Manifest Destiny – Means, Causes, & Impact

Manifest Destiny was the 19th-century belief Americans had that they had the divine right/blessing to expand and settle in the west (In the North American region), towards the Pacific Ocean. It is also believed that the American expansion was inevitable and preordained. The idea of Manifest Destiny resulted in extensive territorial expansion in North America.

Many Americans believed that it was an expansion that was predestined to happen. They strongly believed that God wanted Americans to spread the Capitalist and Democratic ideas throughout North America. This belief is very similar to what the Britishers had called the “White Man’s Burden” when they justified their conquest of the Indian subcontinent.

In this article, we will look into the origin, summary, causes, and impact of Manifest Destiny.

Let’s explore!

Origin of the term ‘Manifest Destiny’

The term manifest destiny was first used in 1845 by newspaper editor John L. O’Sullivan in his essay that appeared in the July–August issue of The United States Magazine, and Democratic Review. In that article, he wanted to give legitimacy to American Expansionism from sea to shining sea, by connecting it to divinity. This term became popular at a much later stage. The idea of Manifest Destiny was inherently white supremacist and justified the forced removal, violence, and eradication of Native American Indians from their lands. The supporters of Manifest Destiny argued for a policy of Indian Removal for a better American future full of values.

Brief Summary of American Expansion in North America (From Sea to Shining Sea)

Given below is a brief timeline of under what circumstances the idea of Manifest Destiny became popular, and how these historical expansionist events in North America grew after the popularity of Manifest Destiny in a tabular form:

Timeline (years)	Events
1803	The completion of the Louisiana Purchase by U.S. President Thomas Jefferson from France that doubled the size of the country.
1819	The Transcontinental Treaty leading to Spain ceding Florida and the Oregon Country to the United States in exchange for which the United States recognized Spanish sovereignty over Texas.
May 28, 1830	U.S. President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, leading to the forced relocation of Indian tribes to the west on the Trail of Tears.
Early 1840s	American Pioneers began traveling west on the Oregon Trail.
1845	Newspaper editor John L. O’Sullivan uses the term manifest destiny for the first time.
1846	The beginning of Mexican-American War over a border dispute
February 2, 1848	The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War, under which Mexico ceded to the U.S. nearly all of present New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Texas, and western Colorado.
December 30, 1853	The United States purchased a piece of land from Mexico in a sale known as the Gadsden Purchase. That land is now southern Arizona and southern New Mexico.
1867	U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiates Alaska’s sale from Russia to the United States. The subsequent discovery of gold stimulates American settlement in Alaska.
1898	The Spanish-American War leading to the Treaty of Paris (December 10), Spain renounces all claims to Cuba and cedes Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States, marking the emergence of the US as a world power.

Manifest Destiny and President James K. Polk

US President James Polk, who served from 1845 to 1849, is the leader most associated with the ideology of Manifest Destiny.

• In his tenure he resolved a boundary dispute regarding the Oregon Territory and led the United States to victory in the Mexican American war which resulted in the transfer of a vast new territory, comprising almost the whole of the modern-day Southwest, from Mexico to the United States.
• As a lot of new territory was acquired under James Polk, taking control of the native lands involved armed conflict with these native groups. President Polk, an expansionist, was not concerned and was ready to go to war to obtain the rights to the land. The native people in the area were viewed as an obstacle to be removed and he did not hesitate in getting rid of them.
• American missionaries were some of the first to travel west, along with the pioneers on the Oregon Trail, driven by the idea that Native Americans needed to be converted to Christianity. The belief that white Americans were superior to indigenous people and therefore had to “save” them , is seen through these incidents.
• Ultimately, Polk’s territorial expansionism, despite being aimed at national unity, resulted in intensifying sectional conflict and further paving the road to civil war.

Impact of Manifest Destiny on U.S. Foreign Policy

Manifest Destiny became an important aspect of US foreign policy in the 19th century:

• Democrats saw Manifest Destiny as a slogan. The term had religious meaning for many people, as they felt it was God’s will for the United States to take over the lands to the west.
• The Whig Party, were initially against Manifest Destiny. Some people had humanitarian concerns about relocating already settled Native Indians and felt sympathy for them. Others doubted the country’s ability to rule such an extensive empire on the basis of such a far fetched ideology, and did not feel the country could be united like this.
• As the US kept acquiring newer lands through various treaties and wars and settlements, and kept gaining more land; Manifest Destiny ideology was used more and more to justify the expansionism in North America by the colonizers and for depriving the native people of their lands.

Causes of Manifest Destiny

Causes of Manifest Destiny are:

• The idea of Manifest Destiny came into being solely due to the English colonization of North America, through which they hoped to conquer the vast wilderness to the west and the entire process leading up to the conquering of all native lands over the years.
• The famous land purchases, settlement deals and wars, as explained in the table above, led to amassment of great amount of new lands; The colonizers needed a reason to justify their actions of uprooting the natives and the idea of Manifest Destiny, that spoke of a divine will helped the colonizers to fulfill these actions.

Consequences of Manifest Destiny

Consequences of Manifest Destiny are slavery and uprootment of native communities:

• Violent measures were taken to forcefully remove the native Americans from their lands, which resulted in them being uprooted from their communities, and being exploited by the white colonizers, ultimately resulting in majority of the natives becoming slaves to their white masters.
• Manifest Destiny enforced the idea of white supremacy, and portrayed the colonizers as “saviors” to the native people, and thereby cemented the status of natives as “inferior people” who must feel honored to serve the white colonizers.
• Acquiring of new territories also increased the tensions between the abolitionists and slaveholders as they fiercely debated if the new states were to be free or slave states.
• Manifest Destiny and its ideology laid the foundation for the future American Civil War.

Access to more natural resources and spread of capitalist ideas:

• New communities came to be established as hundreds and thousands of settlers moved to the west. The sparsely populated western regions became a nation with enormous potential for power.
• New territories gave the colonizers access to greater natural resources and helped boost the Pacific trade.
• Missionaries spread Christianity among the native communities, with an aim to “save” them from backwardness and illiteracy; Pioneers helped popularized capitalist and democratic ideas in the new territories.

Conclusion on Manifest Destiny

To conclude, Manifest Destiny played a significant role in shaping and changing the history of the United States, providing moral justification for the conquest of the new lands. Acquisition of new land began under President Thomas Jefferson in the early 1800s and continued after that, especially under the direction of President James Polk. The term manifest destiny describes the belief of colonizers that it was God’s intention that Americans conquer and colonize the western part of the United States. Manifest destiny stated that it was the American’s destiny to spread democracy and religion to the indigenous tribes and communities. The ideology of Manifest Destiny resulted in a great number of tribal and indigenous communities being relocated, uprooted and displaced from their lands; causing them great grief and trauma. It ultimately ended up in providing an easy justification to the colonizers.

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FAQs on Manifest Destiny

What led to the rise of the spirit of Manifest Destiny in the 1840s?

The possibility of annexing Texas led to the rise in popularity of Manifest Destiny in the 1840s. Also, the dispute between the U.S. and Britain that resulted in America gaining more land further sparked the support for the concept of Manifest Destiny during the 19th century.

Who believed in Manifest Destiny?

Most Americans believed in manifest destiny. They believed God wanted them to settle the land that was available and spread their ideas of democracy and capitalism.

What were the effects of Manifest Destiny?

The effects of the Manifest Destiny are:

• Acquisition of new land
• Further debate on the role of slavery in new territory
• Relocation of indigenous tribes

Who coined the term “Manifest Destiny”?

The phrase “Manifest Destiny” was coined by John L. O’Sullivan in 1845.

What is Manifest Destiny?

Manifest Destiny is the belief that it is a divine plan of God for Americans to take and settle in new territory.