. My belief is that Manifest destiny was a necessary evil. The idea of manifest destiny expanded the west and provided homes and jobs. but on the other side of the coin manifest destiny ran the Native Americans out of their land and kept pushing them further and further west.