1. Manifest Destiny
HW#20

2. In what direction is he pointing towards?
“Manifest Destiny”:
MANIFEST DESTINY=“OBVIOUS FUTURE”: the belief that it was America’s destiny and responsibility to control all of North America, because it was God’s plan.
In what direction is he pointing towards?

3. Economic Reasons
Agriculture – Americans dream of owning their own land and farms
Northern Businessmen – Create businesses in newly developing towns and cities in the West.
Sea Merchants – Controlling Pacific Coast means ability to trade with Pacific countries
Southern Slave Owners – Plantation land losing fertility, western lands offer new, fertile ground.
More land means more wealth and political power!

4. Social Reasons
Religious Mission – America was destined by God to expand to the Pacific and bring with it Christianity
White Superiority – God had blessed Americans (White Americans) and whatever needed to be done to expand was acceptable.
Progress – Americans could make better use of the land that those currently living there
We brought God, technology, and civilization
Population – Population was overflowing in the east because of high birth rates and IMMIGRATION

5. Political Reasons
Nationalism – Spread democracy from sea to shining sea because it is the highest form of government
National Security – Controlling land up to the Pacific would secure us against other nations
A Place on the World Stage – By expanding we can become more powerful among the nations of the world.

6. How did Manifest Destiny lead to the Mexican-American War?

7. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
1 year and 9 months later Mexico surrendered and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed.
The U.S. gained:
Boundary of Texas set at the Rio Grande
Present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Parts of Colorado and Wyoming
U.S. agreed to pay $15 million to Mexico

8. The Mexican Cession

9. Oregon territory
The Oregon territory was divided between Britain and the U.S., but in 1846 the territory was split along the 49th parallel in a treaty agreement between Britain and the U.S.
By 1848, Oregon became a US territory.

10. The Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase was an agreement between the U.S. and Mexico in 1854.
The U.S. agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico.
The Gadsden’s Purchase provided the land necessary for a southern railroad

11. Acquisition Map

12. How did Americans justify westward expansion?