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History Lesson 6 The West (Grades 8) Instruction 6-1 Manifest Destiny www.etap.org Manifest Destiny Manifest Destiny has been called the idea that turned America into a nation. Simply put, it was the belief that the American people would expand into and posses the entire continent. Evolution of an Idea The words "Manifest Destiny" were first used in 1845 by magazine editor John L. O'Sullivan in a publication called The United States Magazine and Democratic Review. Politicians everywhere picked up the phrase and used it to promote territorial expansion. Representative Robert Winthrop of Massachusetts used it to end joint U.S.-British occupation of the Oregon Territory. In ringing tones, he invoked "the right of our manifest destiny to spread over this whole continent." The words may have been new. But the idea had been around since the country began. God and Mission The idea of Manifest Destiny landed with the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. And with the settlers at Jamestown Colony. The 1600's were religious times. Many Pilgrims were convinced that God had brought them to America for a purpose. They felt that it was their destiny to acquire and "Christianize" the land. They believed that territorial expansion was God's will. Other colonists simply saw it as historically (and geographically) inevitable. Some considered it an altruistic way to extend American liberty to new territories. Many saw it as a way to acquire more land and resources. These expressions of Manifest Destiny have been called "ecological imperialism." Political and military leaders considered territorial expansion essential for American security. They saw it as necessary to prevent European nations from encroaching on what "rightfully belonged" to America. Businessmen saw new markets. 1 of 3 © B. J. Subbiondo 2003 History Lesson 6 The West (Grades 8) Instruction 6-1 Manifest Destiny www.etap.org Whatever the justification, the concept of Manifest Destiny was behind every farmer who built a cabin on the frontier. Every pioneer in every Conestoga wagon. Behind the leaders who expanded the territory of the United States "by military conquest, treaty and purchase." The Louisiana Purchase It was behind Thomas Jefferson when he made the Louisiana Purchase. The Constitution did not give the President the right to buy land. But Jefferson managed to do it through his treaty powers. The Louisiana Territory had been owned by France, then Spain, then secretly by France again. Napoleon, who ruled France, wanted to expand his influence in the New World. But after a horrific defeat by ex-slave Touissant L'Ouverture and his rebels in Haiti, he changed his mind. In 1803, he agreed to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States for $15,000,000. It doubled the size of the country overnight. Jefferson immediately commissioned Lewis and Clark to explore and map the new territory. Which they did. With the help of 31 men, Sacajawea (their female Shoshone guide) and Seaman, Lewis's Newfoundland dog. Their "Journey of Discovery" lasted three years. They virtually opened the West. And through all their hardships only one person died -- of appendicitis. Even Seaman the dog came back alive. Manifest Destiny was the guiding principle behind the Monroe Doctrine. In 1822 President James Monroe warned the European powers to stay out of the Western Hemisphere, which you learned about in a recent Instruction. It led to the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War, which we'll tell you about in an upcoming Instruction. But, most of all, it was behind the settlement of the West. 2 of 3 © B. J. Subbiondo 2003 History Lesson 6 The West (Grades 8) Instruction 6-1 Manifest Destiny www.etap.org Settlement of the West The first wagon trains headed west in 1831. By 1840, the expansionist movement was at its height. The settlers took several different routes. Some took the Santa Fe Trail. It led from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico and Los Angeles. The Oxbow Trail went from Missouri to California. The Oregon Trail was based on the route taken by Lewis and Clark. It was the longest and wound for 2000 miles from Missouri to Oregon. Over 300,000 settlers took it. Thousands died along the way. But although these pioneers built one nation, they displaced others -- the American Indian nations. For American Indians, the doctrine of Manifest Destiny was a disaster. It resulted in the movement of their tribes, their confinement to reservations and the loss of many lives. When Did It End? Manifest Destiny led to the America we know today. But did it end when the American continent was conquered? Some historians don't think so. Westward expansion happened quickly. It took 200 years for Americans to expand from the Atlantic Coast to the Mississippi River. But it took less than 50 years for them to go from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean. In 1890, the Bureau of the Census officially declared that the interior frontier was closed. But was Manifest Destiny really complete once America stretched from coast to coast and from Canada to Mexico? Not really. In 1867, the United States bought Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000. Interest was expressed in Latin America. As well as in various Caribbean and Pacific islands. Wars were fought and, in 1898, the United States took control of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War. It also annexed Hawaii, which became the 50th State. 3 of 3 © B. J. Subbiondo 2003