From Sea to Shining Sea

DNA: Imagine taking a 500-mile trip by wagon over unpaved roads and by raft down rivers. What are your thoughts about such a trip? What might you encounter? Are there any dangers? Record your thoughts and feelings in abrief journal entry.You will be taking notes todayso open your notebooksand get the pencils ready!

ATTENTION!!!

Manifest DestinyManifest- clear or obviousDestiny- something that is sure to happen

PLAY4Was Manifest Destiny just? Was it right?Manifest DestinyThe roots of this expansion go back to the beginning of the 19th century. The United States was less than three decades old at the time and confined to a cluster of east coast states. That changed in 1803, however, when the Louisiana Purchase was finalized under Thomas Jeffersons presidency. And the very next year, the Lewis and Clarke Expedition set off to find an overland route to the Pacific Ocean. Both events were pivotal. They gave the United States a glimpse of its immense territorial possibilities: the Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the country giving it its future middle, while the Lewis and Clarke expedition seeded the idea of a nation stretching from sea to shining sea.The Idea is bornThe world has to accept the idea ofthe continent of North America as our proper dominion. From the time we became an independent nation, it was as much a law of nature that this would become our claim as that the Mississippi should flow to the sea.John Quincy Adams 18197

Reasons for Western Expansion:Manifest DestinyPopulationEconomicsIndian Removal

1. Manifest Destiny:Americans saw their culture and government as the best in the world.Believed that the U.S. had the right and the duty to spread its rule all the way to the Pacific Ocean.Believed that they were better than the Native Americans and Mexicans.Racism justified taking lands belonging to Indians and Mexicans whom they considered as inferior.

102. Population:The U.S. was experiencing a high birth rate due to immigration.Large families were encouraged because agriculture was the primary economic activity of the U.S.U.S. population grew from 5 million in 1800 to more than 23 million by 1850.

11There was a need to expand into new territories to accommodate this rapid growth.Nearly 4,000,000 Americans moved to western territories between 1820-1850.2. Population continued123. EconomyThe U.S. suffered two economic depressions. 1818 1819These drove some to seek a living in the frontier.

13Frontier land was inexpensive, and some cases free.Expansion into frontier areas opened opportunities for new commerce and individual self-advancement.Land ownership was associated with wealth and tied to:Self-sufficiencyPolitical powerAnd independent self-rule

3. Economy continued14Maritime merchants saw and opportunity to expand and promote new commerce by building West Coast ports leading to increased trade with countries in the Pacific3. Economy continued154. What about the Native Americans?As settlers moved west and gold was discovered in many places, dozens of tribes were swindled of their lands. (An article needs to be written on just how many tribes there were, if only to dismiss the common perception that the land was empty). Treaties were broken at will. The term Manifest Destiny was used to justify settlement.To justify these violations of the permanent Indian frontier, the policy makers in Washington invented Manifest Destiny, a term which lifted land hunger to a lofty plane. The Europeans and their descendants were ordained by destiny to rule all of America. They were the dominant race and therefore responsible for the Indians along with their lands, their forests, their mineral wealth.

The Ghost Dance MovementThe belief was simple: that Native Americans should dance to emancipate themselves and regain their past glory.Essentially, the Ghost Dance was an Indian version of the religious movements so popular with settlers on the frontier.It didnt work!Spotted Tail (1823-1881), a famous Sioux leaderThere is a time appointed for all things. Think for a moment how many multitudes of animal tribes we [the Sioux or perhaps Native Americans] ourselves have destroyed; look upon the snow that appears today tomorrow it is water. Listen to the dirge of dry leaves that were green and vigorous but a few moons before! We are part of that life and it seems our time has come.

RememberDemocracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself." -- John Adams