#Manifest destiny definition free

The allure of land ownership was a leading force in propelling settlers westward. By the end of the Mexican American War (1848), the United Stated had expanded to reach the Pacific coast to the west and the Rio Grande River to the south (Heidler & Heidler, 2020). government continued to acquire land through various treaties and conflicts. In the years following the Louisiana Purchase, the U.S. Image acquired through the public domain via The National Archives. People across the growing country hoped to fulfill their dream of starting a new life in the pristine land of the North American west.Ī map showing the extent of the Louisiana Purchase. Although the term “property” was replaced with the phrase “pursuit of happiness,” the sentiment still remained. Americans saw property ownership as an integral part of being a citizen (Dobson, 2013). The first drafts of the Declaration of Independence included philosopher John Locke’s trinity of rights – life, liberty, and property – which suggested these were inalienable rights that an equitable, principled government could not repress from its citizens. This pride in land ownership has been at the forefront of American ideology ever since. Jefferson believed a republic like the United States was built on independence and virtue, both of which could be attained and strengthened through individual land ownership. With this new land, settlers could travel westward, escaping the crowded city life and trading it for a peaceful homestead in the Great Plains.

This land acquisition would allow the United States to continue the expansion that was such a staple asset of the country – the Louisiana Purchase almost doubled the entire land area of America. In true capitalist style, he paid nowhere near what the land was worth, and his savvy business venture paid off.

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson bought 827,000 square miles of land that stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to New Orleans (, 2019). One of the defining moments of American history was undoubtedly the Louisiana Purchase. Under the guise of religious, political, and economic motivations, manifest destiny allowed Americans to pursue the “American dream” and subdue the “wild west.” The environmental and humanitarian implications of manifest destiny were frequently overlooked or not considered, resulting in ideology that still today seeps into our behaviors and perceptions regarding domination and superiority. Advocates for manifest destiny believed that Americans were free, even bound by fate, to conquer the North American continent and expand the realm of democratic republicanism and Christianity. The idea of manifest destiny gained popularity in the mid-19th century and was built upon the notion of freedom. A staple term in every elementary, middle, and high school student’s American history textbook, it might be considered the epitome of what it meant to be American at the start of American imperialism. “Manifest destiny” is a mindset that embodies this belief. Whether it be freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or simply freedom to pursue one’s own dreams, Americans have always idolized the United States as a sort of utopia for individual freedom. The process can be stopped, or even reversed, but it requires social consensus, laws and strong enforcement.Manifest Destiny: The American Dream or an Ecological Crisis?Ī quintessential part of the “American dream” is freedom. So, manifest destiny was just an 'ideologisation' of a 'natural' process. It is at the source of Jubilee Year in ancient Israel.

John Kenneth Galbraith is a USofA author/economist who dwells on this, but the process is millennia long. In fact, it is not the religious or political differences, but this quest for new land, which led to emigration to Americas in the first place.

#Manifest destiny definition free

People, who are not happy with the situation, are free to search for new pastures green. A big landowner can keep the land with a limited army of serfs. When this initial job is done (deforestation, irrigation, roads) the cost of farming the land drops dramatically. Then, some of them, or an outside force spots, and rightly so, that the greatest cost was to convert the land into agricultural use. First there are dispersed settlers, who colonise the land. Concentration of land ownership proceeds through phases. There is a natural tendency of capital to concentrate.