Westward Expansion Dbq Essay

In the time during Westward Expansion was the time of new beginnings in America and it was time to move forward in land. America wanted to be superior to the rest of the countries around them. They went through many challegements to buy Louisiana Territory and explore its land around it as well. The country even almost went into bankruptcy and was almost sold to the French, but hopefully that did not happened. They even with success of land came trouble with greedy with expansion.

From 1860 to 1890 the United States was changed forever by western expansion. Prior to the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1869 there were only three major cities in the west; St. Louis, MO, New Orleans, LA, and Chicago, IL (Westward Expansion 1) This limited the American economy to a finite number of distribution and shipping options. This all changed though with the east and west coasts being connected by rail. While Chicago, IL gets most of the historical credit for being a critical city in the growth westward, the true underdog is Denver, CO.

Westward Expansion and American Exceptionalism From the very first settlers in America, there has always been a keenness for land accumulation. In the 1800’s, America began an expansion. Whether it was for the salvation of the natives, Manifest Destiny or the hope for more opportunity, Americans developed a mindset that they had a unique role to pursue in spanning the new nation. Numerous documents of the time insisted Americans were superiors of the human race and had a special destiny designed by God in worldwide history.

A great number of Americans agreed with this idea, acting as an excellent source of motivation in the saving of California, Texas, and many other states. “Annexation,” by John L. O’Sullivan states, “[O]ther nations have undertaken… hostile interference against us,... hampering our power, limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence [God].” From this, I can infer that Manifest Destiny was more of a power than an idea that was given to the citizens of America. President James Polk saw it as his duty to fulfill this while saving the land to the west in the process. Being protestant, being given a scripture of the U.S. from the east the west coast, it was important to follow what was

Although, some people believe that Manifest Destiny gave America the right to expand their borders, the concept of Manifest Destiny did not give them this right because they bullied Mexico, they used brutal ways, and they ended up killing a lot of people. First, during the 19th century, many people believed in Manifest Destiny so they bullied Mexico into giving them land. In the article, “ Was the United States justified in going to war with Mexico?” it says “The combination of of American troops at the Rio Grande and the attempt to buy a large part of their country angered the Mexican government.”

Would you move Westward? The Westward Expansion is when several of people moved West for the gold rush. Not many people become rich! Many people do go though! I would stay and not move Westward because it’s difficult and might die/get injured, I might not find gold, and it’s a long journey!

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.

We’ve entered an age of massive expansion. It was an exciting, but also very unpredictable time. Americans swarmed west and as they did, new states regularly came into the Union. They quite literally believed that they were fulfilling the will of God in the process. A popular theory at the time was that it was the “Manifest Destiny” of the United States to one day overspread the entire North American Continent, and bring the blessings of liberty to all its peoples.

Manifest Destiny Names: Mohamed, Farzana ,Fahmida ,Matthew What is Manifest Destiny? ~The nineteenth-century belief that it was the United states destiny to expand its land from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.. This would extend & enhance its political and social influences etc. ~There was also a deep sense of a special and unique American Destiny, the belief that in the words of historian Conrad Cherry, “America is a nation called to a special destiny by God.”

Through the first half of this semester I have examined the undeniable truths of how Westward Expansion has affected Indians. It has encouraged me even more so to explore both sides of the story. I did not know how horrible Indians lives were when the outsiders invaded their land. I have been enlightened through this material concerning the mental and physical aspects of the westward expansion. The poor treatment towards Indians are shown immensely through the removal, and the stripping of their culture.

According to the article author Robert Morgan’s article titled “Lions Of the West”, Morgan’s way of writing this speech go the audience to agree with him in his writing. From reading the text Morgan seemed as if he was for the Westward Expansion by how he was describing the background information and he was giving examples of how some people did things and what he done differently. Robert Morgan’s text “Lion Of The West”, goes along with other texts as well such as Chief Joseph Speaks Selected Statements and Speeches by the Nez Perce Chief, The Way To Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday,Undaunted Courage by author Stephen E. Ambrose. All of these texts goes along because all of these texts are about the Westward Expansion. In the text of Chief

“it was God’s plan that America extend its territory.” (Roden 317) God wants America to take Texas. The Mexicans are “limiting our greatness checking the fulfillment of our Manifest Destiny” (O’Sullivan 323) People are wrongly stopping God’s plan. Later America got Texas, California, and Oregon Territory.(Roden 317)

The reason is because if congress didn 't agree to the expansions then they would not expand their land. Jefferson was a major factor of motivating the push for expansion, not only did he tell the people he wanted to expand but made sure people did by lowering the prices for land. This made more people want live out there and want to expand there land as well. Another factor was John L. O’Sullivan’s document on Manifest Destiny which stated, “America is destined for better deeds…..

Morgan’s central ideas in the article are reasonable. He provided sufficient evidence on his claims. He also gave good reasoning. There are several different articles that explain why Thomas Jefferson played an important role in the Westward Expansion as well, but he wasn’t responsible for it all.

The Westward expansion the USA started was very successful for gaining land. The expansion was a movement lead by the US to expand there country to the west. It was an awful experience for the natives it affected their population in a very negative way by taking there land and sometimes killing them. Was the US really in the wrong or was this young growing country just doing what was right for there people. The USA was way out of line when dealing with the native tribes by overlooking there treaty 's and not giving them a chance to speak.