The western genre depicts an era in the United States of America where expansionism and imperialism were at its peak and the people who lived in the west where fighting to keep things as they were and used to be. In the book, Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West (McCarthy, 1985), published in 1985, the violence and brutality depicted by the American frontier can be the film, The Wild Bunch, directed by Sam Peckinpah in 1969. The film seems to be the filmic version of the mythical written version of the book. Both the film and book contain groups of outlaws who quest their way across the west killing anyone who gets in their way, which is the classic take on the stereotypical American myth of the west. Though the plot line may seem the same the movie has a different ending to the book.
Expansionism consists of policies of governments and states that involve territorial or economic expansion (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016). Between 1803 and 1853, the United States grew size. In the early 1800s, the land west of the United States was undeveloped and it was considered to be uncivilized and underdeveloped even though
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The Monroe Doctrine was a U.S. foreign policy regarding domination of the Americas in 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression, requiring U.S. intervention (The Monroe Doctrine (1823), 2012). Manifest Destiny is a term for the attitude prevalent during the 19th century period of American expansion that the United States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast. This attitude helped fuel western settlement, Native American removal and war with Mexico (Manifest Destiny,
The Monroe Doctrine was an expression of nationalism as it declared the United States’s intention to stay out of European affairs and it forced Europe to not interfere in the Americas. Firstly, the United States declared it would stay out of European affairs, wars, and conflicts, signaling an inward focus. However, the United States also threatened Europe when it declared it would go to war in case any European nation attempted further colonization or interference in the Western hemisphere. Metaphorically speaking, the US built a wall between the Americas and Europe, impeding any military or political interference. Even though the US did not have the power to enforce this at the time, it was carving its path to dominate nations in Latin America
Although there have been many factors that have contributed to making the United States what it exists as in the modern day, the Monroe Doctrine and Manifest Destiny are two crucial documents and movements that played a role in the development of the United States. During the mid-nineteenth century, the Monroe Doctrine unified the United States, creating an environment of hostility towards other non-Western Hemispheres, specifically European forces. This document asserted the United States power as well as established its control over the Americas and the general Western Hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine served to provide a legal and social rationalization for the ideology behind Manifest Destiny, ultimately leading to Westward expansion.
Toward the end of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the United States was becoming an increasingly powerful nation and world power. The country was competing with other nations also expanding. Their motives for expanding were to gain land and resources. While there was a slight departure from past expansionism, the United States mostly continued as it had been in the previous years. In order to accomplish expansionism, the United States needed to acquire foreign territories to increase their global presence.
Grasso 1 Michael Grasso Ms. Vargas 20TH US HI. 21 September 2014 Westward Expansion in the 1800s After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which was the United States buying the huge territory known as Louisiana from the French, the country doubled in size. This gave the country great opportunity due to the abundance of land and natural resources. Some citizens believed in manifest destiny which is the belief that the American settlers were destined to expand as a country throughout the continent. In the 1860s when the Civil War was coming to an end the west was still greatly undeveloped and rural.
James K. Polk and the Expansionist Impulse by Sam W. Haynes Haynes’ biography of James K. Polk is a little bit different from the traditional biographical book with enumeration of important dates from life of historical figure. Instead the author takes different approach: while recounting development of Polk’s career, he looks at the Polk’s presidency through the lens of expansionism. Though he frames the 11th President as a strong adherent of aggressive territorial expansionism, Haynes also emphasises that Polk’s decisions cannot be separated from the political and social climate of his time. The author renders Polk from one side as the initiator of expansionists political moves, and from the other, as a product of contemporary social beliefs,
The Monroe Doctrine and Roosevelt Corollary meant to ensure the Europe stayed out of North and South America. While supporting the Monroe Doctrine, the Roosevelt Corollary meant to inform the world, that the US would maintain its interests in Latin America and could step in for any reason including debt, political instability and trade. Both the documents were intended to protect American interests and have served as the backbone for American foreign policy. President Monroe issued the Monroe Doctrine as the independence movements of Latin America from Portugal and Spain were largely concluded. The purpose of the doctrine was to state that the United States would consider any intervention by any foreign power in North or South America to
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 Monroe Doctrine was a speech given in 1823 by James Monroe, the 5th president of the United States, to the U.S. Congress concerning European presence in the Western Hemisphere. Monroe was becoming continuously concerned about European influence in the region. While the primary audience for this message was Congress, the intended audience was all European powers, including Russia, and Latin America. The events in Latin America before and after the Spanish-American War will be used as an example of the imperial reach by the U.S. The United States, ironically, became an imperial power through its mission outlined in the Monroe Doctrine to end European colonialism and imperialism.
“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.
At the start of the 19th century, America was already expanding its territory. In 1803, the United States of America had bought the Louisiana Territory, it was bought from France which had made the country two times larger. In 1819 Spain had given up their territory of Florida to the United States. President Monroe issued the “Monroe Doctrine” in 1823, its main purpose was to warn the European countries to not enter the Western Hemisphere. In order for America to achieve its goal of becoming an imperialist nation they had conquered other countries economically, culturally, and with a strong military in the late 1800’s.
Was American expansion justified during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s? This was a debate that Americans fought over then and still now fight over now. There were two types of people some were for expansion and others were against expansion of the U.S. Both sides of the story will be well explained in this essay. First, this will explain the people for expansion’s side.
The United States became first place in the world in farm output and and in number of factories. For example, the number of American export tripled wile American direct investments increased as well. Generally, new businesses and economic interest motivated expansionism within the United States. However, the book also states that politics, joined profits, patriotism, and piety played a huge role in expansionism. What do you think the biggest role in expansionism in the 1890's was?
In the 19th Century, there were strong supporters of the ideology of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was basically the belief of expansion by settlers expanding all over America because god supposedly destined the Americans for expansions by their resources. This resulted for the Americans to find a modern mode of transportation that would make traveling from the east to the west coast easier. This resulted in a mega construction known as the Transcontinental Railroad. The railroad not only helps with transportation but with trading.
How did the United States expand over the years and why? The expansion of the United States was a vital part of America’s history and greatly affects how we live today. America's early days only started in 13 states and then progressively grew to 50 states in total. The time throughout the 1800’s and what happened throughout that time greatly impacted how America expanded land, resources, opportunity, trade, and money. Two of many main causes that evoked American expansion was the amount of opportunity that America could take, the idea of Manifest destiny, and the amount of power that the US had on other countries.
The Monroe Doctrine was the Idea of the fifth president Of the United states James Monroe. It was passed on December 2, 1823, in the 7th annual message to congress. The policy was designed to show the separation of the New World from Europe. The Monroe doctrine stated that the Western Hemisphere could no longer be colonized by European countries and they were independent. It also stated that the United States will not interfere in any business of the Europeans or its European colonies.