Manifest Destiny
David Bradberry/Westside High School
SSUSH7 Students will explain the process of economic growth, its regional and national impact in the first
half of the 19th century, and the different responses to it.
b. Describe the westward growth of the United States; include the emerging concept of Manifest Destiny.
".... it is the right of our manifest destiny to over spread and to possess the whole of the continent which
Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and development of selfgovernment entrusted to us. It is right such as that of the tree to the space of air and the earth suitable for the
full expansion of its principles and destiny of growth." John O’Sullivan, 1845
Three absolute beliefs were attached to the idea of Manifest Destiny:
1. Americans would geographically, politically, and economically expand to the continental limits.
2. Americans would Americanize all people living within the continental limits.
3. Americans would conquer both the people who resisted Americanization and the natural geographical
forces that stood in their way.
In so doing, Americans moved the geographical process of Manifest Destiny via four methods:
Purchase, Migration, Diplomacy, War
Purchase
 1803 - ________________________________
 1853 – Gadsden Purchase – to be discussed later.
Migration
 1804 – Lewis and Clark
 Westward Trails – Santa Fe, Oregon, Mormon
Diplomacy
 1818 – Oregon with Great Britain
 1819 – Adams/Onis Treaty with Spain
 Late 1820s – American families allowed into Mexico – to be discussed later.
 1845 – Texas annexation – to be discussed later.
War

1848 with Mexico – to be discussed later.
As a result, Manifest Destiny became a philosophy that was both supported and disputed, that was both
accepted and controversial.
Group 1
"...Since the dispersion of man upon earth, I know of no human event, past or present, which promises a
greater, and more beneficent change upon earth than the arrival of the Caucasian race upon the border of
North America...Three and a half centuries ago, this race arrived in the New World, and found new lands to
subdue and replenish...The Caucasian race now tops the Rocky Mountains, and spreads down to the shores of
the Pacific. In a few years a great population will grow up there...The Red race has disappeared from the
Atlantic coast: the tribes that resisted civilization met extinction. This is a cause of lamentation with
many. For my part, I cannot murmur at what seems to be the effect of divine law. I cannot repine that this
Capitol has replaced the wigwam - this Christian people replaced the savages - white matrons replaced the red
squaws - and such men as Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson, have taken the place of Powhatan, Sequoyah,
and other red men, no matter how respectable they may have been as savages. Civilization, or extinction, has
been the fate of all people who have found themselves in the track of the advancing Whites, and civilization,
always the preference of the Whites, has been pressed as an object, while extinction has followed as a
consequence of its resistance."
Senator Thomas Hart Benton, May 28, 1846
Group 2
“We are a restless people, prone to encroachment, impatient of the ordinary laws of progress... We boast of
our rapid growth, forgetting that, throughout nature, noble growths are slow..... It is full time that we should
lay on ourselves serious, resolute restraint. Possessed of a domain, vast enough for the growth of ages, it is
time for us to stop in the career of acquisition and conquest. Already endangered by our greatness, we cannot
advance without imminent peril to our institutions, union, prosperity, virtue, and peace..... It is sometimes
said, that nations have their destinies; that their character and position carry them forward irresistibly to their
goal;....that ... the Indians have melted before the white man, and the mixed, degraded race of Mexico must
melt before the Anglo-Saxon. There is no necessity for crime. There is no fate to justify rapacious nations, any
more than to justify gamblers and robbers, in plunder. We boast of the progress of society, and this progress
consists in the substitution of reason and moral principle for the sway of brute force....We talk of
accomplishing our destiny. So did the late conqueror Napoleon; and destiny consigned him to a lonely rock in
the ocean, the prey of ambition which destroyed no peace but his own."
William E. Channing, 1847
Group 3
"Texas has been absorbed into the Union in the inevitable fulfillment of the general law which is rolling our
population westward.... It was disintegrated from Mexico in the natural course of events, by a process
perfectly legitimate on its own part, blameless on ours.... Its incorporation into the Union was not only
inevitable, but the most natural, right and proper thing in the world.... California will, probably, next fall away
from...Mexico.... Imbecile and distracted, Mexico never can exert any real governmental authority over such a
country.... The Caucasian foot is already on its borders. Already the advance guard of the irresistible army of
Caucasian migration has begun to pour down upon it armed with the plow and the rifle, and markings its trail
with schools and colleges, churches, courts and representative halls, mills and meeting houses. A population
will soon be in actual occupation of California... All this in natural flow of events, the spontaneous working of
democratic principles, and the adaptation of the tendencies and wants of the human race to the elemental
circumstances in the midst of which they find themselves placed."
Democratic Review, 1845
Group 4
“None can fail to see the danger to our safety and future peace if Texas remains an independent country. Is
there one among our citizens who would not prefer perpetual peace with Texas to occasional wars? Is there
one who would not prefer free trade with her, to high tariffs on all our products and manufactures which cross
her borders? Is there one who would not prefer unrestricted communication with her citizens, to the frontier
obstructions which must occur if she remains out of the Union? As our population has expanded, the Union
has been cemented and strengthened. As our boundaries have been enlarged and our agricultural population
has been spread over a large surface, our democratic system has acquired additional strength and security. It
may well be doubted whether it would not be in greater danger of overthrow if our present population were
confined to the comparatively narrow limits of the original thirteen States than it is now that they are sparsely
settled over a more expanded territory. It is confidently believed that our system may be safely extended to
the utmost bounds of our territorial limits, and that the bonds of our Union, so far from being weakened, will
become stronger.”
President James K. Polk, Inaugural Address, 1845
Group 5
“Had England come and demanded Bunker Hill of the people of Massachusetts, is there a man over 13 and
under 90 who would not have been ready to meet them; is there a river on this continent that would not have
run red with blood; is there a field but would have been piled high with the unburied bones of slaughtered
Americans before these consecrated battlefields of liberty should have been wrested from us? But this same
American goes into a sister republic and says to poor, weak Mexico, 'Give up your territory—you are unworthy
to possess it—I have got one-half already—all I ask of you is to give up the other!'....
Look at our country, extending from the Allegheny Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, capable itself of sustaining
in comfort a larger population than will be in the whole Union for one hundred years to come. Over this vast
expanse of territory our population is now so sparse that I believe we provided, at the last session, a regiment
of mounted men to guard the mail from the frontier of Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia; and yet we
persist in the ridiculous assertion, 'I want room.' One would imagine, from the frequent reiteration of the
complaint, that we had a bursting, teeming population, whose energy was paralyzed, whose enterprise was
crushed, for want of space.”
Senator Thomas Corwin, Whig Party, 1845
Name ________________________________
Group ______
Directions:
1. Go to rcboe.org/westside
2. Click on Staff and Departments, click on my name
3. Click on U.S. History then click on Assignments
4. Find the section that says Manifest Destiny Group Links – get started – see below.
Group Tasks
1
A. Read your assigned document.
B. Discuss words which are difficult to understand – use context to extract the meaning.
C. Go to rewordify.com to clarify your text if necessary.
Groups will report to the class the following:
2
American Progress, John Gast, 1872
A. Describe the central image of the painting. What beliefs or ideals does the figure
represent?
B. What examples of progress do you see in the painting?
C. What are some other observations in the painting that are noteworthy?
D. Why does the painting also support this statement – progress is not always progressive?
E. How does the painting help define Manifest Destiny?
3
A. Summarize the main points of your assigned document in your own words.
B. Does the document support or refute the belief in manifest destiny?
C. What words in the document illustrate the opinion of your person on the issue of
manifest destiny?
D. What is the difference between manifest destiny and imperialism? Is there a difference?
Explain your answer.
4
Predict:
A. How will Manifest Destiny benefit the United States?
B. Who/what will be the victims of American Manifest Destiny?