Manifest Destiny: What Would You Do?
An Essay
The manifest destiny was a belief that America had the right to expand to the entirety of North america. Throughout history, America used the momentum of this belief to add the Louisiana territory, Texas (Lone Star Republic at the time), Florida, Oregon, California, And the Gadsden purchase gave America a strip of land which became part of New Mexico and Arizona. Though all these states and territories helped the United states expand, they all had a multitude of pros and cons. If I were In a position of authority, I would have added Louisiana the way the United States did.
Louisiana would benefit the United States in many ways; The piece of land contained New Orleans and the Mississippi river. These would prove to be crucial, as they could serve as a major port for trading, and the Mississippi could aid in transportation. As America grew, so did the economy, and transportation of goods using boats and barges would benefit from the mississippi. The Louisiana purchase would also give the United States access to the gulf of Mexico, which would benefit the US in the same way the Mississippi
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At this time, Napoleon Bonaparte and France owned louisiana. Thomas Jefferson sent James Monroe to France with an offer to buy Louisiana for 7.5 million dollars. By then, Napoleon no longer needed louisiana. Napoleon knew that France and Britain were on the brink of war, and he believed he might lose Louisiana to the british. Rather than lose it, it made sense to sell it to the United states. Louisiana was sold to the US for 15 million dollars, which for the land was extremely cheap; it was only 2-3 cents an acre. This benefited the United states in many ways- The purchase was low risk, high reward. Since the US was still a new country, the cost of the purchase was in a good range, because Louisiana had many resources despite it being so
The Louisiana purchase and more expansion of the U.S. brought many concerns. First, how was the U.S. supposed to defend the grand new territory? They needed a defense against the Native Americans and the British. The British still had troops in the U.S. and Tecumseh was leading a Native American resistance movement. Second, how were they supposed to pay for that defense?
Let’s imagine that Napoleon didn’t have a need for the allotted money for the French war efforts so he decided not sell the Louisiana Territory or the Louisiana Purchase to the United States. The history of the United States would have been very different if we didn’t obtain the purchase of the Louisiana territory from the French specifically Napoleon because it would have changed the activities and regions in the United States a great deal. If this didn’t happen to begin with, The United States wouldn’t have a been a region ranging from coast to coast. This meaning that the United States would have not been doubled the size that it was previously.
The Louisiana Purchase had many affects on the country. One of the most clear results of the Louisiana purchase was that the size of the US was doubled, making it a world power with a larger population. The US also now had control of the New Orleans port allowing for more of a trade flow, and economic growth. They also gained control of many other waterways that could also be used as ports for trade. Another result that is not forgotten is that many natives were forced to assimilate or move farther
The Louisiana Purchase was signed on April 30, 1803 .It was negotiated between James Monroe and Robert Livingston. The purchase was between France (Napoleon) and The United States (Thomas Jefferson) for 15 million dollars .The purchase was signed on May 2, 1803 and made finalized December 1803. The benefits of the purchase were they doubled the size of the territory 827,000 square miles .The territory stretched from the Mississippi river in the east to the rocky mountain in the west and from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to Canada borders.
The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803. It had 828,000 square miles and most of the inhabitants in the region had a French, German, or Spanish background. The residents of the territory believed they would immediately be admitted to statehood and would have the same rights as those in the 1787 Northwest Ordinance, but the United States leaders thought otherwise. How did the Louisiana Purchase help the United States form a new notion about citizenship? The Louisiana Purchase helped the United States form a new notion when discussing the legality of the territory and how they would achieve statehood.
The Louisiana Purchase impacted the economic growth of the country in many ways. The first and most significant impact of the Louisiana Purchase was the huge acquisition of land that doubled the size of the United States at one go. The long term implications of this impact were as such. First, the large areas of forests contributed greatly to lumber industries.
The young(er) United States was burdened with a multitude of issues and rising growth of sectionalism; from the Louisiana Purchase to Tarrifs, the bridge partitioning the North and South was ever-growing. Divisions between slave and anti-slave culture were devastating, Northerners turned against Southerners, friend against friend; brother against brother. The Louisiana Purchase was the aquisition of the Louisiana Territory from France, specifically Napoleon, by Jefferson. It was sold for an estimated 15 million dollars and near-doubled the size of the United States. While the purchase was beneficial for the U.S, it also caused many problems in and among the citizens.
The Louisiana Purchase was drafted in mid April of 1803 by the French. The purchase included over 820,000 square miles of land, and at the extrememly cheap price of $11,250,000. The 820,000 square miles purchased included the very important port-city of New Orleans. The port-city was so important as it was in a highly valued location, being right on the MIssissippi river. This would allow for travel and trade
The Louisiana Purchase was one of the biggest bargains in history. This happened on April 30th, 1803. This was a land deal between France and the United States. The United States was very shocked to be offered the whole Louisiana region. They paid 15 million dollars for this land.
Manifest Destiny is a unique, yet mysterious fundamental series of events in American history. No other country’s history contains such an eventful history as the United States. Amy Greenberg’s book, Manifest Destiny and American Territorial Expansion, provides documented evidence that settlers believed they were destined for expansion throughout the continent. In other words, many religious settlers believed that it was a call from God for the United States to expand west. On the other hand, people believed that Manifest Destiny vindicated the war against Mexico.
The Federalists opposed the Louisiana Purchase because of practical reasons. It increased conflict with American Indians. The Louisiana Purchase was also opposed because of the constitutionality. It was opposed because of the political balance in the new territory. Hamilton states “the territory is not yet populated”.
Also, with the control of the Mississippi river we could now have stronger trade and be able to use the Mississippi river for different things. This evidence supports that it was a very smart move that the United States decided to make the Louisiana Purchase with France. To conclude, the Louisiana Purchase was a very smart move by the United States because this allowed many positive thing to happen. First, it allowed the western country to have peace and prosperity mainly with the Indians and opened a free and valuable market. Second, it doubled the size of the United States making it a bigger and stronger nation.
“Once we became an independent people it was as much a law of nature that this [control of all of North America] should become our pretension as that the Mississippi should flow to the sea” –John Quincy Adams (Henretta, p. 384). In the 1840s, Americans had a belief that God destined for them to expand their territory all the way westward to the Pacific Ocean. This idea was called Manifest Destiny. In the nineteenth century, Americans were recognized for coming together and building up one another for one cause: westward expansion.
I think the Louisiana Purchase affected the United States the most because the louisiana purchase was the way of a good affect of getting the united states to expand their land witch the united states asked Louisiana two make a deal by the united states to pay louisiana 10million dollars for only have some acsses of louisiana but louisiana said no because they were afraid of war again with britain and they new that canada would soon take over louisiana so they told the united states no you can have the whole entire louisana territory but they raised the price to 15million dollars, but president jefferson was not sure about this because this was not in the the constutusion said but he went with it anyway and that was it the United States purchesed
Manifest Destiny was the term used by John O’Sullivan to describe America’s desire to expand West due to reasons including both the vast amount of unclaimed land and the opportunities Americans wanted to explore. During this time, Americans believed that it was their God-given right to expand West, and therefore they were entitled to push away any groups that were in their way. Due to the mindset that the Americans could do as they pleased with the groups of people who got in their way, Manifest Destiny affected many groups of people, including the American Indians and Slaves, and continued to build up the preexisting tension between the North and South. One of the groups of people affected greatly by Manifest Destiny were the Native Americans. Manifest Destiny affected the American Indians by spreading foreign diseases to them as they moved Westward, through the Native American territory.