Manifest Destiny

1- In what ways did the concept of Manifest Destiny affect the foreign and domestic policies of the United states in the years 1840-1850?

The first Puritans who settled in the United States, had a clear mission, they were to create a perfect society in God’s eyes, and they were to shine and illuminate the rest of the world. This concept of “the city upon a hill”, is closely related to Manifest destiny. Both refer to the US as a country with a God-given mission: “... to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions”. It was John O’ Sullivan who wrote about this in the year 1845, when the United States were amidst an expansionist fever, and their newly acquired territories could be seen as the fulfillment of their Manifest destiny. An upsurge of national pride fostered one of the biggest expansionist movements in the history of the country. Americans were convinced that theirs was their greatest country on earth, and they were to take it to the less fortunate and inferior so as to improve their cultures and lifestyle. The quest for new lands, thus began.

On the one hand, the main objective of Southern expansionists was the Republic of Texas. After its independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico had fostered its development by selling lands to empresarios. From 1836 to 1845, the population of texas soared:the territory was occuppied by more than 140,000 settlers, many of whom were Americans (including slaveholders). Free lands, easily accessible to the Southern States were the principal bait. The growth in population made the land less likely to be recovered by Mexico, and more attractive to the US, who thought it a duty to expand over the underdeveloped West. When in 1845 Texas was annexed to the US, Mexico broke diplomatic relations with the neighbouring country.

Meanwhile, many Americans were equally eager to gain control of California by the same “peaceful” means: the territory was unprotected and distant in communication from Mexico city, and by 1846 california had enormous amounts of foreigner residents, most of them Americans. Year by year this tendency grew in number and aggressiveness, paving the way for the Mexican War in 1846. The main cause of this conflict, however, was the distrust between the two nations, sparkled by a dispute over the boundary of Texas. US war strategy was to create conflict so as to push Texan borders further South and to obtain the territory of California. For two years several occupations and battles took place in the Southern lands and borders. The US emerged victorious and both countries signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in February 1848, by which the US was given not only California, but the area between it and Texas, namely, New Mexico. Along with California came the gold: in 1849 gold was discovered in the California hills, the mountains were filled with camps and it became a little metropolis.

Northern expansionists, on the other hand, set their eyes on the Northwest. The first explorers and fur traders who travelled through the Northwest had vaguely traced a route which, as time went by, became definite as the Oregon Trail. By the mid forties, this road was

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