Manifest Destiny Dbq Essay

During the 19th century, America was still expanding and growing stronger every year. People of the states used manifest destiny to justify their expansion and used it to acquire all land, from coast to coast. Manifest density is the believe or ideal that America was destined to expand to all the land between the two coasts. This drove the American people to fight for land and to take it from other countries. The Mexican-American War started with the American President, James K. Polk using manifest destiny to obtain a declaration of war from the Congress to go at war with Mexico. An example of an imperialist war is the Mexican-American war because of the belief of manifest destiny, treaties with Mexico, and the expansion into the newly acquired land. The first use of manifest destiny is by John L. O’Sullivan in the article “The Great Nation of Futurity,” which started the spread of the belief that America was destined to expand to the Pacific coast (Document 2). This article was important because it started the expansion into the West and the determination for the people to fulfill their density they believe that was given to them. Some Americans did not believe in manifest …show more content…
This happened because of the Bear Flag Revolt. The revolt caused California to break away from Mexican Possession and became an independent country. Until American forces came in and made it a state in 1850 (Document 8). This was significant because it started the organization of the new land into states and territories. Before any of the wars or treaties for land, most of the west coast was owned and occupied by the Spanish (Document 7). This is important because this shows the ownership of the land and how it was before manifest destiny made America to expand into the west. Expansion over time in an imperialist way can also be seen by the