7. EXPANSION ... AND DIVISION
"MANIFEST DESTINY"
In 1845 the publisher, lawyer, and strong Jacksonian Democrat, John L.
O'Sullivan, popularized the term "Manifest Destiny" when he wrote
articles
in his own periodical, the Democratic Review, concerning both the
American
acceptance of the request by the Republic of Texas to join the Union
and the
need to get fully behind the American claim in the boundary dispute
with
Britain over the Oregon territory. O'Sullivan explained that it was
America's
manifest destiny to overspread the continent given it by Providence for
the
free development of its yearly multiplying millions and for the
development
of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government. In
general, this represented well the view of the Jacksonian Democrats.
But the Whigs were fervently opposed not so much to the high
democratic ideals expressed by O'Sullivan as to the implications this
had
for the westward spread of slavery and for unwanted foreign (and
Indian)
conflicts it seemed to invite. Some Whigs were even so bold as to
accuse
the doctrine of being simply an excuse for imperialism.
But the reality was that the American population instinctively believed
in such ideals without the prompting of journalists or congressmen. It
was a central part of American culture, both spiritually and
materially. It
was part of American culture materially because Americans believed that
it was their natural right to seek new opportunities in the West as
those
opportunities faded in the East (a rapidly expanding population,
exhaustion
of the soil, but most importantly, little new land for cheap purchase
for a
new generation trying to start out life). The land to the West was
simply
there for the taking by any young (or old) family willing to face the
risks
involved.
It was also a central part of American culture because it was a key
part of the Second Great Awakening, in that Americans had a fervent
sense that as the New Israel, they were commanded by God to fill the
land
Expansion ... and Division
with His People. Their westward expansion was actually a divine duty.
Protestant Christian Americans were expected to fill the empty spaces
sparsely inhabited by only pagan Indians or Catholic Hispanics.
California and the rich Pacific coast was one of the points of
destination. But the place that would receive the greatest attention
and be the cause of the express formulation of the Manifest Destiny
doctrine was Texas. Texas would be the test case for Manifest Destiny.
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Go on to the next section: Texas Independence
 Miles
H. Hodges
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