How was Manifest Destiny a cause of the Civil War?
Nick du Plessis has it pretty much right. The Republicans were not so much pro abolition as they were against the spread of slavery into the new territories. Lincoln himself believed that slavery was permitted under the constitution in the States that already had it, but was adamantly opposed to letting new states establish it. For the slave states on the other hand it was about a balance of power. When the Constitution was ratified there were 7 slave states (if you include New York which didn’t abolish slavery until after 1800) and 6 free states.Over the ensuing years various compromises were enacted so that as new states were added to the Union that balance was maintained. Unfortunately much of the territory gained from the Mexican War was not suited to a plantation style, slave based agriculture. The South saw that future compromises were impossible and that they would ultimately lose control of the Senate a well as the House. Succession was the only way that they would be able to maintain their “peculiar” institution.
Was the mexican american war justified or unjustified?
It was based on Manifest Destiny. Some may say it is justified because there was already a large settlement of people in Texas, and they just wanted to become independent. 1821: Stephen Austin is invited to settle texas with 300 families. (with permission of Mexico because they wanted to populate the Texas area of their territory. 1835: New Mexican Constitution outlaws slavery. Now remember that the Americans that moved to Texas had slaves because they were from south of the Missouri Compromise slavery line. Then the next couple of presidents figured, hey were winning, lets take as much land as possible *Manifest Destiny= we have a god given right to this land. Sadly, this caused a slavery issue that made President Polk take the Oregon territories for the Northern states. (in order to have slavery and non equally represented. I would say NO it was not... just another greedy action of the United States at the time.
Slavery and Manifest Destiny?
Slavery and Manifest destiny divided the United States along economic and cultural lines, right? But how did it happen? Do you think the American War was unavoidable? I'm doing this essay for my History class. Could you guys answer this question so I can understand it. No need to write the essay..lol (though that would be awesome). I just need to get an idea on what to write. Thanks.
What were turning points in amerian history from 1600-1900?
1607 - first English settlement 1763 - British victory in the French and Indian War, taxes raised to pay war debt, lead directly to the revolution. 1776 - Declaration of Independence 1788 - Constitution adopted 1803 - Louisiana Purchase, manifest destiny begins 1848 - Mexican American War concludes, US reaches the pacific, struggle for the extention of slavery leads directly to the Civil War 1860 - Lincoln's election begins the Civil War 1876 - Hayes's election ends Reconstruction, the South will remain Democratic and segreated until the 1960s.
Why didn't the United States take over Mexico in the Mexican War?
Manifest Destiny was a strong ideal of the time. The idea that we need to expand sea to sea was a strong one. Mexico had lots of land at the time and it was valuable land (think of the value of Cali, new mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah combined). We thought we could take it like we took the other large transaction of the time the Louisiana purchase. We hoped to buy it out from under Mexico, but Mexico wasn't selling. So we invaded and starting winning battles. Than we were almost defeated by general De Santa Anna, however upon almost winning the battle, Santa Anna had to return to Mexico city and abandon the battle to quell a rebellion. Therefore he lost and America regained strength, regrouped, and attacked Mexico itself. We invaded and took Mexico city and then offered to buy the land again, for a third of what we offered the first time. We didn't want to control Mexico itself, it would have been a waste of resources to control an entire nation, we wanted to complete our vision on manifest destiny, not destroy Mexico. The target of the war was already captured and we invaded Mexico simply to force them to sign the treaty. That is an opinion of mine though. In truth there were Americans who wished to see Mexico in American hands, however due to internal American politics we were unable to to. the "all mexico" movement of the time was in whole un-popular with most Americans. Public opinion swayed and the fact that president Polks term was up he had to let go of his desire to control of Mexico and sign a treaty acquiring the lands we own today, he had to due so before public opinion was totally against him (like Pres Bush with Iraq). The war was in the dark (not in the news) and most Americans did not understand our reasons for invading, and that fueled a distrust of president polk Messed up stuff. Its the same as why we took land from the Native Americans.... we wanted more. The greed of Americans in legendary, and has always existed. If we want it we will buy it for cheap, or destroy you and take it. That right there is how an Empire/nation rises. I'm not saying it is wrong or right. I'm saying it is the way it is This is a very short explanation. Missing many parts of the story, I'm just too tired and lazy to write the whole story.