According to Robert C. Winthrop's "A Plea for Compromise," the idea of manifest destiny was widely believed to exist, especially during the eighteenth century. The idea originated from the notion that the potentials of the new earth could be used to redeem the old world. The freedom of conscience, equality, and personal enfranchisement, as well as the union of some republics, are among the values held in such high regard by this ideology's proponents. The distinctive institutions and virtues of American citizens, the nation's specific desire to improve and rehabilitate its image, and the unquestionable destiny to carry out the required duty are its three main tenets. The concept has equally gotten used to justify the Mexican war in the 1840s and to divide the United Kingdom and the Oregon (DOC F p.1-3). The concept was limped mainly due to slavery that was taking place in the country at that time; and did not become a national primacy. It did not reflect the spirit of the nation. The essay shall, therefore, focus on the conditions that underlie the concept as well as its impacts more specifically up to the year 1854. It will also discuss some of the terms related to the concept and give positions of various authors on their manifestation.
According to John O'Sullivan, manifest destiny played a critical role in the annexation of the State of Texas from the Mexico. Various individuals in the state were in support and against the plan to annex Texas. The original deal was to calm the people once Texas has successfully gotten annexed to the United States and urge them to accept the outcome as it was irrespective of the political divide that one belonged (DOC A p.1). The slavery issue in their respect would automatically balkanize the nation and threaten the Democrat Party. Robert C. Winthrop amplifies it in his argument when he says “While annexation by the United States was perpetrated by the spirit of Manifest Destiny, there were both proponents and opponents of making Texas a state. Clearly, John O’Sullivan’s views adding the element of manifest destiny when he argued the reasons for statehood suggesting that…” (DOC A p. 2).
Robert C. Winthrop reminds us of how the Market Revolution got prompted with the creation of the new technologies. The revolutions created a superior commercial diversity more so in the first half of the nineteenth century. The Americans were hardly making their goods, purchasing or having to sell it. The transportation and technological improvement, more so the rail board and steamship did stimulate the economy and provided a ready market both globally and domestically. Land, one of the scarce economic resource was needed for expansion economically. The entrepreneurs and the farmers considered the west as a solution for this as it had a lot of land for keeping livestock and growing grain (DOC F p.1-4).
Furthermore, Winthrop noted that the need to acquire land came with a price; the Native Americans found it hard to obtain this much-needed resource. They got disadvantaged, and this was fueled by the policies of Jackson Andrew with his Indian Removal Act of the year 1830. The exchange of the eastern land and the western land became a fertile ground for mass genocide especially for Seminole, Cherokee, underneath the concept of manifested destiny. The duty of the Americans was to Christianize such citizens. In an address to the Congress in 1830, Andrew Jackson argued that “separate the Indians from immediate contact with the settlement of whites; free them from the power of the states; enable them to pursue happiness in their own way and under their own rude institutions…” (DOC F p.2). It was clear that he was in support of the Act that called for the removal of Indians from the American soil.
Robert C. Winthrop highlight that in the dawn of the eighteenth century, the interconnection between the notion of exceptions and freedom was in line with the western expansion especially when they move to the Appalachian Mountains. Once the war of eighteen hundred and twelve ended, there was no impediment to the British for interior movement. Also, after the success of the Clark and Lewis voyage, the West looked good enough for investment. The promotion of economic development by then government proved as a kick start for the expansion and Manifestation of Destiny. “….and the American System, was predicated on the belief that tariffs should be put in place to protect American manufacturing and most importantly, the government must finance the building of roads and canals.” (DOC B, DOC F p.1). The subsidies and government help was meant to avail transportation into the interior regions of the state. They were also to help in the building of roads or Cumberland and create toll streets and canals, which were essential to the expanding market revolution.
Henry David ventilated on the Mexican war and its impact on the government. According to him, the best government is the one that governs the least individuals in the society. The expectation of the proponent of this was that the wish to get acted upon got attended to with the expected swiftness. This would finally amount to the idea that the government is best when it governs least. In cases where the citizens are hardworking, the expectation is that the government is inexpedient. A strong army is a reserve for a stable government. The government is the only means by which the will of the people gets exercised. The Mexican war was made by few individuals using the standing of the administration. President James Polk’s administration declared war on Mexico for its intention to annex Texas due to a disputed border. It would have proven even more contentious, as it seemed to get outmaneuvered by boundary dispute encouraged by the skirmish cry of the president, who developed tantamount with Manifest Destiny and hard-pressed for war at all costs, and hence “Mr. Polk’s War’… The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo perpetuated not only future mistrust between Mexico and the United States but would bring forth the question of slavery with the new land acquired by the treaty…” (DOC D, p.4-5).
Robert C. Winthrop posits that the westward expansion is so well interconnected with the slave question. As early as 1820, the Missouri compromise was predestined to control the balance between the non-slaves states and the slave states. The final version witnessed the coming together of the Maine Free states, and the slave states that slavery would, and to the north of the thirty-six thirty line, the compromise’s boundary. The agreement raised controversial issues on the western expansion and of slavery, and the regional division revealed, prompting a national debate whose climax was the civil war. Southerners in Legislature appeared obdurate in contradiction of allowance for the organization of new zones that might upset that equilibrium. In the pathway of westward immigration, Nebraska and Kansas demonstrated to be a portentous reminder of how flimsy upholding sectional equilibrium would be. “Senator Stephen Douglas proposed the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854, stating that territorial governments could decide for themselves via popular sovereignty, the status of slavery, which eventually led to the Bleeding of Kansas and what would be the foreshadowing the of the Civil War.” (DOC B).
In conclusion, the Manifest Destiny is a combination of different factors, and different groups of citizens experienced it differently, leading to the varied interpretation of the whole idea. The values so dear to the proponents of this ideology include the right of conscience, equality, and personal enfranchisement, union of some republics. There are three primary themes of this ideology; the distinctive virtues and institutions of the American citizens, the particular goal of the United States to remake and redeem its image and the undisputable destiny to finish the necessary duty.
Works Cited
Henry David Thoreau, excerpt from “Civil Disobedience” (1846).
John, O'Sullivan, "Territorial Aggrandizement,” United States Magazine and Democratic Review 17.1 (October 1845).
President Polk’s Declaration of War on Mexico, (In Module 13 Readings) (1846).
Winthrop, Robert. “A Plea for Compromise,” Congressional Globe (29th Congress, 1st Session, 1846).
