The Western Frontier: Manifest Destiny

* Conquest and development of the American West became the domestic foundation for national supremacy in the late 1800s. Farm development was as vital as factory development to Republican policymakers.

Beginning in the early 1800s manifest destiny had no single root or cause, but became over time, a mindset which propelled the westward expansion of America. Manifest Destiny was the belief that the expansion of the United States throughout the continent of North America was both justified and inevitable. The actual term “Manifest destiny” was not coined until 1845 when an American columnist and editor, John O 'Sullivan, created it to promote the annexations of Texas and the Oregon Territory. However, before the term was coined, expansion had already been taking place in America for almost four decades. Beginning in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase, America had set in stone from early in its beginnings that the frontier was the future. To fulfill this belief, the United States needed to purchase the West from the French.

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

Manifest destiny is the idea, or belief that America would expand from the eastern border and all the way to the pacific ocean. It all started with people such as Thomas Jefferson who thought that it was necessary to move west and expand the united states. The expansion of the United States occurred with little movements west. For example, the Louisiana purchase doubled the nation's size and helped America expand west. Another example of America expanding west is when texas joined the union and declare their independence from the Mexicans. Pioneers went west for various other reasons that included the gold rush or for religious freedom. In 1849 gold was found in San Francisco. The forty-niners was a name that was given to the people who migrated

The best way to put it is that they lived after the concept of “Manifest Destiny”, which is the term which “became shorthand for this expansionist spirit. They thought of an old belief. That old belief was that God intended Americans to reach all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Americans did not really care about National boundaries, which meant that they just moved. 300.000 men, women and children moved because of disease, starvation, and then the natural barrier of the Rocky Mountains became a problem, and Indian attacks. They traveled overland to Oregon and California.

Manifest Destiny, one of the most influential ideologies in American history, was used as the basis to justify almost-continuous conflict from the early- to the late-19th century (Greenberg 3). This conflict included the relentless displacement of Native Americans from their ancestral lands, a war of aggression against Mexico in 1846, and attacks on countries such as Canada, Cuba, and even Central America, by filibusters and military action to gain overseas colonies (Greenberg 10, 25, and 26). While Manifest Destiny first arose as a dominant ideology during the early nineteenth-century, the concept of American exceptionalism, the heart of this ideology, was older than the nation itself. This concept was taken by white Americans as proof that they, and their nation, were unique and marked by God for a special destiny (Greenberg, 5). It would be several decades before the advantages of American settlement would be presented to the world. One advantage being the Louisiana Purchase, which was the expansion westward.

Americans looked towards the western lands as an opportunity for large amounts of free land, for growth of industry, and pursue the manifest destiny.

Thus the census of 1890 shows, in the Northwest, many counties in which there is an absolute or a relative decrease of population. These States have been sending farmers to advance the frontier on the Plains, and have themselves begun to turn to intensive farming and to manufacture. A decade before this, Ohio had shown the same transition stage. Thus the demand for land and the love of wilderness freedom drew the frontier ever onward.

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.”)

Throughout the course of history, America as we know it today has undergo very severe changes. With the belief of “Manifest destiny”, The independent nation grew from 13 states, to 48 states in a very small time span. The entire nation had to go through wars, feuds, and relocation just to expand the young nation. But this experience wasn’t all prim and proper, the nation had to sacrifice itself just to triple it’s size. Was our actions necessary just to gain this land that at the time we needed least? Was The United States of America over their head with their wants and not needs? The real answer to these questions are no, if we didn’t take this huge step into building our country today, our nation would be severely overpopulated and barely

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 manifest destiny is a cause of the Movement West. It is about the belief that Americans had the destiny to expand in North America. This belief was originated in 19th century.The notable American people like most Whigs, Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln rejected the idea. However, the democrats endorsed the idea before the civil war broke out. The virtue of Americans was considered as one of the major themes in manifest destiny. The idea was rooted in Puritan heritage in America. It was recognized as American Exceptionalism.City upon a Hill” is the prominent sermon by John Winthrop delivered in 1630 associated with the virtue of Americans.The sermon encouraged the Americans to establish a virtuous

In early 1843 settlers packed up everything they had into their wagons ready for a long trail. The oregon trail was a 2,200 mile trail that trailed besides waterways, ran through mountains, and tall and shortgrass prairies. The Oregon trail was the trail to the promise land. By then california was still owned by mexico. But the rumors were that there was riches in california and oregon. Many people who had lived in mississippi had been going through rough economic periods. Not to mention the disease outbreak of yellow fever and malaria. The people who went along the trail left to get away from the struggles and towards the wealth and prosperity. Surprisingly many people survived the oregon trail. The oregon Trail contributed to manifest destiny. Manifest Destiny was a widespread belief that we should continue to move westward across the land. Because of that people who were wanting to leave their homes and expand onto new land. Later on people had the bright idea that if you were wanted you would move to the west, where there was no sheriffs or authority. James W. Marshall found a gold nugget in the american river which started the gold rush which eventually led to the Oregon Trail. The oregon trail was officially made by fur traders. They had tried many trails before but most of them were only passable by foot. The oregon trail was along the mississippi river. Making it easier for people to survive the long route. California was still owned by mexico when people started to

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

Manifest Destiny is the term coined by John Louis O’Sullivan that it was the manifest destiny of the United States “to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” In other words, God intended white Protestant Americans to expand westward across the whole continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, without regard for other ethnic groups. Manifest Destiny encouraged actions designed to remove or destroy the native population. This posed a problem—Native Americans, Mexicans and African Americans also lived on the continent. When the borders were “overspread”, what would happen to the Natives? Would the new territories have slaves or would everyone be free?