Roots of Manifest Destiny

The phrase "Manifest Destiny" is most often associated with the territorial expansion of the United States from 1812 to 1860. This era, from the end of the War of 1812 to the beginning of the American Civil War, has been called the "age of manifest destiny". During this time, the United States expanded it's territory to the Pacific Ocean—"from sea to shining sea"—largely defining the borders of the United States as they are today. The phrase first appeared in an editorial published in the July-August 1845 issue of the Democratic Review (a newspaper) by John O'Sullivan. In it, the writer criticized the annexation of Texas, urging national unity on behalf of “the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.”

In order to understand westward expansion and the idea of “manifest destiny” one has to look all the way back to the Proclamation of 1763. Shortly before the American Revolution Great Britain issued the proclamation to keep settlers from moving west, which they had trouble enforcing. Finally, once the American Revolution was over and the Treaty of Paris was signed, American settlers started moving west in large groups. By 1787 the Constitutional Convention was working on a new Constitution for the new United States of America. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Northwest Ordinance that outlawed slavery in the Great Lakes Territories (called the Northwest because it was North and West of Virginia) and set the precedent for how new territories would be organized.

The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 further opened up the idea of Americans moving into the wild western territories. Many Americans believed it was their duty to expand republicanism for both the good of the world and for the future prosperity of the USA. Empresarios and filibusters from the United States had been flooding into Mexican Texas since well before the Texas Revolution and it's eventual annexation in 1845. Fur trappers, mountain men, pioneers, settlers and farmers also began to head west in search of profit and land well before American independence. Social reasons Americans moved west were the pioneering spirit, where rough and rugged American individualism gave birth to the mythical characters of the Mountain Man and the American Cowboy. Political reasons for expansion rested on the idea of expanding democracy as well as National Security. Occupying the middle of the continent from coast to coast would discourage threats from rival powers like England, Spain, or Russia. How would the expansion of the United States affect the economy? More land = more resources = more opportunity.

Wars of Aggression in the mid 19th Century led to social and political disputes between members of Congress as well as average citizens. Henry David Thoreau wrote a paper on Civil Disobedience in protest of the War with Mexico in 1846, that saw Southern Slave owners that had moved to Texas incite a war caused by the Annexation of Texas and - after a war with Mexico - resulted in the Mexican Cession. The changing frontier in places like Texas and the newly claimed lands from the Mexican Cession and the Oregon Territory would come to define domestic American politics for the next century. The issue of expanding slavery would become the elephant in the room for national politics similar to how the issue of race is treated today. Everybody knew it was a problem but few people were willing to talk about it. The unwillingness in the 1830s to address the issue of slavery would eventually boil over into the Civil War in the 1860s.

All the while this is happening Native Americans are slowly but surely losing their homeland to white invaders dead set on their “manifest destiny” to “overspread” the continent. A series of Range Wars and Indian Wars eliminated or relocated the majority of Native American tribes to reservations. Many Native Americans, such as Quanah Parker, fought for their way of life against the expanding imperialism of the United States. After the Civil War and the freedom of slaves in Southern States, one of the few job opportunities for freedmen was to head west to fight for the United States against Native Americans as Buffalo Soldiers.

Routes of Manifest Destiny: How Americans Populated the West

From the time America became an independent country, Americans were interested in moving west into the changing frontier for new opportunities. Early in it’s history, Americans used overland routes like the National Road to pass through the Appalachian Mountains into the Ohio River Valley. As technology advanced it made the trip easier with the building of the Erie Canal that connected New York City to the Great Lakes along with a growing railroad network. Once settlers made it west of the Appalachian Mountains with the help of steamboats and railroads (often ending up in or near St. Louis) they would have to exchange high tech transportation for a wagon or horseback to continue their journey on foot at a much slower rate.

In the American Old West, overland trails were popular means of travel used by pioneers and immigrants throughout the 19th century and especially between 1830 and 1870 as an alternative to sea and railroad transport. Although railroads were common in the states East of the Mississippi, they had not been built yet in the West. These immigrants began to settle various regions of North America west of the Great Plains as part of the mass overland migrations of the mid-19th century. Settlers emigrating from the eastern United States were spurred by various motives, among them religious persecution, economic incentives, and the prospect of new wealth and new freedoms in what was then a largely unspoiled and unregulated country. By the 1840s, several popular and well-established routes had been blazed through the continental interior to destinations in the far west, including the Oregon Trail, California Trail, and Mormon Trail. Two major wagon-based transportation networks, one typically starting in Missouri and the other in the Mexican province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, served the majority of migrants during the era of westward expansion. Three of the Missouri-based routes—the Oregon, Mormon, and California Trails—were collectively known as the Emigrant Trails. Historians have estimated at least 500,000 emigrants used these three trails between 1843 and 1869, and despite growing competition from a transcontinental railroad, some use even continued into the early 20th century.

After the end of the US-Mexican War in 1849, vast new American conquests again enticed mass immigration. Events like the California Gold Rush and the opportunity to own land attracted colonists to travel overland to the west. Regardless of the trail used, the journey was often slow and arduous, filled with risks from diseases, dehydration, malnutrition, injury, and harsh weather, with as many as one in ten travelers dying along the way, usually as a result of disease.

The history of these trails and the pioneers who traveled them have since become deeply embedded in the culture and folklore of the United States as some of the most significant influences to shape the content and character of the nation. The remains of many trail ruts can still be observed in various locations throughout the American West. Travelers may loosely follow various routes of the emigrant trails on modern highways through the use of byway signs across the western states. Westward expansion, led by the idea of manifest destiny, is mostly considered a huge success for Americans, however there were many Native Americans in event such as the Trail of Tears, where large numbers of Natives were moved from their homes or outright murdered to make way for white settlers. Either way, America would be changed permanently as it made its way toward the Civil War.