The Pros And Cons Of Manifest Destiny

Congress has always played a pivotal role in addressing the social and economic issues of the United States. This legislation has shaped the US’s economic and political situations as well as affecting the public sentiment of America’s society. Two specific pieces of legislation passed during the course of the US’s history that have had significant impacts on slavery and sectionalism have been the Missouri Compromise (1820) and the Fugitive Slave Act (1850). Both legislative pieces have roots stemming from the theory of manifest destiny and the country’s desire to expand itself.

However, because I believe that Manifest Destiny was not justified, the more dominant arguments are the land that was obtained by the United States using Manifest Destiny was not fairly acquired. According to the Signs of Opposition, “By sending U.S. troops to the Rio Grande, they argued, Polk had bullied a weaker neighbor into committing an act of aggression.” This quote is explaining how the United States acquired Texas. Polk’s method of getting Texas was unethical because not only were hundreds of innocent people killed, but the United States bullied Mexico into firing on them. It was an unjust way to secure their hold on Texas.

There were many negative and positive aspects to Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was the idea that the United States was meant to expand from the East Coast to the West Coast. Many people agreed with this idea when John L. O’ Sullivan first used it in his essay, “Annexation in Democratic Review.” Although many people disagreed with this motive, causing it to be quite a controversial subject. One positive effect of Manifest Destiny was the discovery of new land, plants, and animals.

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,

1. When did the “Aroostook War” occur & what was its cause? An explosive controversy of the early 1840s involved the Maine boundary dispute. The St. Lawrence River is icebound several months of the year, as the British, remembering the War of 1812, well knew.

Towards the end of the Civil War, the United States watched as Eurocentric countries imperialized, but decided to focus westward of their own country instead. An earlier idea from years previous called manifest destiny, became apparent again. White settlers began to settle west and even forced a eradication on Native tribes in Oklahoma, and did the same for Mexicans within Texas. Both stood in the way of their "God given" destiny.

If you are like me you do not know what manifest destiny but after this essay you will know just like I do. Manifest Destiny is a nineteenth century American belief that people had the right to expand throughout the american continent. An example of Manifest Destiny is the belief by President Polk's administration that the U.S. should expand throughout the continent. Many English Americans of various ethnics agreed with O'Sullivan's view. O’Sullivan said in 1845 in to a new york newspaper reporter that it was a God given destiny for the united states to spread all over North America.

Manifest Destiny was the belief Americans had that they were destined to stretch from coast to coast. All throughout the 19th century, this attitude was enforced. To reach the goal of successful expansion, The United States tried to get all land possible. These territories were no easy task to achieve, however. Not only for America, but for the country on the other side of the agreement, it was difficult.

The year 1845, the American newspaper editor John O’Sullivan first coined the phrase, “Manifest Destiny”. This term is the belief that the United States should expand their territory from coast to coast. The Americans thought God was in their favor and should have the ability to take land. Without a doubt, might does not make right since the Americans did not have the right to be justified in the American acquisition of Texas and Mexico. The Americans were invited by the Mexican government to trade and settle in the northern territory, under these circumstances: learn Spanish, adopt the Roman Catholic religion and bring no slave nor democracy, which was not followed by the Americans.

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 first half of the nineteenth century was a period of successful expansion for the United States. American hunger for westward expansion resulted in several and political disputes between the United States and Mexico. Americans believed in the Manifest Destiny as an act to spread across from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean to seek for wealth and land . Tensions sparked when the American settlers encountered an obstacle with the indigenous tribes against the annexation of Texas along with various frontier states in Mexico. Primary causes of the Mexican-American War were the Louisiana Purchase, the Manifest Destiny, and the Texas Annexation.

Manifest destiny is something that went down in the early 19000ths. It was an expansion on the U.S To basically expand the states of the U.S.American continents was both justified and inevitable. It started in 1840. But it was mostly recognized in the 19000ths. It made states like california join the union.

The benefits of the Manifest Destiny outweighed the consequences. This is because the U.S was able to get more resources, increase population in the west, advance trade, and improve technology. These benefits have contributed to the economic development in the U.S. Furthermore, as the U.S were fulfilling the Manifest Destiny, they also imposed the Homestead Act, which helped evolve frontiers. The discovery of gold in the west, specifically, in California lured more people to the west.

“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.

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.