free essay on manifest destiny

If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

To log in and use all the features of Khan Academy, please enable JavaScript in your browser.

Course: US history   >   Unit 4

• Jacksonian Democracy - background and introduction
• Jacksonian Democracy - the "corrupt bargain" and the election of 1824
• Jacksonian Democracy - mudslinging and the election of 1828
• Jacksonian Democracy - spoils system, Bank War, and Trail of Tears
• Expanding democracy
• The presidency of Andrew Jackson
• Indian Removal
• The Nullification crisis
• The age of Jackson

Manifest Destiny

• Annexing Texas
• Developing an American identity, 1800-1848

James K. Polk and Manifest Destiny

• Manifest Destiny was the idea that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire continent of North America.
• The ideology of Manifest Destiny inspired a variety of measures designed to remove or destroy the native population.
• US President James K. Polk (1845-1849) is the leader most associated with Manifest Destiny.
• Manifest Destiny inflamed sectional tensions over slavery, which ultimately led to the Civil War.

From sea to shining sea

Consequences of manifest destiny, what do you think.

• For more on the history of Manifest Destiny and the Native American Indians, see Robert J. Miller, Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008).
• For more on the Mexican-American War, see Robert W. Merry, A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War, and the Conquest of the American Continent (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2009).
• For more, see Steven E. Woodworth, Manifest Destinies: America’s Westward Expansion and the Road to the Civil War , New York: Random House, 2010.
• Tom Chaffin, Met His Every Goal? James K. Polk and the Legends of Manifest Destiny , Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2014.

Want to join the conversation?

• Upvote Button navigates to signup page
• Downvote Button navigates to signup page
• Flag Button navigates to signup page

• History Classics
• Your Profile
• Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
• This Day In History
• History Podcasts
• History Vault

Manifest Destiny

By: History.com Editors

Updated: November 15, 2019 | Original: April 5, 2010

Manifest Destiny, a phrase coined in 1845, is the idea that the United States is destined—by God, its advocates believed—to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent. The philosophy drove 19th-century U.S. territorial expansion and was used to justify the forced removal of Native Americans and other groups from their homes. The rapid expansion of the United States intensified the issue of slavery as new states were added to the Union, leading to the outbreak of the Civil War.

Louisiana Purchase

Thanks to a high birth rate and brisk immigration, the U.S. population exploded in the first half of the 19th century, from around 5 million people in 1800 to more than 23 million by 1850.

Such rapid growth—as well as two economic depressions in 1819 and 1839—would drive millions of Americans westward in search of new land and new opportunities.

President Thomas Jefferson kicked off the country’s westward expansion in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase, which at some 828,000 square miles nearly doubled the size of the United States and stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. In addition to sponsoring the western expedition of Lewis and Clark of 1805-07, Jefferson also set his sights on Spanish Florida, a process that was finally concluded in 1819 under President James Monroe .

But critics of that treaty faulted Monroe and his secretary of state, John Quincy Adams , for yielding to Spain what they considered legitimate claims on Texas, where many Americans continued to settle.

In 1823, Monroe invoked Manifest Destiny when he spoke before Congress to warn European nations not to interfere with America’s Westward expansion, threatening that any attempt by Europeans to colonize the “American continents” would be seen as an act of war. This policy of an American sphere of influence and of non-intervention in European affairs became known as the “ Monroe Doctrine .” After 1870, it would be used as a rationale for U.S. intervention in Latin America.

Texas Independence

Cries for the “re-annexation” of Texas increased after Mexico , having won its independence from Spain, passed a law suspending U.S. immigration into Texas in 1830.

Nonetheless, there were still more Anglo settlers in Texas than Hispanic ones, and in 1836, after Texas won its own independence , its new leaders sought to join the United States. The administrations of both Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren resisted such calls, fearing both war with Mexico and opposition from Americans who believed calls for annexation were linked with the desire to expand slavery in the Southwest.

But John Tyler , who won the presidency in 1840, was determined to proceed with the annexation. An agreement concluded in April 1844 made Texas eligible for admission as a U.S. territory, and possibly later as one or more states.

Despite opposition to this agreement in Congress, the pro-annexation candidate James K. Polk won the 1844 election, and Tyler was able to push the bill through and sign it before he left office.

The Coining of 'Manifest Destiny'

By the time Texas was admitted to the Union as a state in December 1845, the idea that the United States must inevitably expand westward all the way to the Pacific Ocean had taken firm hold among people from different regions, classes and political persuasions.

The phrase “Manifest Destiny,” which emerged as the best-known expression of this mindset, first appeared in an editorial published in the July-August 1845 issue of The Democratic Review .

In it, the writer criticized the opposition that still lingered against the annexation of Texas, urging national unity on behalf of “the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.”

As the phrase also appeared in a nearly identical context in a July 1845 article in the New York Morning News , its originator is believed to be John O’Sullivan, the editor of both the Democratic Review and the Morning News at the time. That December, another Morning News article mentioned “manifest destiny” in reference to the Oregon Territory, another new frontier over which the United States was eager to assert its dominion.

Oregon Territory

An 1842 treaty between Great Britain and the United States partially resolved the question of where to draw the Canadian border, but left open the question of the Oregon Territory, which stretched from the Pacific Coast to the Rocky Mountains over an area including what is now Oregon, Idaho, Washington State and most of British Columbia.

Polk, an ardent proponent of Manifest Destiny, had won election with the slogan “54˚ 40’ or fight!” (a reference to the potential northern boundary of Oregon as latitude 54˚ 40’) and called U.S. claims to Oregon “clear and unquestionable” in his inaugural address.

But as president, Polk wanted to get the issue resolved so the United States could move on to acquiring California from Mexico. In mid-1846, his administration agreed to a compromise whereby Oregon would be split along the 49th parallel, narrowly avoiding a crisis with Britain.

Why Mexico Won the Alamo but Lost the Mexican‑American War

In the Mexican‑American War, Mexico faced an enemy that was coming into its own as a military power.

How U.S. Westward Expansion Breathed New Life into Slavery

The 19th‑century American West has long been described as a land of opportunity. But for many, it was little more than another place of bondage.

How Native Americans Struggled to Survive on the Trail of Tears

Severe exposure, starvation and disease ravaged tribes during their forced migration to present‑day Oklahoma.

Impact of Manifest Destiny: The Civil War, Native American Wars

By the time the Oregon question was settled, the United States had entered into all-out war with Mexico, driven by the spirit of Manifest Destiny and territorial expansion.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , which ended the Mexican-American War in 1848, added an additional 525,000 square miles of U.S. territory, including all or parts of what is now California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.

Despite the lofty idealism of Manifest Destiny, the rapid territorial expansion over the first half of the 19th century resulted not only in war with Mexico, but in the dislocation and brutal mistreatment of Native American, Hispanic and other non-European occupants of the territories now being occupied by the United States.

U.S. expansion also fueled the growing debate over slavery, by raising the pressing question of whether new states being admitted to the Union would allow slavery or not—a conflict that would eventually lead to the Civil War .

Julius W. Pratt, “The Origin of ‘Manifest Destiny’,” The American Historical Review (July 1927). Sean Wilentz, The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (New York: Norton, 2005). Michael Golay, The Tide of Empire: America’s March to the Pacific Era of U.S. Continental Expansion, History, Art & Archives: U.S House of Representatives .

HISTORY Vault

Stream thousands of hours of acclaimed series, probing documentaries and captivating specials commercial-free in HISTORY Vault

Sign up for Inside History

Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details : Privacy Notice | Terms of Use | Contact Us

American Manifest Destiny Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

What American Beliefs and Values Shaped and Inspired Westward Expansion? How did Westward Expansion Cause America to Become Involved in Affairs with Foreign Powers, Including Native Americans?

Manifest Destiny was a belief that the United States was doomed to start the westward expansion because of the necessity to introduce social wellbeing to the American nation.

The supporters of the manifest believed that expansionism ideology was not only reasonable, but also inevitable and apparent for the development of the virtuous citizenry. Supported by Democrats, the Americans used this policy to justify the Mexican War.

This Manifest, however, has a deep historical and political underpinning that triggered the mass invasion and conquest of the West territories of the New World. Specifically, it was believed that the American mission is to defend and promote democratic trends throughout the world.

The westward expansion, therefore, is closely associated with such important historical events, as war with Mexico, Manifest Destiny, slaver, and Compromise of 1850, which shaped and inspired the American beliefs about economic progress, nation’s health, and social welfare.

Because of their unauthorized and violent expansion, American became involved in foreign powers, including Native Americans.

In fact, Manifest Destiny had become a popular term from 1812 to 1860, the period of North American expansions, which was also known as continentalism. The purchase of Louisiana by the President Thomas Jefferson at the beginning of the nineteenth century was the starting point of expansionist policy of the United States.

The purchased area doubled the size of the country and the President believed that the westward expansion created a favorite ground for advancing the nation’s health. He also insisted that a republic was based on independent spirit of the citizenry, which was essential for its survival.

What is more important is that the independence and virtue went in accord with land ownership, particularly that of small farms. The population of yeomen should be provided with enough land and, therefore, the United States should continue expanding the west territories.

The westward expansion is one of the core themes in the nineteenth century’s history of America, but it is not confined to Jefferson’s policy only, whose concept “empire of liberty” was practiced. In fact, the Louisiana Purchase marked the aggressive expansion in six decades later, which almost destroyed the republic.

By 1840, the Americans inhabiting the trans-Appalachian West continued the expansionism tendency in the pursuit of economic progress and development.

Similar to Thomas Jefferson, most of the supporters of this economic course believed that land ownership and farming development, and westward migration were associated with social and economic prosperity.

Many factory workers from Europe organized a permanent and dependent class. In contrast, the American owners viewed alternative opportunities of industrial and agricultural development, which are possible as soon as they crossed the western frontier.

Besides, this option opened them more chances to become independent and equal. In 1945, John Sullivan, a journalist and rigid supporter of Jacksonian democracy, was first to introduce a name to the economic and ideological course of the American Expansion.

In particular, he argued that westward migration was considered a critical part of the democratic project due to the emergence manifest destiny of the United States and its citizens adhering to the utmost values of liberty spread all over the continent. Hence, continental intrusion has become the key to the survival and sustainability of American freedom.

The new beliefs and ideologies shaped new concept and essence of slavery. Specifically, the new western states faced contradictions concerning the question of either prohibiting or accepting slavery.

To resolve the issue, the Missouri Compromise approved Missouri as a slave state whereas Main was regarded as a free state. In such a manner, it was possible to strike the balance between the political oppositions in Congress.

Moreover, it also promised later prohibition of slavery in the northern part of Missouri, as well as in the rest part of the Louisiana Purchase. However, the issue of slavery was not considered properly, because the Missouri Compromise was not applicable to the new lands of Louisiana.

Moreover, the southern economy prospered considerably because it depended on the forced labor system, as well as on “King Cotton”. These two factors were decisive in economic sustainability. As a result, Northern part of the United States considered slavery as a way to shape their own concept of liberties and, therefore, the advocates of pro-slavery interests in Congress were more concerned with the future of farmer yeomen.

They did not withdraw slavery as a part of farming, but they still considered expansion as the only method to increase their economic opportunity.

Despite the conflict between states, Americans continued moving to the western territories after the adoption of the Missouri Compromise. Many people migrated to the Oregon Territory through the Rockies, as well as to the Mexican lands of New Mexico, California, and Texas.

In 1837, Texas was joined to the United States from Mexico and was proclaimed as a slave state. The event upset the balance initiated by the Missouri Compromise and, as a result, the annexation of Mexican territories was not of primary importance until James Polk, elected to the presidency, joined the union and declared it a slave state.

In 1846, Polk stated war against Mexico, declaring that the Mexican military forces had invaded American lands and had slaved American people. Despite the strategies established by Polk, as well as justifying principles of expansion.

However, O’Sulluvan rejected to the violent and cruel conquering of the territories initiated by Polk, believing that this contradicts the Manifest Destiny because the concept of expansion was not congruent with the military invasion, but gradual and voluntary establishment of republic system and democratic ideologies.

After the Mexican-American War, the contradictions about the slavery expansion contributed to further territorial annexation. In such a manner, the concept of Manifest Destiny has turned into the attempt to sustain slavery and conquer new territories by force.

The controversies related to the manifest were aggravated by the emergence of different slave conspiracy theories. Hence, under the auspices of Manifest Destiny, invaders continue military intrusion to new territories and initiated filibustering exhibition to Mexico, Canada and Latin American countries.

Though the operations were illegal, these expeditions were highly popularized and romanticized in the American press. Wealthy Americans invested operations and were interested in the conquering of such territory as Cuba, the land of the Spanish Empire.

Polk’s attempt to annex Cuba to the United Stated failed, but his administration continued filibustering and financing illegal operations.

Whigs government, the opposition, tried to halt the expeditions. In 1850s, the policy of filibustering continued under the control of Piece, but the effort to buy the Cuban island failed because of discovery of the genuine plans of the government.

The public connected annexation with slavery expansion and, therefore, Manifest Destiny was no longer popular at that time.

William Walker was another filibuster who kept westward expansion in 1850, but his efforts failed due to the outbreaks of the Civil war, which signified the end of the Era of Manifest Destiny. Expansionism played an important role in triggering the military conflict between the Southern and Northern forces.

The point is that Manifest Destiny concept has differently perceived by the U.S. citizens, particularly in terms of slavery expansion.

At the same time, some of the supporters of Manifest Destiny believed that this concept served as unifying force for the nation, as well as for advancing economic prosperity in the country.

Apart from the values and beliefs about unified and economically health nation shaped during the westward expansion, the political ideology had a potent impact on the Native population of the New World.

The supporters of Manifest Destiny followed the European practice of acknowledging limited rights of indigenous to the land. The U.S. government encouraged Indians to sell their lands and abandon hunting to join the civilized community of farmers.

In fact, the U.S. administration sought to proceed with their policy of westward expansion and reorganize the tribe structures of the conquered territories. All these operations were connected with Jefferson’s belief that Indians’ rights and habits should be equalized with those of white population and, therefore, they should be forced to accept the norms and values of the European invaders.

This new belief was more associated with the Enlightenment thinking in accordance with which both the white population and the Native American should be united in a single nation.

This idea became known as “Indian Removal” which was based on the assumption that the Native Americans would assimilate as soon as moved to the new territories and accepted the new rules and traditions of the whites.

At the same time, Manifest Destiny expressed racial controversies because many Americans insisted that the indigenous people would fade away during the American expansion.

Moreover, Indians were regarded as the major obstacle to conquering the western territories, as well as to sustaining the new ideology of a healthy nation.

After the American Civil War, Manifest Destiny revived with greater force. The Republicans continued their expansion overseas. The President William McKinley admitted that ceasing expansion could perverse the destiny of the nation.

On the one hand, such a policy was considered as an extension of westward conquer crossing the Pacific Oceans. On the other hand, Manifest Destiny was more associated with imperialist trends.

The American Manifest Destiny was denounced as the major policy of promoting America’s destiny. Despite the fact that the continental expansion was based on the concept of preserving and promoting nation’s health and economy, its actual purposes were confined explicit and forced territorial expansion leading to enslaving and “civilizing” the indigenous population.

Because of the goal to expand the territory as a means of improving and promoting economy and democratic ideologies, the American invaders encourage indigenous population to sell their lands and more to the new territories.

In such a ways, they strived to assimilate the Native American population and prevent their interference with the policy of expansion.

By civilizing the Indian, white people removed them as an obstacle to the total control of the entire continent. Therefore, the real intention to enslave the indigenous population was disguised under the idea of Manifest Destiny.

• Freedom Degree in Colonial America
• Financial Strategies of the Confederacy vs. Union Governments’ Economic Choices
• Black Americans In The Westward Movement: The Key Figures
• Industrialization and Westward Expansion
• Crisis of Westward Expansion: Slave Labor Versus Wage Labor
• The Great Migration Causes and Effects
• The Los Angeles Riots of 1992
• American Industrial Workers: A Struggle for Recognition
• Race and Citizenship in the Early Republic
• U.S. Constitutional Convention
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, April 8). American Manifest Destiny. https://ivypanda.com/essays/manifest-destiny/

"American Manifest Destiny." IvyPanda , 8 Apr. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/manifest-destiny/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'American Manifest Destiny'. 8 April.

IvyPanda . 2019. "American Manifest Destiny." April 8, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/manifest-destiny/.

1. IvyPanda . "American Manifest Destiny." April 8, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/manifest-destiny/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "American Manifest Destiny." April 8, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/manifest-destiny/.

• Study Notes
• College Essays

AP U.S. History Notes

• Chapter Outlines
• Practice Tests
• Topic Outlines
• Court Cases
• Sample Essays
• Manifest Destiny

The Oregon Country

The spirit of "Manifest Destiny" pervaded the United States during the Age of Reform—the decades prior to the Civil War. John L. O'Sullivan, editor of the influential United States Magazine and Democratic Review , gave the expansionist movement its name in 1845, when he wrote that it is "the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions." Manifest Destiny was stimulated by nationalism and an idealistic vision of human perfectibility. It was America's duty to extend liberty and democratic institutions across the continent. Underlying this divine American mission was a feeling of cultural—even racial—superiority. Anglo-Saxon Americans believed that they had a natural right to move west, bringing with them the blessings of self-government and Protestantism. Americans gradually had been moving westward for two centuries, but in the 1830s and 1840s they pushed across the continent.

By the early nineteenth century, Spain, Russia, Great Britain, and the United States claimed sovereignty to the Oregon country. Oregon was a sprawling region of half a million square miles west of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, between what is now the northern boundary of California and the southern tip of Alaska. Spain ceded its claims with the Transcontinental Treaty, negotiated in 1819 by John Quincy Adams, by which the United States acquired Florida and relinquished any nebulous claims to Texas under the Louisiana Purchase. In the mid-1820s, Russia acknowledged that Alaska extended only to the present-day southern boundary of 54o 40' north latitude, and ultimately sold its holdings north of San Francisco at Fort Ross to settlers.

The withdrawal of Spain and Russia left Oregon to the United States and Great Britain. Both had strong claims to the region based on discovery and occupation. George Vancouver, a British naval officer following up on the voyages of Captain James Cook, explored the coastline in 1792, and the Hudson Bay Company subsequently established fur-trading posts. Also in 1792, Robert Gray, an American fur merchant sailing out of Boston aboard the Columbia , discovered the majestic river named for his ship. Lewis and Clark wintered on the Oregon coast during their famous expedition, and John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company built Astoria in 1811.

The United States and Britain agreed to the "joint occupation" of Oregon in 1818, when Spain and Russia still had claims to the region, allowing the citizens of each nation equal access to the territory. Merchant mariners and "mountain men" who worked for the various fur companies shared Oregon with the Indians, but there were few white settlers. Then, in 1829, Hall J. Kelley renewed interest in the region with the American Society for Encouraging the Settlement of the Oregon Country.

The Reverend Jason Lee, and several other Protestant missionaries sent to convert the Flathead Indians, settled in the Willamette River valley, south of the Columbia, by the 1830s. Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa, who was among the first group of white women to cross the Rockies, built their mission east of the Cascade Mountains among the Cayuse Indians. The Whitmans, who never learned to appreciate the natives’ culture or social customs, were killed by the Cayuses after a measles epidemic decimated the tribe. Other missionaries also faced resistance from the Indians who wished to maintain their traditional ways, and began encouraging white emigration to extend "civilization" to the territory. There were about 500 Americans living in the region by the end of the decade, sending back reports on the temperate climate, abundant forests, and fertile soil.

Motivated by the spirit of Manifest Destiny, "Oregon Fever" seized thousands of western Americans hard hit by the economic depression—known as the Panic of 1837—triggered largely by an over-speculation in federal lands. Independence, Missouri, was the starting point of the 2,000 mile Overland Trail, blazed by Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger, and other mountain men. Commonly referred to as the "Oregon Trail," the route ran along the Missouri and Platte Rivers, across the Great Plains, and through the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains. West of the continental divide, in present-day Idaho, wagon trains either moved into Oregon down the Snake and Columbia Rivers or turned southward along the California Trail.

In the years prior to the Civil War, more than 300,000 Americans traveled west, typically with all their belongings in "prairie schooners," canvas-covered wagons typically pulled by oxen. Most of the Oregon pioneers were young farm families from the middle west, who completed the difficult journey in five or six months. A high percentage of the California gold-seekers were young, unmarried men, who expected to return to their families as wealthy men. Many overland pioneers died on the trail—17 per mile, according to one estimate—but fewer than 400 were killed by hostile Indians. The various Indian tribes frequently developed a flourishing trade with the whites passing through their lands, and occasionally served as scouts for the wagon trains.

It was clear that the joint occupation of Oregon could not continue indefinitely. About 5,000 Americans had made the trek to Oregon by the mid-1840s, most of them settling south of the Columbia River. There were perhaps 700 British citizens living near Fort Vancouver on the north bank of the Columbia. Daniel Webster and Lord Ashburton discussed the Oregon issue during their negotiations in 1842, but did not reach an agreement. President John Tyler suggested that the boundary line be extended from the Rocky Mountains along the forty-ninth parallel, but the British refused to relinquish their claims to the Columbia. The spirit of Manifest Destiny could not be held in check for long, however, and the presidential election of 1844 ultimately determined the extent of American territorial expansion.

The Annexation of Texas

When Mexico gained its independence from Spain, Texas was a sparsely settled frontier province bordering the United States. Texas, explored by the Spanish as early as the 1500s, was largely neglected in the centuries that followed. Only a few thousand Mexicans—known as Tejanos —lived in the province by the early 1820s, most of them clustered around the mission at San Antonio. The Mexican government encouraged Americans to emigrate to Texas in an effort to create a military buffer between marauding Indians and the more southern provinces. The Americans were required to give up their citizenship, convert to Roman Catholicism, and become Mexican citizens. In return, they were granted huge tracts of land in the region bordering Louisiana, along the Sabine, Colorado, and Brazos Rivers.

The first American empresario was Moses Austin, a former New Englander who had traded with the Spanish for decades. Austin was granted 18,000 square miles, with the understanding that he would settle 300 American families on his lands. His son, Stephen F. Austin, had the grant confirmed by Mexican authorities after his father’s death, and by the mid-1830s there were about 30,000 Americans ranching and growing cotton with the aid of several thousand black slaves. Despite the fact that the Mexican government had abolished slavery, Americans continued to emigrate with their “lifetime indentured servants.” The Americans in Texas greatly outnumbered the native Mexicans, and they sought full statehood for the province in order to gain home rule.

The American-born Texans supported Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna for the presidency of Mexico in 1833, because they believed he would support statehood. But after his election, Santa Anna proclaimed a unified central government that eliminated states’ rights. The Texans, with some Tejano allies, revolted against Santa Anna’s dictatorship. The revolutionaries declared their independence on March 2, 1836, and adopted a constitution legalizing slavery. David G. Burnet, a native of New Jersey who had lived with the Comanches for two years, was chosen president of the new republic. Sam Houston, a former Tennessee congressman and governor who fought under Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812, was selected as Commander-in-Chief of the army.

The Mexican government responded swiftly to put down the Texas rebellion. Santa Anna raised a force of about 6,000 troops, and marched north to besiege the nearly 200 rebels under the command of Colonel William B. Travis at the Alamo, the abandoned mission at San Antonio. The final assault was made on March 6, and the entire garrison was annihilated, including the wounded. Among the dead were frontier legends Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. A few weeks later at Goliad, Santa Anna ordered the slaughter of 300 Texas rebels after they surrendered.

The Texas Revolution struck a sympathetic chord in America. Hundreds of southwestern adventurers responded to the romanticized heroism of the Alamo and promises of bounty lands. Ignoring American neutrality laws, they rushed to join the Texas army. With fewer than 900 men—about half the size of Santa Anna’s force—General Houston surprised the Mexicans at the San Jacinto River, near the site of the city that bears his name. “Remember the Alamo!” and “Goliad!” were the rallying cries of the Texans as they overwhelmed the veteran Mexican army.

Santa Anna was captured after the Battle of San Jacinto and forced to sign a treaty recognizing Texas as an independent republic, with the Rio Grande River as its southwestern boundary. Upon his return to Mexico City, Santa Anna repudiated the peace treaty. The Mexican Congress likewise refused to acknowledge the independence of Texas, and continued to claim the Nueces River as the boundary of its “rebellious province.” Mexico warned of war should the United States attempt to annex Texas.

Following the revolution, Sam Houston was elected president of Texas, and diplomatic envoys were sent to Washington seeking admission to the Union. President Andrew Jackson, concerned that the annexation of Texas might mean war with Mexico and knowing it would upset the sectional balance between free and slave states, merely extended diplomatic recognition to the new republic on March 3, 1837. His immediate successor in the White House, Martin Van Buren, also managed to sidestep the question of annexation.

President Van Buren was defeated for re-election by William Henry Harrison in the famous “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” campaign of 1840. Tyler was a former Democratic senator from Virginia who resigned his seat rather than vote to expunge a resolution of censure directed against Jackson. This made him an attractive running-mate for Harrison, but it did not make him a Whig in principle. Harrison became the first president to die in office (only a month after his inauguration) and President Tyler soon broke with the Whigs over two key issues—the constitutionality of a national bank and the annexation of Texas.

Tyler selected South Carolinian John C. Calhoun as secretary of state, and instructed him to negotiate a treaty of annexation with the Texas envoys in Washington. Expansionists feared that an independent Texas would blunt America’s march into the southwest. Calhoun subsequently submitted a treaty to the Senate, but also made public his correspondence with the British minister, Richard Pakenham. In his letter, Calhoun chastised British officials for pressuring the Texans to abolish slavery in return for Mexican recognition of their independence. The Republic of Texas had established close diplomatic ties with several European nations, including Britain and France, in an effort to protect itself from Mexico. After defending slavery as a benign institution, Calhoun claimed that the preservation of the Union required the annexation of Texas. By linking the expansion of slavery with the admission of Texas, Calhoun doomed the annexation treaty.

The annexation of Texas and the Oregon boundary dispute were major issues during the election of 1844. While President Tyler was plotting to annex Texas, the leading contenders for the presidential nominations of the Democratic and Whig Parties did their best to defuse the explosive controversy. Former president Martin Van Buren and Henry Clay published letters expressing their opposition to the immediate annexation of Texas. Their anti-expansionist views cost Van Buren the Democratic nomination, and Clay the presidency.

Manifest Destiny was so strong among northwestern and southern Democrats, that the party’s national convention nominated James Knox Polk of Tennessee for president. “Young Hickory” ran on a platform calling for the “re-annexation of Texas” and the “re-occupation of Oregon.” Clay received the Whig nomination by acclamation, but westerners remembered his Texas letter and some northeasterners refused to support a slaveholder. James G. Birney, the candidate of the Liberty Party, polled enough Whig support in New York to swing that state’s electoral vote to Polk, who was elected president.

President Tyler viewed the Democratic victory as a mandate to annex Texas. Recognizing the difficulty of securing the two-thirds Senate vote necessary to ratify a treaty, Tyler hit upon an ingenious ploy. He sought a joint resolution of annexation from Congress that required a simple majority in each house. This was accomplished shortly before Tyler left office. After a state convention agreed to annexation on the Fourth of July, Texas was formally admitted to the Union in December 1845. President Polk, meanwhile, ordered General Zachary Taylor and about half of the United States army—some 3,500 men—to take up a defensive position on the Nueces River.

The Mexican-American War

The process of admitting Texas as a slave state was well under way by the time Polk became president on March 4, 1845. One plank of the Democratic platform was thus resolved. In his first annual message to Congress, Polk asserted that the American claim to the entire Oregon country was “clear and unquestionable.” The British, who had refused on several occasions to relinquish any territory north of the Columbia River, now had a change of heart. Their chief fur-trading post had been moved to Vancouver Island, and British Minister Pakenham suggested extending the boundary line from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific along the forty-ninth parallel. Polk, focusing on settling the Texas controversy and acquiring California, agreed to submit the British proposal to the Senate. On June 18, 1846, over the protests of expansionist Democratic senators demanding all of Oregon to the southern border of Alaska—“Fifty-four forty or fight”—the Oregon boundary settlement was ratified. Polk was especially pleased with the timing of the compromise, because the United States was already at war with Mexico.

Mexico broke diplomatic relations with Washington following the annexation of Texas, and continued to claim the Nueces River as the southwestern border of its rebellious province. Exacerbating the situation were millions of dollars in inflated claims that Americans had lodged against the Mexican government, and the driving desire of President Polk to acquire the valuable Pacific ports of California. Polk appointed John Slidell of Louisiana as minister to Mexico, and instructed him to offer up to 30 million dollars to settle the disputed claims and purchase California and New Mexico—the territory between Texas and California. Secretary of War William Marcy suggested to Thomas Larkin, the American consul in Monterey, that the Californios might follow the Texas example and declare their independence from Mexico. John Charles Frémont led an ostensible “exploring expedition” to support such a revolt.

The Polk administration failed in its initial efforts to acquire California and settle the Texas controversy. Californians did not rise in revolt, and Mexico rejected Slidell as an American minister. Polk then ordered General Taylor to move his troops across the Nueces to the Rio Grande, but the stalemate continued. On Saturday, May 9, 1846, the president informed his cabinet that the U.S. “had ample cause of war,” based upon the rejection of Slidell as minister and the claims issue. Only Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft, the preeminent historian of the age, opposed seeking an immediate declaration of war from Congress. That very evening, however, word was received that fighting had commenced along the Rio Grande. The following Monday, Polk declared that Mexico “invaded our territory, and shed American blood upon American soil.” Congress responded with a war resolution and an authorization for 50,000 volunteers.

The war with Mexico was popular in the Mississippi Valley, but was derided as “Mr. Polk’s War” in the northeast. Whigs generally opposed the war, but party members in Congress voted to support the American soldiers and marines during the fighting. Abraham Lincoln, a Whig congressman from Illinois, believed Polk rushed the country into war over the disputed territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande. He demanded to know the exact “spot” the war started, but his views were not popular back home and he chose not to run for reelection.

Antislavery men naturally viewed the conflict as a brazen conspiracy to extend the boundaries of the "peculiar institution." James Russell Lowell, an abolitionist poet, castigated the Mexican War in the Biglow Papers : /> /> /> />

Henry Davis Thoreau symbolically protested the war by refusing to pay his Massachusetts poll tax. He spent one night in the Concord jail, before his aunt paid his fine and he returned to Walden Pond to write a classic essay, “Civil Disobedience.” Thoreau rhetorically inquired: “How does it become a man to behave toward this American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it.”

Despite the opposition of Whigs and antislavery men, the war with Mexico was an unparalleled military success. After the first clash in late April, General Taylor crossed the Rio Grande and defeated numerically superior Mexican forces at the Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. Advancing on Monterrey, a town in northern Mexico, "Old Rough and Ready" and his men faced fierce house-to-house fighting against a valiant Mexican army led by General Pedro de Ampudia. Taylor agreed to a negotiated surrender, allowing the Mexican troops to retreat with their arms. President Polk countermanded the armistice, and ordered Taylor to take a defensive position and detach most of his veteran troops to bolster a planned attack against Mexico City. General Santa Anna tried to exploit Taylor’s weakened position, but the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847 was a stunning American victory. It was also Taylor’s last fight—he returned home a military hero destined for the White House.

Polk’s main objective—California—was not the scene of major military action. Americans living near Sonoma raised the “Bear Flag Revolt” in June 1846, aided by Frémont’s small force. After his sailors and marines seized Monterey, Commodore John D. Sloat proclaimed the annexation of California and instituted a military government. Some Mexican loyalists resisted the American occupation, and sporadic fighting continued. Meanwhile, Colonel Stephen Kearney's small army garrisoned Santa Fe, New Mexico, before resuming their march. En route, Kearney encountered Kit Carson, who incorrectly reported that California had been pacified. Sending all but one hundred men back east, Kearney joined forces at San Diego with Commodore Robert Stockton and helped put down the loyalist revolt. The American forces entered Los Angeles in January 1847, ending the fighting in California.

The decisive campaign of the war was the expedition against Mexico City. Winfield Scott, the commanding general of the United States Army, landed his men on the beaches near Vera Cruz, and commenced a march that traced the route taken 300 years before by Cortés. Scott brushed aside Santa Anna’s army at Cerro Gordo, a battle in which Captains Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan distinguished themselves. Santa Anna hastily recruited a Mexican army of about 20,000 troops, but many of them were ill-trained and equipped. In a series of sharp battles near the capital city, General Scott's army of nearly 14,000 men overwhelmed the Mexican forces. The fortified hill of Chapultepec was stormed despite the desperate resistance of the defenders, who included young military cadets known as “los niños." Mexico City fell on September 14, as American soldiers and marines entered the “halls of the Montezuma.”

Nicholas P. Trist, the chief clerk of the State Department, was sent by Polk to negotiate a peace treaty with the Mexican government. It was signed on February 2, 1848, at Guadalupe-Hidalgo. Mexico acknowledged the annexation of Texas (with the Rio Grande as its border), and ceded New Mexico and California to the United States. In return, the United States paid $15,000,000 for the Mexican Cession, and assumed up to $3,250,000 of the disputed claims. The war’s human toll included about 13,000 American dead—the vast majority due to diseases. In terms of the percentage of combatants, this remains the nation's costliest military conflict. It also reopened the slavery expansion controversy settled by the Missouri Compromise of 1820.

Ralph Waldo Emerson prophetically warned, “The United States will conquer Mexico, but it will be as the man swallows the arsenic, which brings him down in turn. Mexico will poison us.” Indeed, the Mexican Cession became a political battleground between the North and the South. The issue was raised early in the war by David Wilmot, a Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania. Employing the language of the Northwest Ordinance, Wilmot proposed that slavery be prohibited in any territory acquired from Mexico. The “Wilmot Proviso” passed the House frequently in the next several years, but it was always defeated in the Senate. It never became law, but represented the extreme Northern position regarding the extension of slavery.

You just finished Manifest Destiny . Nice work!

Previous Outline Next Outline

Tip: Use ← → keys to navigate!

How to cite this note (MLA)

More apush topic outlines.

• Discovery and Settlement of the New World
• Europe and the Impulse for Exploration
• Spanish and French Exploration
• The First English Settlements
• The New England Colonies
• The Middle, Chesapeake, and Southern Colonies
• Colonial Life
• Scientific and Religious Transformation
• French and Indian War
• Imperial Reorganization
• Philosophy of American Revolution
• Declaration of Independence
• The Revolutionary War
• Articles of Confederation
• The Confederation Faces Challenges
• Philadelphia Convention
• Federalists versus Antifederalists
• Development of the Two-party System
• Jefferson as President
• War of 1812
• James Monroe
• A Growing National Economy
• The Transportation Revolution
• King Cotton
• Democracy and the “Common Man”
• Nullification Crisis
• The Bank of the United States
• Indian Removal
• Transcendentalism, Religion, and Utopian Movements
• Reform Crusades
• Decade of Crisis
• The Approaching War
• The Civil War
• Abolition of Slavery
• Ramifications of the Civil War
• Presidential and Congressional Reconstruction Plans
• The End of Reconstruction
• The New South
• Focus on the West
• Confrontations with Native Americans
• Cattle, Frontiers, and Farming
• End of the Frontier
• Gilded Age Scandal and Corruption
• Consumer Culture
• Rise of Unions
• Growth of Cities
• Life in the City
• Agrarian Revolt
• The Progressive Impulse
• The Progressive Presidents
• McKinley and Roosevelt
• Taft and Wilson
• U.S. Entry into WWI
• Peace Conferences
• Social Tensions
• Causes and Consequences
• The New Deal
• The Failures of Diplomacy
• The Second World War
• The Home Front
• Wartime Diplomacy
• Containment
• Conflict in Asia
• Red Scare -- Again
• Internal Improvements
• Foreign Policy
• Challenging Jim Crow
• Consequences of the Civil Rights Movement
• Material Culture
• JFK - John F. Kennedy
• LBJ - Lyndon Baines Johnson
• Nixon and Foreign Policy
• Nixon and Domestic Issues
• Ford, Carter, and Reagan
• Moving into a New Millennium
• 307,159 views (72 views per day)
• Posted 12 years ago

Home — Essay Samples — History — Manifest Destiny — Pros and Cons of Manifest Destiny

Pros and Cons of Manifest Destiny

• Categories: American History Manifest Destiny

About this sample

Words: 413 |

Published: Mar 20, 2024

Words: 413 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

Pros of manifest destiny, cons of manifest destiny.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Prof. Kifaru

Verified writer

• Expert in: History

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

3 pages / 1536 words

3 pages / 1526 words

3 pages / 1286 words

2 pages / 1046 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny was a widely held belief in the United States during the 19th century that the country's expansion across North America was both justified and inevitable. It was a driving force behind the westward expansion of [...]

The Indian Removal Policy was a deeply consequential chapter in American history. It was driven by a combination of economic interests, westward expansion, and racial prejudice. The policy resulted in the displacement and [...]

In conclusion, Manifest Destiny was indeed an aggressive form of imperialism. While expansionists may argue that it was a natural and justifiable extension of American ideals, the displacement and mistreatment of Native American [...]

In the nineteenth century, many Americans began migrating westward as part of a greater movement, Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny upheld the founding ideal of opportunity, especially through granting farmers free land, [...]

In the 19th century, the United States experienced a period of rapid expansion and territorial acquisition known as Manifest Destiny. This ideology, fueled by a sense of nationalism and a desire for territorial expansion, played [...]

In the early 19th century, the notion of Manifest Destiny swept across the United States, igniting a fervent belief in the country's divine mission to expand westward. This powerful ideology served as the driving force behind [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

• History & Society
• Science & Tech
• Biographies
• Animals & Nature
• Geography & Travel
• Arts & Culture
• Games & Quizzes
• On This Day
• One Good Fact
• New Articles
• Lifestyles & Social Issues
• Philosophy & Religion
• Politics, Law & Government
• World History
• Health & Medicine
• Browse Biographies
• Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates
• Bugs, Mollusks & Other Invertebrates
• Environment
• Fossils & Geologic Time
• Entertainment & Pop Culture
• Sports & Recreation
• Visual Arts
• Demystified
• Image Galleries
• Infographics
• Top Questions
• Britannica Kids
• Saving Earth
• Space Next 50
• Student Center

Manifest Destiny Key Facts