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Manifest Destiny Case

Autor:   •  October 4, 2013  •  Study Guide  •  579 Words (3 Pages)  •  1,037 Views

Page 1 of 3

The need and want for land has always been a priority for people ever since the

beginning of time. It showed power, wealth, and also stability something that we all hold as a

necessity in our lives. The decision to expand westward was meant to make us stronger as a

whole, and in fact that’s exactly what it did. Our economy and overall power benefitted greatly

from the expansion of America, even though later inner conflicts such as Texas revolution,

Mexican American war and the civil war did have a negative impact on our country.

Manifest Destiny is a term referring to the United States, it basically meant 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. John L.

O’Sullivan coined the phrase “manifest destiny” in 1845 to represent a set of ideals present in

the United States at that time. These ideals included: the notion of westward expansionism, a

belief in American exceptionalism, a sense of entitlement to the North American continent, and

a religious/moral obligation to spread American democracy. It caused bad relations with

Mexico and the Native Americans. As the country expanded there started to be sectional

differences, because western America was new territory there was zero industry, it forced

Americans lives to change drastically, they were living like the early settlers in America.

Page 2

The increase in land gave them more stability as a nation, more land gives them power

and more of a force over other countries. But as we all know the expansion led to greediness,

and opposing views and beliefs that caused many conflicts in the everyday lives. The overall

health of the Union was not great, and when I say health I don’t mean

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