Essays

Semester Final

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History final essay on America's westward expansion.

Was America's Goal of Manifest Destiny Justified?

Everyone has their goals and ambitions. Their dreams. They help us know what we want to achieve in life. America has one too when it was just starting. Their believed purpose was Manifest Destiny, the belief that America should own all land between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Americans wanted this because of the prime farmland and other economic incentives and resources that could benefit the country. It was also their belief that God had given them this task of westward expansion. However, were the Americans truly right in their quest for Manifest Destiny? There were two sides to this argument.

After Americans finally got onto their feet they set a goal, to possess all land, from sea to sea. Their hope was to grow as a nation. President Andrew Jackson gave a speech in 1830 that convinced Americans that removing Indians was their ticket to Manifest Destiny. He stated, "It gives me great pleasure to announce to Congress that the Government's benevolent [kind] policy of Indian removal has almost been achieved."(Document A) This policy that removed Indians freed the land and America was privileged to be able to receive the territories. Also, the painting "American Progress," by John Gast, shows America moving west. It shows America's development as they reach towards the Pacific. As they go they are spreading knowledge and culture(Document C). Americans received new opportunities from moving west, but they simultaneously had a negative impact on the people that were already there.

Native Americans lived in the Americas long before it was discovered by Europeans, and America's Manifest Destiny scared them. The painting by John Gast, also showed Native Americans running away from the oncoming Americans(Document C). As Americans moved west they often forced Native Americans off their land, and at times, they killed for it. Chief Joseph of a Native American tribe stated, "Our chiefs are killed....The old men are all dead....It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death."(Document D) Chief Joseph didn't want to fight any longer. He was tired of it, he didn't want any more of his people to die. Native Americans were constantly terrified that they were going to be killed for their land and because they were in the way.

Overall, America was not justified in its goal for Manifest Destiny. Though it did benefit themselves they completely ignored the negative aspects their actions would cause. Andrew Jackson also stated in his speech, "What good man would prefer a country covered in forests and occupied by a few thousand savages to our great Republic..."(Document A) To them, at the time, Native Americans were just things in their way. They probably thought there were only a few tribes of Native Americans when in reality there were hundreds. A map of Native American tribes before Europeans colonized America shows hundreds of tribes(Document B), but because of Manifest Destiny nearly all of them have disappeared. America itself was right to own the land between the oceans, but it was their choices on how to do it changed everything.

Manifest Destiny. There is still much debate as to whether America was right in the actions they took to fulfill this idea. Were the incentives of westward life were enough to kill thousands of people or did they do it because this idea overtook them? Either way, these choices have altered the world we see today.

12-17-15