Manifest Destiny And Westward Expansion Essay

Manifest Destiny is America's expanding from east to west and whites believed this is what God ordained them to achieve. Along with Manifest Destiny many believed that slavery was a good thing and many disagreed. As we gained more territory and expanded into the west our country was divided over this conflict, whether added states should be free or slave states. Manifest Destiny heavily influenced our sectional conflict over slavery in politics and geography in the United States.

Westward expansion in the United States began in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase. President Thomas Jefferson during this time in history almost doubled the size of the nation by negotiating with France, in which the United States acquired 800,000 miles of land west of the Mississippi River. One of the main reasons the United States began to move west ward, was our belief in Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was a belief that America was destined to run from coast to coast, from the Pacific ocean all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.

In the early to mid 1800s, Americans began to want to expand the country again. Some Americans did not agree with the idea of expansion, and wanted to remain complacent with the amount of territory that they currently owned. The nation was torn. There were supporters and opponents of the idea of expansion. Each side presented their points but we eventually ended up expanding.

Manifest Destiny pushed America into a new, positive light. Economics, along with the government and social classes were affected by Manifest Destiny.

In conclusion, Manifest Destiny changed the U.S. and everyone surrounding economically, socially, and geographically. America was changed economically by making money in different ways, socially by wanting different laws and governments than the surrounding peoples, and finally, geographically because they needed more land to profit from. This was a real turning point for the U.S., the indians were moved from their land, we gained Texas, which expanded our country and opened new land opportunities, and we gained more technology. Where would we be if this all wouldn’t have

If I had lived during during the 1800’s, I think I would’ve loved the idea of Manifest Destiny. The new land from the Louisiana Purchase and the Indian land would be very profitable for the economy. This land was very fertile, so growing crops would be a great investment. In South Dakota, gold was found causing the Black Hills Gold Rush in 1874. We also secure Oregon Territory, California, Mexican land in the Southwest, and, in the 1850s. There was also the California Gold Rush in 1848. Although not granted statehood until 1959, Alaska had the Klondike Gold Rush in 1896. People went westward to look for a better life. Land was cheap and the chance for a life of prosperity motivated people to move west. Westward expansion and the principle of

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.

Manifest Destiny is our god given right to expand from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. During Manifest Destiny there were many different cases that helped out country like expanding to Texas through the Mexican American War, and finding gold in California which will be later called the gold rush.

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.”)

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 term of Manifest Destiny originated in the 1840s and in the 19th century it was a belief that the United States will expand its territory throughout North America by influences of social, economic and political aspects. The topic for this research is about the Manifest Destiny and the Westward Expansion. This research highlights how manifest Destiny helped expand the United States territory. Manifest Destiny aided American westward expansion with contributions made by the Lewis and Clark explorations, Railroads and Telegraphs systems, and military conquests.

In its infancy, the territorial expansion of the United States was inevitable. Many factors played into the expansion. However, none other played a bigger factor than the belief in Manifest destiny. Manifest destiny is the belief that a county has God’s blessing to expand to as far as it can. This belief is what led to the huge territorial expansion of the United States, but did this country have the right to expand solely because of its beliefs. However manifest destiny led to huge territory gains for the young county.

Manifest Destiny was a mindset that played a crucial role in the expansion of the United States, and if it had not been thought of, America would not be the way we know it today in regards to how big it is. In this essay, I will discuss how it helped shape America, how it began, how it would affect events that happened later on in American history as a result, and how it led to making America what it is today.

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Westward expansion was a time of successes and failures, a time celebrations and grief, a time full of life and death but in the end it shaped how America is the way is today. Westward expansion was put in action because of the belief of Manifest Destiny, the belief that it is America fate to expand from the Atlantic to Pacific ocean. The economical, political and humanitarians impacts were necessary to achieve the goal of manifest Destiny and Westward Expansion.