Manifest Destiny is defined as "a belief that it was God's will that Americans spread over the entire continent, and to control and populate the country as they see fit." Many expansionists conceived God as having the power to sustain and guide human destiny. It was white man's heavy burden to conquer and Christianize the heathen and savage land. While the positive side of Manifest Destiny was a surge of enthusiasm and energy from the white settlers for pushing West, the negative side was the belief that the white man had the right to destroy anything and anyone -- namely Indians -- who got in the way. Tracing the path of Manifest Destiny across the West would highlight mass destruction of tribal organizations, confinement of Indians to reservations, and full blown genocide. The dark side of Manifest Destiny revealed the white man's belief that his settlement of the land and civilization of its native peoples was preordained.…
In the 19th century, Manifest Destiny, which is the idea that the United States’ expansion was inevitable and justified throughout the continent, became prevalent and was used a way to validate the nation’s acquirement of new territories. The idea brought forth a sense of nationalism and led to the nation working towards expanding and laying a foundation for an empire. However, as the US made an effort in developing a dominating country, the nation became divided as conflicts regarding the spread of slavery and the beginning of the Mexican war lead to disagreements and a lack of unity.…
Was Manifest Destiny justified? Historians have argued for years if all the suffering caused by Manifest Destiny worth the reward.This event helped shape United States to what it is today, it couldn’t be that bad could it The idea of Manifest Destiny is that God intended Americans to live and inherit the continent’s lands, people and resources to spread the ideas of freedom and democracy (Mountjoy). The original idea, to spread democracy and freedom to the rest of the continent was not inherently evil, but the way it has been interpreted throughout history has been nefarious. Even though Manifest Destiny made the United States what it is today, it is unjustified because it is egotistical, self contradictory, and xenophobic exemplified through by The Trail…
The Manifest Destiny was a belief many people believed in about how the expansion in America was the correct thing to do. The Mexican American war was all started because both countries wanted the same land, and because America and Mexico did not know how to compromise there was a war, both countries fighting finally got tired, and signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This treaty gave the U.S. an extra 525,000 square mile, in the area which now includes Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The Oregon Territory was then divided at the 49 latitude line. With the British getting what was on top of the line, and the U.S. getting what was below. Because of this gold was found everywhere in California, which…
As a Native American of this land I’d like to address some important things that have been overlooked in the past years. The Manifest Destiny which took place in the 19th century, where Americans had the belief that the United States was destined to expand across the continent, had several severe consequences; some of which being about Native Americans. My ancestors wanted to be left alone yet the Indian Removal Act was passed, forcibly removing them from their lands and killing thousands of Native Americans. I’d like to request an apology and reparations for the consequences of the Manifest Destiny.…
Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States had a mission to expand and that not only was it good but it was destined. Because everyone believed in manifest destiny, they wanted to push westward, no matter what. Manifest destiny also be-came known as not only expanding the territory, but also the institution of slavery. President John Quincy Adams believed so much in manifest destiny that he orchestrated the Treaty of 1818, provided for the joint occupation of the Oregon Country. He negotiated the Transcontinental Treaty in 1819, purchasing Florida from Spain and extending the U.S. border with Spanish Mexico all the way to the Pacific Ocean. And he formulated the Monroe Doctrine, which warned Europe that the Western Hemisphere was no longer…
Manifest Destiny was a dream about power, expansion, and glory. No doubt for a young and successful country as was United Estates in the beginning the idea of expand the country towards the west coast was a dream, a dream which for they would fight to make it a reality even if that means violating the rights of other people or in this case of other cultures. This is ironic because the the United States of…
Throughout the 1840s, the United States became infatuated with the thought of expanding west and using the idea of manifest destiny, which claimed that the American settlers were destined by divine powers to expand across the continent, to justify it. Although the land-hungry nation did gain a vast amount of new territory, westward expansion in the name of manifest destiny was not justified because of the many Indian lives that were destroyed, the total loss of integrity of the now brutal American empire, and the multiple conflicts that would result from it.…
In the United States in the 1800's Manifest Destiny was a widely held belief that America was destined to expand across the continent. Altogether Manifest Destiny was great for Americans and the future of the country. There are three basic themes to Manifest Destiny. The want and desire to expand westward. America wanted to expand themselves and become more of an agrarian society. It was an irresistible destiny that had to be accomplished.…
Global expansion was a rife endeavor during the eighteenth century as a means for larger cotton cultivation, the possibility of acquiring gold, and an increase in slavery. The complex undertaking soon became a simple one through the widely held belief of Manifest Destiny. The notion of Manifest Destiny was that the settlers of the United States were fated to expand across the country as a result of their Anglo-Saxon heritage and the inherent obligation to advance their convictions westward. While this ideology did not definitively state of a racial superiority, it was quickly realized through the various actions that different minorities faced. Conversations about race were implicit in Manifest Destiny because the belief allowed for the removed of the Cherokee Indians from their land in Georgia and the annexation of Texas from Mexico which led to explicit forms of racism presented throughout the Civil War.…
Manifest Destiny was very important during the election of 1844. During that election Polk made some promises about the land in the west. He promised Oregon in the United States. It later became a state. Polk offered to pay Mexico $30 million for California and New Mexico. However, Mexico opposed all because they did not want to lose anymore of their land.…
Manifest Destiny- This phrase was brought about by a newspaper editor around the year of 1845. During this time, America was expanding its land. Manifest Destiny was a belief of many American citizens in which they thought the United States was correct and warranted in expanding the United States and many citizens thought if America wasn’t going to expand, then who else would take the land. This was a major era in American history that allowed for the expansion of America in order for the nation to…
Manifest Destiny is a historic duty, in the 1800's the Americans believed that the manifest destiny of the United States was to expand to the Pacific Ocean. The United States started as costal colonies but eventually the fulfilled their manifest destiny and expanded buy conquering and purchasing land. The Americans gained more land by buying it from France in the Louisiana Purchase and they also acquired land by cession as they did in the Mexican Cession. Other ways of expanded their land was to take it by force; many settlers killed the Indians and stole their land from them.…
The entire concept of Manifest Destiny was created by the New York journalist John. L. O' Sullivan. It meant that America's fate was to possess or expand across the entire North America; it was undeniable and just waiting to happen. This is the point where many people started traveling west, for many purposes. It is true that America did acquire much land from expanding, but at what cost did we obtain it? I believe that America did not have the proper incentives while fulfilling its "destiny" and its voracious citizens and leaders took advantage of non Americans.…
One of the few constants of the world is the ever changing ways of Human Nature. In every civilization, every society, the way people act changes over the years depending on current events and popular opinions. An example of this shift would be the Americans around the early to mid nineteenth century. A once rebellious nation, the Americans fought for, and won, their independence in 1776. Yet soon after, the once fiery Americans settled down and became quite similar to those whom they had just overthrown. As Nietzsche described it: “If you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you”, and the abyss certainly did gaze right back into the hearts of the american populace in the early to mid nineteenth…