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Manifest Destiny was a casualty of the Slavery fight of the 1850"s.
The Southern leaders took Manifest Destiny and soiled it with their precious slavery...
Manifest Destiny with its the providence of god and its promotion of Republican Democracy was the greatest excuse to take other peoples land and conquer a continent.
Our nation fully supported Manifest Destiny until the 1850's fight over slavery. The Southern leaders pushed for expansion but with the Southern leaders it was not about Providence or Republican Democracy but for Slavery....
Souring the Northern belief in Manifest Destiny causing the Northern leaders to back away from Expanding our great nation's borders...
While our nation should have been conquering North America, our nation fought a civil war. While our borders should stretch from the Arctic circle to the Panama Canal. instead our borders never grew much after the Civil War.
Our nation should have a conquered the whole continent but because of slavery sour test our nation never grew to its full glory.... or Destiny!
Slavery's tentacles almost destroy our nation but it did stunt it's growth.......
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"States Rights are about States Wrongs" - Jesse Jackson
I think some of our bretheren to the North and South might take offense to this post. Other than Cuba, what other territories what the United States going to conquer? I think the British might have taken a dim view of the United States expanding to the Arctic Circle (although it did with the acquisition of Alaska) and the United States had taken the portions of Mexico that it really wanted. At best, the U.S. absent the slavery question might have annexed parts of Northern Mexico, but I cannot see the United States really wanting central Mexico with all its people and all the problems that would cause. Would the United States really want to add millions of Spanish-speaking citizens to the country? Talk about a political nightmare! In annexing Texas, the New Mexico territories and California, a large number of the inhabitants were Anglos already. Expanding further south that would not have been the case.
__________________ "There must be more historians of the Civil War than there were generals figthing in it... Of the two groups, the historians are the more belligerent." David Donald, Lincoln Reconsidered (1961)
I do not believe there was a unified theory of 'manifest destiny' . There was a Territorial Manifest Destiny and there was the Philosophical Manifest Destiny (with various subsets under both). Both tended to intertwine with each other accordidng to time, place and person's.
Obviously the CW did not kill the Territorial or Philosophical manifestations of America's Destiny.
Even as the War rage, immigrants were settling the lands West of the Mississippi and West Coast.
It is true (IMO) that American's and their leaders were not very interested in Canada or Mexico. But, in fact, America did acquire Alaska, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Phillipines, Hawaii, Guam etc. all in the name of various interpretations of America's destiny (or duty).
Think I'll leave this alone. Was climbing onto my high horse and fell off the other side.Good topic, though.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
I am going to have to disagree on this one. I don't think it was slavery that killed Manifest Destiny, but the fact that it wasn't a fully attainable goal.
After the acquistition of California, Arizona, New Mexico and bits of other western states, America had reached its full potential for expansion within the continent of North America, with the exception on Alaska. During the 1840's and 50's, we see several attempts by groups called "filibusters" to go down into Central America and attempt to take over these countries for the United States. These all ended in utter failure.
In the late 19th Century, we see a rebirth of territorial expansion with the Spanish-American War. After this war, the territory of Puerto Rico, the Phillipines, and essentially Cuba, was added to the United States. However, Cuba moved to becoming an independent country, the Phillipines gave the United States some problems and we eventually gave it back, and Puerto Rico is still a U.S Territory, trying to get statehood.
One must also think of it from a diplomatic standpoint as well. James Monroe came up with the Monroe Doctrine, basically telling Europe to get out of the Western Hemisphere, and that if they tried to interfere, they would be messing with the US. However, if the United States starts trying to take over countries left and right, what does that say? Europe will see that doctrine as a way of trying to keep them out so that the US could take over without interference.
Slavery didn't kill Manifest Destiny. I think it was actually more the cause.
__________________ "War is, at its best, barbarism." General W.T. Sherman
"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it." General R.E. Lee
No. When I get on the high horse (and don't fall off), threads disappear. This one has some merit but started off a bit pugnaciously. But we all know (or should) that you're not a happy camper if the fire ain't blazing, so I left it alone.
This horse is near to 20 hands, so getting off and on is a pain. Now that I'm off it, please don't make me get back on.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
There was a group of Americans who wanted all of the Oregon Country not just the half we received from our treaty with Britain in 1846. There was a group of Americans who wanted all of Mexico, not just the half of it we received in 1848.
Manifest Destiny was achieved because it simply meant a USA that stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. After 1815 there was not any serious design by the US of conquering Canada or Britain's 14th colony.
The sad part of this thirst for land is that all of the land referred to above first belonged to Native Americans. We all know how fairly the colonial and US governments treated those Native Americans.
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"Those who forget to remember the past are condemned to repeat it", George Santayana.
Our nation believe in Manifest Destiny and elected Polk as our President 1844 because of it.
Our nation would have kept its belief in it if it was not for the issue of slavery and how to divide up the spoils form the Mexican-American war.
The slavery debates sour and divide our nation on expansion.
Remember, our nation fought the Mexican - American war with Manifest Destiny as a Battle Cry. I believe our nation would have fought more wars in the name of Manifest Destiny if slavery had not been an issue.
In the 1850's slavery divide our nation, in the 1860's our nation fought a civil war, by the 1870's manifest destiny was a thing of the past.
In the 1850 and beyond if our nation had not been distracted by slavery, our nation would have become a colonial power in the new world in the way the European Powers did in Africa and Asia.
I could picture us fighting European nations for their procession in the New World in the 1860 to the 1880's.
Slavery ruin our nations chances to be all it could be!!
__________________
"States Rights are about States Wrongs" - Jesse Jackson
Our nation believe in Manifest Destiny and elected Polk as our President 1844 because of it.
Our nation would have kept its belief in it if it was not for the issue of slavery and how to divide up the spoils form the Mexican-American war.
The slavery debates sour and divide our nation on expansion.
Remember, our nation fought the Mexican - American war with Manifest Destiny as a Battle Cry. I believe our nation would have fought more wars in the name of Manifest Destiny if slavery had not been an issue.
In the 1850's slavery divide our nation, in the 1860's our nation fought a civil war, by the 1870's manifest destiny was a thing of the past.
In the 1850 and beyond if our nation had not been distracted by slavery, our nation would have become a colonial power in the new world in the way the European Powers did in Africa and Asia.
I could picture us fighting European nations for their procession in the New World in the 1860 to the 1880's.
Slavery ruin our nations chances to be all it could be!!
James K. Polk ran on a simple platform. First, settle the Oregon question, second, settle the Texas/Mexico question, and third, settle the California question.There was a significant minority of Americans, including Lincoln, who felt the Mexican war was nothing more than a simple land grab to add land for slavery's expansion. By the end of Polk's term he had settled all three questions and decided not to run for a second term, keeping his campaign promise. Polk realized there was not much land left to conquer or to acquire, but he did offer to purchase Cuba for $100 million. He never attempted to conquer it or listen to the Democrats and take all of Mexico. The idea that the USA should have conquered more land, Canada, Cuba, and Mexico, is not something a majority of Americans would have supported.
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"Those who forget to remember the past are condemned to repeat it", George Santayana.
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Slavery Killed Manifest Destiny.... 
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