Manifest Destiny

Blake Morris
11-30-16
Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny was purely the idea of the Americas expanding over the land. As you can assume the land before the fact was not just empty. Before the people of today's time there were Indians. More often than not Indians were forced away or ran off. This was in now way fair for the Indians but in many situations they had not other option but to leave. The idea of manifest destiny was a doctrine explaining that the expansion of the U.S. Was inevitable and justified. This is very arguable when you bring the Indians into the idea. One other idea of the exploration and conquering was that expanding of the culture of the United States. With the United States expanding many can argue that traditions were done away with or destructed. Some will purely say that tradition and ways of life were just expanded. Which ever you may believe the same problem occurs. The fact that Indians were pushed away defenseless still comes up. Indians had no other choice but to turn and run. These are all intertwined with manifest destiny.

Civil War Causes

Blake Morris
11-30-16
Causes of the Civil War

1. Economic and social differences between the North and the South
2. States versus federal rights
3. The fight between Slave and Non-Slave State Proponents
4. Growth of the Abolition Movement
5. The election of Abraham Lincoln

Dominant Themes in American History

There are many dominant themes in American History from 1607 to 1861, but I am only going to talk about the two that I refer to as the biggest. Slavery was a huge problem in American history but it also helped America become a country. Without slavery Americans would have never been able build the economy as it did. Slavery was also the main cause of the Civil War which of course wasn't good. The south wanted to keep slaves and the north wanted to abolish slaver, so when Abraham Lincoln was elected president the south succeeded from the union which eventually led to the Civil War. The second biggest theme in American History I think was electing Thomas Jefferson as President. While Thomas Jefferson was president he managed to cut Americas debt nearly in half. This was an incredible accomplishment. He didn't do this by just sitting in office and not spending any money. He cut down on presidential employees and pressured congress to abolish the direct tax of 1798. Not only did he nearly cut the debt he half he also doubled the size of the United States, with the Louisiana Puchase, without adding to the debt. His presidency contributed greatly to the United States of America by cutting the national debt in half and doubling the size of America. Thomas Jefferson did the most with his time as president and contributed greatly to the history of America.

Civil War causes

1. Underground Railroad
2. Slavery
3. Election of Abraham Lincoln
4. The abolitionist movement
5. Secession

5 Causes of the Civil War

1. The election of Abraham Lincoln
2. The Missouri Compromise
3. Compromise of 1850
4. Nat Turners Rebellion
5.  Declaration of Independence was signed and declared all men are created equal.

Civil War

* Missouri Compromise
*John Brown's raid
*Nat Turner's Rebellion
*Dred Scott vs. Sanford
*Abraham Lincoln's election

Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny was a belief in early American history that westward expansion was either a constitutional or God-given right to Americans. Manifest Destiny is made up of three principles, or “claims’: first, the values of Americans were enough to justify aggressive westward expansion, as Americans were destined to have leadership on the land; second, the land covered by the westward expansion was destined to have an agricultural and political revolution led by the American people; third, people believed that the Constitution and God’s word was proof that the aggressive westward expansion was destiny, so the idea of it being immoral was quickly dismissed.

    With the illusion of aggressive westward expansion being the American destiny, the movement gained a lot of power, and it caused one of the worst events in American history, Native-American removal. Native-American removal is the act the relocating Native Americans to other lands (or kicking them off of the land). This removal was not peaceful or kind in the least. In some places, Americans would force Native-Americans to surrender with superior weaponry on their own land, so that the Native-Americans would have to endure a very long, harsh journey to other lands, where some did not even live to see. As these Native-Americans are taught to live in a certain area (example being fisherman on a coast), they did not know how to live in another unknown area with a different climate, animals, and plants. This caused many of the Native-Americans who were “relocated” to die anyway, even if the journey to new land was survived.

Dominant themes I saw in American history

Today I will talk about what I see are the dominant themes in American History from 1607-1861. The first thing I will point out that I see as a dominant them is slavery. Slavery is a big issue that had a huge impact on American history. It was one of the main causes of the civil war. There was the underground railroad which helped slaves escape, but people in the south were not happy about that. They wanted their slaves back, but since there was not slavery in some states where they escape to and there was nothing they could do. A lot of times Slave owners and patrols would catch slaves and bring them back and treat them even worse for trying to escape. When Lincoln became president, the south was not happy and they succeeded from the union. This is (as I said before) one of the great causes to the American civil war. The second theme I see is Manifest destiny. Manifest destiny had a lot of parts to it. For instance, it included the taking over of the Native American soil and driving them away. It also included the gold rush. That started with a man named James W. Marshal who was working for John Setter found gold on his land in California. The word spread quickly and people from all over came down to California seeking fortune and wealth. Most failed but it inspired railroads and communities to be built. There was a high competition for land and this made living very expensive for some newcomers to California. This are the theme that I saw mainly in American History.

Reasons that triggered the Civil War.

-          The South Succeeding from the Union

-          The election of Abraham Lincoln

-          The Abolitionists movement

-          John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry

-          Missouri Compromise

-          Nat Turner’s Rebellion

How Manifest Destiny afftected Native American culture.

Today I am going to talk about manifest destiny and how it contributed to the destruction of the Native American life and culture in the U.S . So pretty much Manifest destiny was a movement that involved the European settlers in America. They wanted to spread their culture and prosper in the land. They wanted to be the best country to be and they wanted the people to have control over it. (democracy). They also thought very highly of themselves. They drove out the native Americans thinking they were doing a good deed. They thought the Native Americans to be savages that needed to be gone. So, they would raid villages and destroy them in the fact that they thought it was for the greater good that these savages should be eliminated. They also thought it to be the will of god that they take over the land for themselves and whoever stood in their way was an enemy of god. This contributed to the destruction of native American culture in the fact that most of the native Americans that survived were driven away. This was a movement that created a pathway called the trail of tears. This trail was being Native Americans walked until they found land far away from the settlers that sought to wipe them out. Many died along the way and as they progressed. As did the progression of Settlers taking the land they once lived on. A lot of times when the Native Americans found a place to stay the settlers would come and drive them out again.