Manifest Destiny
Overview
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny is a phrase coined by journalist John O'Sullivan in the 1840s. It assured white Americans it was their God-given responsibility to conquer North America’s Native American population and land. This idea gained popularity and helped fuel migration out of the eastern half of the United States into places such as Oregon Territory, California, and Texas.
Learning Objectives
- Investigate the origins of “Manifest Destiny” and how it affected the United States in the nineteenth century.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
John O’Sullivan: nineteenth-century journalist who coined the phrase, “Manifest Destiny”
Manifest Destiny: nineteenth-century ideology that became popular for its assertion that it was the God-given duty of white Americans to conquer North America’s peoples and land
William Walker: famous American filibuster who became president of Nicaragua
Filibusters: nineteenth-century person who went into foreign countries with hired mercenaries with the intent of starting revolutions and government overthrows
Oregon Trail: 2,000-mile trail used by wagon trains and pioneers during the nineteenth century; connected Missouri territory to Oregon
Texas War for Independence: nineteenth-century war in North America fought between American colonists in Texas and the country of Mexico
Manifest Destiny
In 1845, New York journalist John O’Sullivan coined a phrase that has become established as the nineteenth-century vision of the American Dream: Manifest Destiny. In short, the term assured Americans it was their God-given destiny to conquer North America from coast to coast. Through wars and treaties; establishment of law and order; building farms, ranches, and towns; marking trails and digging mines; and pulling in great migrations of foreigners, the United States expanded from coast to coast, fulfilling the notion of the American Dream.
From the early 1830s to 1869, the Oregon Trail and its many offshoots were used by over 300,000 settlers. ’49ers (in the California Gold Rush), ranchers, farmers, and entrepreneurs and their families headed to California, Oregon, and other points in the far west. Wagon trains took five or six months to complete; after 1869, the trip took six days by rail.
As the nation grew, manifest destiny became a rallying cry for expansionists in the Democratic Party. In the 1840s the Tyler and Polk administrations (1841 – 49) successfully promoted this nationalistic doctrine. However, the Whig Party, which represented business and financial interests, was opposed. Whig leaders such as Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln called for deepening society through modernization and urbanization instead of simple horizontal expansion. Starting with the annexation of Texas, the expansionists had the upper hand. John Quincy Adams, an anti-slavery Whig, felt the Texas annexation in 1845 was “the heaviest calamity that ever befell myself and my country.”
Texan War for Independence
Mexico became independent of Spain in 1821 and took over Spain’s northern possessions from Texas to California. The Spanish and Mexican governments attracted American settlers to Texas with generous terms. Tensions rose, however, after an abortive attempt to establish the independent nation of Fredonia in 1826. William Travis, leading the “war party,” advocated for independence from Mexico, while the “peace party” led by Austin attempted to get more autonomy within the current relationship. Immigration continued and 30,000 Anglos with 3,000 slaves were settled in Texas by 1835. In 1836, the Texas Revolution erupted. Following losses at the Alamo and Goliad, the Texans won the decisive Battle of San Jacinto to secure independence. The U.S. Congress declined to annex Texas, stalemated by contentious arguments over slavery and regional power. Thus, the Republic of Texas remained an independent power for nearly a decade before it was annexed as the 28th state in 1845. The government of Mexico, however, viewed Texas as a runaway province and asserted its ownership.
Manifest Destiny in the American West
The latter half of the 19th century was marked by the rapid development and settlement of the far West, first by wagon trains and riverboats and then aided by the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Large numbers of European immigrants (especially from Germany and Scandinavia) took up low-cost or free farms in the Prairie States. Mining for silver and copper opened up the Rocky Mountain regions. The United States Army fought frequent small-scale wars with Native Americans as settlers encroached on their traditional lands. Gradually the U.S. purchased the Native American tribal lands and extinguished their claims, forcing most tribes onto subsidized reservations.
William Walker, Manifest Destiny, and Latin America
By the mid-1800s, politicians in the United States knew their counterparts in Western Europe had expanding empires. To keep up with countries such as England and France, some wealthy and influential people in the United States began to consider creating an empire. To do so, they played upon the idea of manifest destiny. Among those who sought to extend American power was former lawyer and journalist, William Walker.
A Tennessee native with strong Southern sympathies, Walker studied medicine in Scotland, France, and Germany where he witnessed the revolutions of 1848. These social movements influenced his later revolutionary inclinations. Upon returning to the United States, he moved to California and worked as an editor in San Francisco in 1850. While there, presumably because of his close interaction with Hispanic populations, he began to dream of expanding American territory and presence into Latin America. He was not alone. Numerous other wealthy Americans shared his dream of expanding the United States influence throughout the Western Hemisphere as part of manifest destiny.
A movement, unsanctioned by the United States government, arose of adventurous and often wealthy men who sought to spread American culture and politics into Latin America and the Caribbean. Called Filibusters, Walker became the most famous of the movement because of his brief success in Nicaragua.
After a failed attempt to settle a colony in Mexico, Walker hired a mercenary group of American soldiers to invade Latin America and “liberate” Nicaragua, which was in the midst of a civil war. Walker quickly exploited the situation and was able to defeat the opposition at the Battle of Rivas. His victories received initial support and excitement from some Nicaraguans, and Walker immediately declared himself president of Nicaragua. His popularity was, however, short-lived. At odds with his patron, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Walker severed ties. And as an ardent slavery supporter, Walker reversed anti-slavery policies in Nicaragua, which quickly lost him favor. Revolts erupted and Walker was forced to surrender only two years after his triumphant victory. He fled in 1857.
Undaunted and convinced of his God-given duty to conquer Latin America, Walker returned to Honduras in 1860. His last filibustering adventure into Central America proved fatal. Deserted by his men, he surrendered to a nearby British naval officer whose vessel patrolled British islands off the coast of Honduras. Instead of returning Walker to the United States, as perhaps Walker expected, the officer delivered him to the enraged Honduran authorities. He was subsequently court martialed and executed by firing squad. The last of the American filibusters, his remains are buried in a cemetery in Trujillo, Honduras.
Attributions
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
“William Walker” by Fanny Juda. http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/walker.html
Boundless World History
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/north-america/