Manifest Destiny In The 1800's

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In the late 1800’s the United States expanded outwards, all over international waters; however, not even historians have an exact idea as to why America decided to do so during this time period. There is a plethora of ideas that have been toyed with in order to try and answer the question, “Why did the U.S. expand overseas in the 1800’s?” ranging from simply, the want for money all the way to social darwinism. Although, the answer is a combination of both, ideological reasons, such as manifest destiny, along with political ideas like preclusive imperialism and the Monroe Doctrine. First of all, manifest destiny played a large role in the U.S.’s decision to expand internationally during the late 19th century. Manifest destiny is the idea that it is the American’s god-given right to conquer and annex any and all land that they can get their hands on, the creator of the idea, John O’sullivan said himself, “Our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” Generally, manifest destiny was used during the time to justify America’s un-civilized take overs of foreign territories by saying that they were only attempting to spread Christianity. While it is true that the United States was trying to spread Christianity in the 1800’s, it is also true that once the western …show more content…
expansionism in the late 1800’s, including but not limited to, the closing of the frontier, the open door thesis, and the panic of 1893. Although, the idea of manifest destiny along with the theory of preclusive imperialism blend together in order to justify American expansion while at the same time, the Monroe Doctrine made it illegal for countries to interfere with American affairs. Combined together, the Monroe Doctrine, preclusive imperialism, and manifest destiny are great ideas that can be used to condone the United States reasons for expansionism in the 19th
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