Essay Question #1

How did the United States fulfill the idea of Manifest Destiny and was it worth it? Manifest Destiny Is the belief that the U.S. should extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The Louisianna Purchase is what started it all.

On July 4th, 1803, America bought 828,000 square miles of land west of the United States from France for 15 million dollars. In 1800 France bought back the Louisianna Purchase planning to create a sugar empire. Napoleon Bonaparte had to sell it to America because of the war with Britain and the recent revolution in Haiti. Originally Thomas Jefferson wanted to buy just New Oreleans but Napoleon offered to double the size of the United states for such a low price, Jefferson could not refuse. The only problem is that the deal might have been unconstitutional.

Then came the Lewis and Clark Expedition which inspired mountain men to explore the amazing land. Mountain Men inspired other people to travel west by blazing trails and telling magnificent stories of the land. That is what started the boom of wagon trains heading west.

Now that there are people occupying the west we have some problems with other countries. In 1818 the Treaty of 1818 is signed by the United States and the U.K. . The treaty marks a border at the Rocky Mountains for the United States and leaves Oregon for joint occupation. More people began to enter the Oregon territory through the Oregon Trail. The British rejected President John Tyler's idea to split Oregon in half by the 49th parallel. Many citizens did not like this idea and wanted all of the Oregon territory. Creating the slogan, "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!", fifty-four forty meaning the border line that the citizens wanted. Eventually British accepted and the dispute was settled by the Oregon Treaty of 1846.

Next comes Texas. The Republic of Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836, after the Texas Revolution Texas wants to join the United States as a state. At first Texas was not annexed because of the imbalance of slave sates to non-slave states. But before the election of James Polk, Congress annexed Texas. However, there were portions that were still held by Mexico. When Polk moved to occupy the rest of Texas it caused an outbreak that started the Mexican- American War in 1846. But with success on the battle field in 1847 all of Texas was annexed in the Mexican Cession that also claimed California and New Mexico territory. The Gadsden Purchase in 1854 purchased 29,670 miles of land to complete what we have today.

American then continued to move on to annex even more states like Hawaii and Alaska. And even though it took 50 years, millions of dollars, and a couple of wars, it was all worth it. America is currently one of the biggest countries in the world with a population of 314 million people.