Manifest Destiny Research Paper

Improved Essays
Throughout history, humans has shown how they love to own things as much as they love to take things. Ownership seems be synonymous to power. The more you own, the more power you, and if lack in this area you will take. in. One would go to great measures to protect what they think is their’s. This applies to many things that require ownership. These are things that history has taught us. More specifically this applies directly to expansionism during the period of manifest destiny. America’s hunger for power supplied through land possession led to various instances in which expansionism empowered or excluded. Manifest Destiny was an ideology used to empower the growing country of America. Manifest Destiny was the popular idea that America was destined to expand westward and spread their influence to the western areas. This fantasized belief existedfor a very long period of time before actions, even took place and became central to the U.S. agenda in the 1940s. Some Americans loved the idea of wealth and prosperity with the mindset of “improving” the west. With this goal in mind America aimed to grow as large as possible by taking land from several places within the large area of land that the 13 colonies were a part of. The U.S. felt that when they obtain …show more content…
This was mainly due to the tremendous growth. The Louisiana purchase in 1803 doubled the united states, immedately making the much larger .Later, the united states acquired Texas, part of Oregon, California, New Mexico, and land that the United States took from the Native Americans. The possession of all of this new land gave birth to many opportunities. The land gave America access to some resources provided by the western land that would help America contribute to foreign commerce. President James Polk and President John Tyler were presidents during this time period. They aimed to utilize the land to participate in markets and for materialistic

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Jeffersonian policies played a key role in westward expansion, 19th century America relied greatly on this growth. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803, more than doubled the size of the U.S. and opened opportunities for trade through New Orleans and the Mississippi. Before this purchase took place, American access to the Mississippi and New Orleans was blocked, resulting in a grave threat to American trade and lifestyle. Gaining access to this land would also open up trade on a large scale, in addition to the growing of civilizations.…

    • 268 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Frontier Expansion Dbq

    • 266 Words
    • 2 Pages

    America seemed poised for an era of growth. President T. Jefferson proposed a vision for the nation that he took steps to make possible, including the purchase of Louisiana. As Americans continued to move West, conflict with Native Americans was unavoidable, and the federal government developed strongly pro-settler Indian policies. New territories became states, creating further political and sectional tensions as plans for the development of these new states were put forward. With the announcement of the Monroe Doctrine, President Monroe modified the definition of “frontier” and the concept of “Manifest Destiny” emphasized America’s sense of its mission in the world.…

    • 266 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Manifest Destiny is defined as the belief that God wants America to expand, which is exactly what happened (Kinsey Notes). The widespread assumption that pioneers had the divine right from God to expand from the east to west coast of the United States was motivation to explore new terrain and territories. The concept of Manifest Destiny had aided the westward expansion (Doc. 3), thus resulting in the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The government and those who held a higher power had a large say on the idea of Native Americans abiding in the United States. Because of Manifest Destiny and the westward expansion, our country received the shape and size it is today.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Manifest Destiny can be described as a U.S expansion that America had to expand their territory west. After independence had been conquered in the Revolution and then again in the War of 1812, a strong sense of nationalism was spread across the nation and demanded more land and opportunity. This westward expansion was also sparked by the Second Great Awakening where many settlers claimed that God called personally for the growth of the nation (UShist)These same settlers didn’t see fit of Natives in this vision and even labeled them as heathens. As a result of this derogatory label on the Natives and the belief that America had to continue to expand, many of the Native Americans were forced from their land. The United States justified this…

    • 331 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What Makes Ishmael Gorilla

    • 1388 Words
    • 6 Pages

    An average person these days are always concerned about money, they are always looking to expand even at the cost of others (Gauraw, 2013). This has been a major problem within recent history, not with just humans doing at the cost of other humans but the environment as well. A great example of this is the removal Native Americans when white settlers came into the picture. Another name for these new colonists could expansionists as they were looking to expand their nation’s land and power (Chiras, 2016). The natives being some of the few leaver cultures left didn’t want to start problems with these new people (takers), of course, there were a few groups who didn’t believe in making peace decide to start a war.…

    • 1388 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Manifest Destiny was the American dream which was to extend the nation from coast to coast. Through the Gold Rush the dream was fulfilled because it “helped colonize the country’s open land,” (Gillon 63). This had a positive impact because it is good to have a bigger country due to the fact their would be more land to hunt and farm which could be sold…

    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sectionalism In 1820-1850

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Manifest Destiny was the creature that grew out of those ideas and as those ideas grew into an ideology, so did the racial justifications for exploring and conquering new land. For example, many Americans believed that white Europeans were the superior race to their neighbors: the Mexicans, Native Americans, and African Americans. The thought that these races are “unfit” to be a part of American society spread like wildfire throughout the states and helped give those people, mostly from the South, the justification that white supremacy in the United States was acceptable. This harmful stereotype that people of color were “less than” white Americans not only led to the integration of slavery in America but also contributed to the genocide of Native Americans through westward expansion. Therefore, manifest destiny was the stepping stone racist Americans needed to spread their ideas throughout the…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Manifest Destiny is the ideology that the United States had the right to expand west by permission by God. This concept was the justification for westward expansion and was the cause of multiple conflicts between indigenous people and other countries. Most notable of these conflicts was the Mexican-American war. American settlers in Texas did not feel they had to abide by Mexican laws and ideas because God said they did not have to because the rules given to them are not from the United States, and thus not from God. The conflict between the Americans and Mexicans led to war.…

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Great Move (My opinion of why manifest destiny was a turning point in American History) American history has been debated time and time again. Everyone has a favorite time in history and often hold their own opinions about the events that take place. From the Declaration of Independence and the birth of America to the Revolutionary War that brought forth the great American dream, many things were innovated and changing. A new task, the task of moving west, started with Lewis and Clark and the great expedition that proved that moving west was in fact safe.…

    • 1333 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    And furthermore, if these people want to learn another trade, he or she requires a permission. Commonsense “permission” clearly means that these people have no free will. Moreover, despite the “abundance of everything” everyone is wearing the same thing. And if a person wants to visit a friend or wants to travel just to discover a new place, he or she requires a permission. Thus, although the opportunities to have everything and travel around, no one use can benefit from those opportunities.…

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Manifest Destiny was spoken as a way to build the future of America; America could Manifest any desire. It hoped to Manifest the idea of being viewed as a “city upon a hill” (Winthrop). This was all America ever wanted was to be; a country other nations could look up…

    • 2086 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It will darken our future history” (Channing 236). Channing made valuable points, because starting a war in your own country reflects the country bad. Channing also believed that by the believing in manifest destiny that it will start a trend that it is acceptable to go and fight for whatever you want until you get it, which will ultimately start more problems. Briefly in W.E. Channing Denouncing Expansion he wrote “Hitherto I have spoken of the annexation of Texas embroiling us with Mexico; but it will not stop here. It will bring us into collisions with other states” (Channing 237).…

    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Manifest Destiny is the name for the American expansion that occurred in the 1800s. It was an imperialistic act. The exact definition of imperialism is a policy of extending a country 's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. The United States was behaving like an imperial power through its expansion westward. There were already people living in those areas.…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Everything including land was assigned a certain value. Gold was equated a certain value and could buy anything including land, food and even human labour. Unfortunately, this led to the emergence of men yeaning for more and more. Locke strongly opposes this form of ownership. He argues that when, man cultivates land, and it yields something that in turn will benefit him and his close members.…

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays