Manifest Destiny Dbq Essay

At the time the United States was founded, our Government believed that god had given them a right, a Manifest destiny, to conquer the vast amount of land that the United States now occupies. Once this was accomplished the American People asked their government, "What next?" The U.S political, and economic policies were a continuation, while the social policies were a departure of previous policies on U.S expansionism.
As the nation grew, our government began to look for new sources of income and new ways of acquiring resources. Thus, the government's economic policies remained similar to those of the "Manifest Destiny" Ideal. Document C says, "…Americans must now look outward. The growing production of the country demands it…" Due to the immense growth the nation had seen as a result of massive immigration, we had a new need for
Document H says "… the power to acquire territory by treaty implies not only the power to govern such territory, but to prescribe upon what terms the United States will receive its' inhabitants…" By using treaties, the U.S Government was annexing new lands and gaining "territories". However, the government, at the same time, was denying the inhabitants of the new land the right to U.S citizenship. The U.S government was interested only in the land gained by these annexations and not the people living on the land. Document E shows the second idea, the idea of power, the U.S politicians held over the newly annexed lands. "… The power that rules the Pacific… is the power that rules the world. And…that power is and will forever be the American Republic." Politicians saw that by annexing lands such as the Philippians, Hawaii, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba, a nation we now do not control, the government was fulfilling the idea that America was destined to be a "world