Westward Expansion - Research Paper Example

Westward Expansion Manifest destiny was an idea, which influenced American policy in the twentieth century. The concept was motivation behind the tremendous and rapid expansion of America into the West from the East. The idea of manifest destiny spread in poster, newspapers, and via media. It is vital to note that manifest destiny was not an official government policy but it led to enactment and passage of policies such as the Homestead Act, which in turn motivated colonization of the West and acquisition of territories. More so, it played a vital part in the American thought of 1800s. An American newspaper editor known as John O’Sullivan was the first person to use the term manifest destiny when he was writing about the proposed annexation of Texas. It was stated that the American manifest destiny was to dominate and over-spread the continent in that via this expansion, America could be recognized economically, socially and politically superpower. In sum, O’Sullivan stated that American was chosen to play the role of expanding westward and establishing civilization (Woodworth 33). It was argued that it was the role of America to spread democratic institutions and liberty to other parts of the world. The main underlying aspect of this American mission was a strong feeling of racial and cultural superiority. Additionally, the Anglo-Saxon America stressed that they had the right to spread to the west while bringing them ideas of Protestantism and self-government. The American conflict with Mexico coincided with American’s desire for expansion. Mexico that had attained independence from Spain had initially accepted and encouraged U.S settlers in Texas but its ruler Santa Anna banned further U.S immigration. However, when Texas announced its own independence from Mexico, Santa opposed the move and vowed to put down the insurrection. This led to annexation of Texas was very controversial due to the issue of slavery. It was believed that Texas was going to add another slave state thus its bid to join the Union was threatened by the issue of slavery as it was believed that it would divide the Democratic Party. Polk encouraged and supported annexation of Texas because of the Country’s compromise on expansion. The Oregon trial was part of the concept of manifest destiny because manifest destiny was the concept that required America to expand into the western territory. Therefore, the Oregon Trail was the people who were moving or travelling from East to the West. This illustrated manifest Destiny because people on the Oregon trial were travelling and spreading out to the West, which was the central concept of manifest destiny (Rick 41-42). The idea of manifest destiny is well demonstrated in the California gold rush where gold mining led to influx of Chinese immigrants in California. This development was criticized by the Americans who lived in California because they believed that no person from other continent cold conduct business in their territory. The idea of manifest destiny was well illustrated in 1845 when James K. Polk became the president in that he initiated an aggressive expansionist plan. At this time, most of Mexican territories had been inhabited but America ignored this development and dismissed as baseless. More so, many people believed that English speaking Americans, protestant were better prepared and equipped to rule Mexican territories than Spanish speaking Mexicans or American Indians (Anders 64). The United States of America tried to purchase California and New Mexico in 1835. However, the U.S battled in the Mexican-American war, which enabled it to acquire the territories of New Mexico and California. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 During the early 1800s, slavery was the most divisive issue in the United States of America. After the revolution, most States in North of Maryland started programs of slowly outlawing slavery, and in the early years of 1800s, the States that still practiced Slavery were in the South. The Missouri compromise in 1820 was a measure presented in the congress to find a way to determine whether slavery would be made legal in the new territories admitted as States to the union or not. The Missouri compromise elicited debate in the congress but once passed, the compromise seemed to reduce tension for a time over the issue (Pierce 56-57). The passage of Missouri compromise was very important in that it was the first attempt to get a solution to the matter concerning slavery. However, it is also significant to note that it did not remove the underlying problems. There still existed free and slave States and the divisions over slavery would take years and bloody outbreak of civil war to resolve the issue. The Missouri Compromise in 1820 was engineered to allow Missouri to become a slave State while Maine on the other side a Free State. In this manner, the number of Slave and Free States in America would in turn become equal leading to a balanced share of power in Congress without any State or region benefiting at the expense of the other. The most significant aspect of the Missouri compromise was that there was an agreement that no State or territory to the North of Missouri Southern Border could accept to enter the Union as State that accepted slavery (Burgan 44). This part of compromise eventually stopped slavery from spreading to the rest of Louisiana Purchase. The Northern States strongly opposed slavery while the Southern States were in favor of it. Expansion of slavery in the U.S would imply that there would be an increase in territorial population and space. This at the end would mean that the Southern States had more power or increased power in the House. In addition, the Southern States had less black population as compared to the Northern States. The U.S House had three fifth of black population while the rest was white population. Therefore, approval of Missouri as a slave Sate would imply that there would be increased Southern representation in the House thus making the Northern States insecure. In addition, the Missouri compromise of 1820 made the congress to reach a compromise over slavery issue in that it reached its first compromise on how to regulate slavery in new States and Territories. While the Missouri compromise looked to have handled the issue of Slavery, its impact still lay years in the future. Slavery issue was far from settled in that further compromises and Court decisions would be very vital in the debates concerning slavery (Pierce 71). Thomas Jefferson was worried about the Missouri crisis stating that, it would dismantle the Union, his worries were not realized for a long time when civil war began, and the issue of slavery was fully settled. In sum, the Mexican war of independence led to opening of new places or regions to American economic penetration whereby traders and explorers assisted to open the west to settlement of whites. This led many Americans to move westwards to Oregon and California looking for land and encouraged by manifest destiny, the concept that America had a special destiny to expand across the continent. This led the expansion of U.S to Texas and the Pacific Northwest. the Missouri compromise eased and solved internal conflict in the Union and set up new rules that guided the U.S house concerning the issue of Slavery. Works Cited Anders, Stephanson. Manifest Destiny: American Expansion and the Empire of Right. New York: Hill and Wang, 1996. Print. Woodworth, Steven. Manifest Destinies: America's Westward Expansion and the Road to the Civil War. Washington, DC: Knopf, 2010. Print. Rick, Robinson. Manifest Destiny. New York: Headline Books, 2010. Print. Pierce, Forbes. The Missouri Compromise and Its Aftermath: Slavery and the Meaning of America. Carolina: University of Southern Carolina, 2007. Print. Read More