Manifest Destiny Righteousness

The Mexican-American War was driven by the idea of "Manifest Destiny" (Which is the belief that America had a God-given right to expand the country's borders from sea to sea) This belief would eventually cause a great deal of suffering for many Mexicans, Native Americans and United States citizens. Following the earlier Texas War of Independence from Mexico, tensions between the two largest independent nations on the North American continent grew as Texas eventually became a U.S. state. Disputes over the border lines sparked military confrontation, helped by the fact that President Polk eagerly sought a war in order to seize large tracts of land from Mexico.

The Mexican-American War was a result of Manifest Destiny.  Manifest Destiny was a belief that Americans had a god given right to expand their border all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Not only did Americans believe that they also had a right to the land, but they also believed that they had a moral duty to civilize its occupants, which included Native Americans, Mexicans, and Spanish speaking Catholics. According to Britannica, the Mexican-American War originated from the United States annexation of Texas in 1845. Texas had been in a border dispute with Mexico at the time of the annexation  therefore, the conflict transferred to the U.S. Mexico claimed that the border ended at the Nueces River, and the United States claimed it ended at the Rio Grande River.

While Manifest Destiny and territorial expansion created conflict with foreign nations, including the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), and within the United States, it worked to unify the United States from 1830 to 1860 by strengthening the nation as a whole, creating economic opportunities for people from all different walks of life, and expanding the United States through the annexation of Texas and the acquisition of California from Mexico.

So the American’s stole the land from Mexico to get to the coast.”America wanted to extend their country all the way to the west”(background essay 317). This quote shows that America did want to spread to the West because of Manifest Destiny. “The texas wanted to have slaves but they didn’t want to be catholic”(doc A 323 john). This Information shows that the Americans ignored the mexicans and didn’t respect their laws. “Manifest Destiny is to overspread the continent”(roden 323). This shows that Americans would do anything in their way. This evidence shows shows the U.S was not justified into going to war with Mexico and it was not a good enough reason to do so. The Americans don’t have a good enough reason into go to war with Mexico because it was there land and they can’t just take and call it theirs. Manifest destiny doesn’t mean you have to go to

The term “Manifest Destiny” was, in part, an expression of a genuine ideal on the part of Americans. Yet it was also a justification to a push and to assume territory. The idea of Manifest Destiny was sparked by revolutionary American writings that encouraged appropriation of Canada. These writings rationalized that the Louisiana Purchase and the Untied States’ annexation of Texas ordained American complete domination of the North American continent. More broadly stated, Manifest destiny was a conviction that God intended North America to be under the control Americans. It’s an assertion of Anglo-Saxon supremacy.

Manifest Destiny means clear or obvious future or fate, therefore; the United States believed that it was their Manifest Destiny to expand Westward and to gain more land, this is how they came to war with Mexico. The expansion westward/ Manifest Destiny would change their standings economically, socially, and geographically. It changed them economically by making them money by working different jobs, mainly in factories, it changed them socially by having different views than Mexico; which made them develop new laws, and government it changed them geographically because of more and more land was being farmed, factories being built.

Manifest Destiny is a term coined by John L. Sullivan in 1845 when talking about the annexation of Texas. He believed, along with other expansionists, that it’s inevitable that the US population would spread across North America because the land is given by Providence to the United States and that it’s natural that the land should be part of the country [Doc 1]. The idea of westward expansion and Manifest Destiny had positive and negative effects on the politics, society and the economics of the United States and

During the 1800s the phrase “Manifest Destiny,” meaning obvious fate, was the belief that it was America’s right and duty to spread across the North American continent. This was a cause for Americans to start expanding their land ownership throughout the continent by settling in areas which they knew had many valuable resources. During the time that America had decided to annex Texas, many problems started to rise between Mexico and the United States. In the eyes of Mexico, the annexation of Texas was an act of war. Furthermore, both countries were having a hard time trying to agree on a border, because both wanted control of the Rio Grande, but it was unfortunate that only one of them would be able to claim the river. So, in 1846, Mexican soldiers started firing at American troops who were patrolling along the Rio Grande, which lead to sixteen Americans being killed and wounded. Polk used this as a cause for war, and stated that Mexico, “has invaded our territory and shed American blood on American soil.” All in all, the United states was clearly justified in going to war with Mexico, because Mexico had invaded American territory, shed American blood upon American soil, had come within American power, and the United states was able to offer them a position above any that they have previously occupied.

The Mexican War of 1846-1848 was one of major importance to U.S. history, but has since fallen into annals of obscurity. It was the nation’s first war fought on foreign soil: a war that advocated the concept of “manifest destiny”, the United States God-given right to claim territory for the establishment of a free democratic society (Stevenson 2009). Even though many historians claim the war was forced on Mexico by slaveholders greedy for new territory, President John Polk viewed the war as an opportunity to defend the annexation of Texas, establish the Rio Grande as its border, and to acquire the Mexican territories of California and New Mexico (Stevenson 2009).

One reason the Mexican War was justified was because of manifest destiny. Manifest destiny mean in the 19th century United States was destined to, stretch

Manifest destiny was the belief that God wanted the United States to own all of North America (Hall 301). But John O’Sullivan really only envisioned that white men were the only ones privileged enough to receive liberty (Hal 301). The Manifest Destiny was caused by the American people it gave them a sense of superiority over the other peoples who lived in North America. The declaration of the Manifest destiny wanted to expand the U.S. territory over the whole of North America and to extend and enhance its political, social, and economic influences. Eventually the United States won the war it had ended on February 2, 1848 when Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United

The point of view upon Manifest Destiny that I found most convincing and close to my own interpretation was “Manifest Destiny as an expression of white superiority is but one explanation for what became a clear rise of anti-Mexican sentiments in the 1850s”. This perspective to me seemed to be the only one that did not skirt around what seemed to be the logical truth and explanations for why Manifest Destiny took place: for the prospects they were able to gain from western lands; for the pursuit of Native American lands; and for the rise anti-Mexican sentiments. While a lot of other perspectives saw Manifest Destiny in the light of goodness and or because of religious reasons, I believe there was a bitter and more realistic truth; selfishness.

1) Explain the justification for the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, including material and idealistic motivation

Manifest destiny was used as an excuse for America claiming land it had never had any right to. Americans wanted to extend slavery and saw taking land from Mexico as a way to do so. President Polk set the perfect opportunity to get Mexicans to attack US soldiers, so he would have grounds for war. None of these were justified reasons for war, and only caused a larger rift to form within the nation. The United States’ unjustified decision to go to war with Mexico was a driving force in dividing the nation, ultimately leading to the Civil

While Manifest Destiny and territorial expansion created conflict with foreign nations, including the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), and within the United States, it worked to unify the United States from 1830 to 1860 by strengthening the nation as a whole, creating economic opportunities for people from all different walks of life, and expanding the United States through the annexation of Texas and the acquisition of California from Mexico.