Samuy Turnblom
History 1700
2/28/13
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny is a term that was used, mostly by white American Protestants, to
describe their claim that it was their destiny, or god given right, to spread westward across the
unpopulated country. They also thought that it was their right to take over and own all the land.
As they did this they tried to convert or remove anyone that did not hold the same beliefs and
values. Manifest Destiny was about the power of democracy and the economy. Americans
believed that the United States is a great land provided by God so they could spread their faith,
values, and democracy across the world. The American Indians were also affected by Manifest
Destiny when they were forced by the Americans to move further west or become slaves.
It was a newspaper editor named John L. O’sullivan who declared the United States
Manifest Destiny was to spread across the continent provided to them by God. John L.
O’sullivan is also quoted as saying, “To overspread and to possess the whole continent which
providence has given us.” By this he meant Americans should spread their beliefs to other parts
of the country which god and heaven has provided, whether they agreed to take it or not. In that
time white Americans thought that they were superior to all others races and used this superiority
to justify the mistreatment of American Indian and Mexican slaves. In the nineteenth century,
Americans decided to move west where the American Indians lived and in doing so they forced
them to also move further west. This caused many problems for the American Indian people
including widespread disease, thousands of American Indians contracted smallpox and some also
died from traveling.
As Americans continued to move westward they eventually reached the Mexican
borderlands and claimed that the Mexican people must join their Christian race or die; which is
what brought about the Mexican American War. Americans assumed that they could spread
across the continent without any opposition. Another effect was, the American Indians worked at
the Catholic missions in the state of California. They tended the fields and cared for the livestock
but were basically treated like slaves. After the Mexicans won their independence from Spain
they owned over 50,000 acres which required more labor. Therefore, they forced the American
Indians to work twice as much. The American Indian workers had terrible working and living
conditions; their mortality rates were twice as high as African slaves, and four times higher than
Mexican Californians.
Manifest destiny is not just about forcing others to believe in one single belief or slavery
but it basically about racism. White Americans therefore weren’t rich but they considered
themselves to be superior because of their God, and had higher expectations than those who had
black or brown skin and they weren’t always considered to be slaves even though they were
treated as such. Manifest Destiny caused so much pain and suffering for the American Indians;
the story of their lives allows future generations to know how they suffered and survived to this
day.