Manifest Destiny: the belief that the expansion of the US was both justified and inevitable. Manifest Destiny was a lifestyle that almost all Americans lived by in the 1800s; Manifest Destiny helped shape the United States into the country it is today.
In the Earlier 19th century, the idea of Manifest Destiny spread like wildfire throughout the young United Sates. It started in 1803, when Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Purchase from the French. Soon after Lewis and Clark were sent to explore the west, and two years they came back with news of an amazing landscape. As John Sullivan later said, “We may confidently assume that our country is destined to be the great nation or futurity” (Doc A), Thomas Jefferson just wanted to make sure that great nation had a great chunk of land.
As Native Americans were being pushed west, Americans were in hot pursuit, searching for land to claim and farm. Eventually the United States Government passed laws saying, if you sustainably farm a piece of land west of the Mississippi River for five years, that land automatically becomes your property; this act shows the support of Manifest destiny from the United States Government.
Eventually manifest destiny pushed the United States into the Mexican American war. The war was originally fought over the boarder of Texas and Mexico – by the way America had also invited Texas into the country; “The Republic of Texas, may be erected into a new state, to be called the State of Texas” (Doc C). After America had expanded the Texas boarder father in to Mexico, America gained other southwest states such as Arizona and California. “The boundary line between the two Republics shall commence in the Gulf of Mexico…” (Doc F). The gain of California was huge for the United States, because now they had expanded all the way across the country. With California came the gold rush, the port of San Francisco, many large cities, and the end of the Transcontinental Rail Road.
The Transcontinental Rail Road was the longest Rail Road in the World. The transcontinental Rail Road completed the idea of manifest destiny by connecting the east coast with the west coast and uniting the country. The Rail Road helped many people to move west, the trade among the country, and the wealth of the country. The transcontinental railroad soon was the center of springing towns in the west, the trade business in the United States, and the most amazing way to connect the country.
Manifest Destiny changed the United States and many lives within it. Manifest Destiny was the sole Idea that made the country what it is today.
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