The Negative Effects Of Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny was the idea that it was America’s destiny to spread across the entire continent of North America. It was started by a group of expansionist called the Young American Movement and they were affiliated with the Democratic Party. By their idea, America was able to double its size and obtain new land from Mexico and Britain. However, this also caused pain to the Native Americans. In the end, America obtained new land, and its people achieved what they believed to be their God given right to expand and move west.

Back when the United States wasn’t so immense and powerful, its people and their leaders wanted to expand. The people thought that the entire country should be theirs, and anyone who stood in their way, including the Native Americans, would pay for it. Manifest destiny was the “motto” for the country in this time. The first railroad that could cross the entire country was built. This encouraged many to move out west. While this was good for the Americans, it might not have been so good for the Native Americans. Native American land and culture was impacted by western expansion of the United States because of the Transcontinental Railroad, and the United States army, or militias, and government.

The bad side of the coin was that manifest destiny ran the Native Americans out

In addition to the social and political changes that impacted the Indians, there were changes aimed at the economy which also negatively affected the Indians. One act that negatively affected the Indians was the Pacific Railway Act of 1862. This act was created to help the construction of a railroad and telegraph lines from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. Permission was given to the company creating the railroad that they can take away any land touching that of which the railroad is to be built on within 200 feet in width. Although the railroad was a great impact of Manifest Destiny because it allowed for quicker transportation of goods and people to and from the west, it legally allowed for Indian land titles to be extinguished [Doc 7].

The possibility of westbound extension and Manifest Destiny had positive and negative impacts on the governmental issues, society and the financial aspects of the United States and the Native Americans living there at the time. Strategies that were made and Presidents that were chosen supported the general population of the United States and the Native Americans had no real option except to experience the ill effects of the changing and the extending development. There were numerous political impacts of Manifest Destiny that molded the entire development westbound.

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

Industrialization of the United States was in full swing by the 1840s. Which evidenced that the continued expansion of the states was an issue and the idea of a Manifest Destiny was of major importance. John L. O’Sullivan once stated, “Our Manifest Destiny is to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions” (America: A Narrative History). The idea of a Manifest Destiny originated in the 1840s by the Anglo-Saxon Colonists to expand their ideal civilization and institutions across North America to become a super nation. There were conflicts during this expansion, but they only led to major successes that molded the states into the superior country it is today. The Manifest

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.

It is hard to read anything about the history of the United States without coming across the term “Manifest Destiny”. Manifest Destiny is a term, which was first coined by John L. Sullivan in the summer 1845 issue of the Democratic Review. “Hence it was carried into the debate on the Oregon question in the House of Representatives and proved to be such a convenient summing up of the self-confident nationalist and expansionist sentiment of the time that it passed into the permanent national vocabulary.” (Pratt, 798). The term voiced the idea that God had destined America to spread westward to the pacific. “It meant expansion, prearranged by Heaven, over an area not clearly defined.” (Merk, 24) Expansion westward seemed perfectly natural to many Americans in the mid-nineteenth century as they saw it was their destiny to expand their thriving country. This attitude that it was Americas destiny to expand helped fuel the drive to push west and begin the removal of Native Americans. Manifest Destiny is an extremely important aspect of American History and has ultimately helped to shape The United States into the successful country that is today.

Finally, concerning economic changes, the Natives eventually lost their jobs because of their continuous west-ward migration. Also, as they moved west to colder climates, they would not have enough arable land, and given that most of them were farmers, this strongly affected them. They did not have a stable income to support their families, neither did they have a proper home since they were always moving around. Therefore, the Manifest Destiny may have been thought of as a benefit to the United States, but it majorly affected the Native Americans socially, politically, and

During the 19th century of the American expansion the United States but was heading to stretch from coast to coast. But this attitude helped fuel western settlement, Native American removal and war with Mexico. The belief of the Manifest Destiny had numerous parts for many things, each was serving people in different ways. The Manifest Destiny was supported by many Americans. The components created separate reasons to overcome a new land. Manifest Destiny was used among the Americans in the 1840’s as a defense for U.S. territorial expansion. It was an idea that was taken to be true that God had destined that “the white man” to a godly mission of American movement and defeat in the name of Christianity and democracy. John O’Sullivan first initiated manifest destiny in America in 1845. He edited the annexation of Texas was published on 1845 edition of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review. in 1845 to promote the annexation of Texas and the Oregon Country to the United States. And to give the name and description to the creed of victorious Americans. Though the next two decades of the nation needed more territory, so then began the enormous territory growth. The nation stretched. The

Manifest Destiny is a term that was first coined in 1845 by a journalist named John L. O’Sullivan, and was described as America’s destiny to expand, and that it was God’s will that America was to expand. According to Genovese, “The notion of westward expansion and domination of the white races struck a responsive chord in many Americans” (Genovese, 2017). The idea of expanding America’s territory was so popular that is was even later used in Congress to justify the claiming of Oregon’s territory. While the idea of expanding America seemed great to the Americans, it was not so great for those who were living on the land that the Americans would later claim. According to Hastedt, “The failure to assimilate and prosper was the fault of those receiving America’s goodness” (Hastedt, 2016). The Americans felt that they were superior to those whose lands they were trying to take, such as the Native Americans and Mexicans, and that they should be the ones to adopt American culture, even if they were there before the Americans claimed the land. The Americans even thought that those whose lands they were taking would be happy to convert to their way of living, as is stated by Hastedt, “The inherent superiority of American Values was sure to be recognized by those with whom they came in contact and would gladly be adopted” (Hastedt, 2016). This mindset would ultimately lead to the expansion of America, turning it into what we know today, but it would also ultimately result in conflict with those that the American’s were attempting to take the land from for the sake of expansion.

The O’Sullivan article on Manifest Destiny sparked an initial interest amongst the American people. The idea that it was the United States’ destiny to expand across the continent became an ardent hope. America had a strong Christian belief that God had intended this for the country. The need for more land became vital as an increasing amount of immigrants flocked to the country each year. As the US gained more land, they steadily began to approach the western part of the continent. At the time, the United States was half of what it is now. The other half was owned by a country that would soon be forced into a two year 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,

Rapid population growth and overuse of the land east of the Mississippi River, coupled with the knowledge that there was an abundance of land for new settlement west of the river, led to the ideology of expansionism; the ideology became simply known as Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny and American Territorial Expansion, written by Amy S. Greenburg, deeply explains the motivation of the individuals looking to expand their settlements westward. Since the time of publication, we have realized that we could have handled the situation, in which we removed the inhabitants of the west from their homeland, in a better way. Americans believed that it was their God-given right to expand westward by destroying anything in their path. “…courageous pioneers believed that America had a divine obligation to stretch the boundaries of their noble republic to the Pacific Ocean.” (“29. Manifest Destiny.”)