Manifest Destiny and the Westward Expansion

Manifest Destiny and the Westward Expansion
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Manifest Destiny and the Westward Expansion
Most American histories, particularly towards independence in the 18th century, had mainly featured the North and the Southern territories. The focus shifted drastically in the 19th century towards the American West. The white settlers from Great Britain had started moving west, where they created some settlements. The 19th century in U.S. history is dominated by what can be termed the westward expansion to denote the movement of settlers and the territorial growth towards the western part of the country (Mountjoy, 2009). The U.S. presented itself as a fairly ambitious county throughout the 19th century, determined to expand its territories even across the world by exploring means and ideologies of expansion different from that of other civilizations that had largely relied on war. Several factors contributed to the westward expansion, and among them is the popular ideology of Manifest Destiny.
Manifest Destiny is a phrase commonly attributed to John O’Sullivan, an editor of the mid 19th century. He mainly used the phrase in most of his pieces to signify the Americans’ autonomy to expand across the continent (Mountjoy, 2009). O’Sullivan was convinced that the U.S. had obtained the ordinance from God to spread its perceived superior form of governance across the continent and possibly the whole world (Mountjoy, 2009). The politicians and lobbyists soon adopted the popular ideology from O’Sullivan. They became critical in the acquisition of Oregon, California, and some parts of Mexico, all to the west of the U.S. Throughout the 19th century, the concept of Manifest Destiny became ingrained in the American spirit to imply the expansion of the country starting from the west coast to the rest of the North American continent. The phrase, therefore, played a critical role in the westward expansion.
Although the U.S. had resorted to exploring other means in its territorial expansion but war, its confrontation with Great Britain in 1812 as they sought to expand to the West became inevitable. The war between the U.S. and Great Britain, who had teamed up with the Native Americans, broke out in the summer of 1812. After under three years of conflict, the American troops overpowered the British and Indian soldiers (Roosevelt, 2018). The victory of the U.S. in the Naval war empowered the spirit of expansionism among the Americans while greatly disintegrating the boundaries of the British and Native Americans who were living in the west. American victory in the conflict also marked the onset of westward expansions that greatly def...