Manifest Destiny
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Manifest Destiny
In the1840s, the term Manifest Destiny was used to justify the United States westward expansion. This expansion took place in areas like Texas and Oregon. There was a belief that Americans had a mission which was divinely inspired to spread their democracy to the less fortunate. The less fortunate consisted of Native Americans and other non-Europeans.
The phrase “manifest destiny” first came in the 1840s, which was primarily used by Jackson democrats, with annexations to expand territory and spread its form of democracy to Oregon territory, Texas Annexation, and the Mexican Cession, most of what is now the Western United States. This political catch phrase of the nineteenth century soon became a standard historical term.
In AP English we read a novel called “The Poisonwood Bible” which adequately related to manifest destiny. The novel took place in The Congo where the people were poor, hygiene was not an issue, and people died every day of diseases. Because of the way The Congo was run, the doors to the nation were wide open to the world; therefore, Spain decided to take over. Spain didnt feel that The Congo was living up to their full potential and that they could raise them to a higher level of civilization. Even though the Congolese did not like what was happening they had little say in their country since they were poor and could not fight back. This is an example of manifest destiny since Spain imposed their beliefs on another nation to expand their territory and to make The Congo live up to its fullest potential by colonizing it.
The holocaust is another example of the frequently used term “manifest destiny.” Towards the end of the holocaust, the United States felt as if Germany was not being used to the best of its ability and didnt like how they were using there power, therefore, they came and imposed their views on another nation, which ended up saving thousands of lives. This example is a positive example of manifest destiny, conveying that not all acts of imposing views onto another nation can be that of the greedy.
Nations still do practice manifest destiny, such as United States and Germany and Spain on The Congo. It is, after all of these years, practiced for the same two simple reasons, spreading the nations form of democracy and territorial