What's Manifest Destiny?

Question

My teacher left a Project for us as homework. I dont understand what's Manifest Destiny. Can some sweet ones tell me what it means?

Answer 1

I will make it very simple and without all the silly rhetoric alot of other people wrote. It is the believe that the United States was destined to stretch from the East Coast of the continent to the West Coast. That is all.

Good Luck!!!

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

It is a little more complicated than just an excuse to steal land from people. People during the early 18oo's actually were concerned about how fast this country was growing in population, and the fact that most of our European neighbors on this continent really didn't like us too much (like the French, the Spanish, and the British). The main point of Manifest Destiny was that it was the "destiny" of the US to hold all the land from the East Coast to the Pacific coast-- both as a means of settling as many people on their own land as possible, and as a means of protecting our territory from disputes with European colonial powers.

Early Americans thought that they had a fair right to own land-- not just the rich, royal, and titled folks like in Europe. So they set out to find as much open, uncultivated land as possible, rid it of any other European ownership, and settle it.

The fact that it was already populated with Native Americans meant nothing at the time, as those people were still hunting and gathering, so were looked upon as savages needing to be tamed, modernized and Christianized. This was actually a further aim of Manifest Destiny, to bring all the peoples of North America into the Age of Reason.

So, at the time, the whole concept was one of protecting US territory already in existence, and expanding into new territory to spread the "gospel" of the Constitution.

Answer 4

Manifest Destiny was published in 1839 by John O' Sullivan. To put it in short it was saying, " We are a young country made up of many races and nationalities and that the declaration of independence makes us the Great Nation that is destined to become the most powerful country in the world. Because all men are created equal in our borders we should expand our borders among wherever we choose. " It explained that expansion of america was necessary and that it was actually the country's destiny to expand borders. It said that it was God's mission for the U.S to conquer more land. it reffered to the current west coast of the United States. Hope this helps!

Answer 5

It was the policy that made sure The United States of America could be defended from foreign attack for the forseeable future.
It worked because by expanding the USA from the Atlantic to the Pacific, any potential invader had to cross an ocrean to invade us, and that was not practical back then.
Without Manifest Destiny, the United States would have been vulnerable to attack and we might not be as free as we are now.

Answer 6

It is a term meaning that a certain group of people believe that what they are doing has to be done and can't be changed or stopped. The most common use is when the US was expanding west and the believed in Manifest Destiny, meaning that what they had to do was "obvious" and "certain" (it had to be done). It was first used by Andrew Jackson's supporters to support the expansion into the west.

Answer 7

Manifest Destiny was in like 1840 no maybe 1845. It was a term used for the expansion of AMerica, when America first started out.

Answer 8

It was the idea that American's had to conquer the rest of the North American continent many moons ago. They started saying it was their manifest destiny to do so. That's why things like the Mexican War got underway. (It was an excuse to start stealing more land from the indigenous peoples.)

Answer 9

Another words we Americans, and early settelers, had a G-d given right to expand, cause we were better than the Indigenous people (American Indians).

We had a G-d given right to expand the border of the USA westward, cause we were better than the native people that lived here. I am not saying that I agree with this, I just hope it helps to answer your question.

This was a proclamation issued by a famous President.

Answer 10

Wholesale slaughter of Native Americans, perhaps? A group of hunters killing buffalo by the hundred. A picture of Andrew Jackson pointing west with an image of a newspaper quoting John B.L. Soule, "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country." in the background. Perhaps a map showing the various acquisitions of the US: Louisiana Purchase, Mexican Cession, Texas, etc.