Question

Describe the philosophy of Manifest Destiny. What effect did it have on Americans' westward migration? How might the different groups that migrated have sought to apply this philosophy to their individual circumstances?

Answer 1

The Manifest Destiny is the 19th-century principle or belief that the development of the US throughout the American continents was both right and inescapable. The idea of Manifest Destiny influenced the American’s Westward Migration because it made that migration more probable to expand territorially. The idea of this philosophy held that Americans were greater to most other people in a number of ways. They were said to have a superior form of government – superior culture and religion. For these explanations, it was said, they were predestined by God to expand their territory. This attitude led to the westward migration. First, it helped lead to the growth of US Territory. It helped lead to the Mexican-American War because it endorsed the attitude that America deserved all the land more than the Mexicans did. America’s God-given destiny made it acceptable to take the land from Mexico. The same attitude applied to the Indians as American settlers moved west. The idea was that the Indians were so lesser that they did not deserve the use of the land. They were to be relocated and the land was to go the Americans who deserved it and would use it well.