From: Jerry Reavey
Date: 4/20/00
Time: 3:12:19 PM
Remote Name: 155.247.150.13
Around the 1830s-40, Americans developed an identity of young, ambitious democrats eager for economic, political, and social advancement. There was a strong, nationalistic desire for Americans to help grow and expand the national economy. The expansionist idea of "Manifest Destiny" is an example of this. Manifest Destiny was a policy of expansionism popularized by President Polk during his campaign for the White House. Originally coined by writer James O'Sullivan, he wrote that God wanted the U.S. to expand west, and to extend the ideals of the great American democracy over more of the globe. This idea had very different meanings for people. Some saw it as civilizing the "barbaric" west, conquering nature and enacting God's plans for the nation's growth. There is a definite racial interpretation of this, exemplified by the continued abuse and demonizing of Native American tribes even after the Trail of Tears incident. Basically, it was the idea that the United States would inevitably expand to the Pacific Ocean, and eventually would cover all of N. America. This policy would bring territories loosely held by Mexico and Canada in contention, and border conflicts would continue through the next few decades. What would begin with the annexation of Texas would later result in America expanding west through future parts of Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, and Northwest to Oregon. People followed this expansion in droves, aided by railroads and by long wagon trails reaching to the coasts.