Manifest Destiny
During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the United States saw many issues and conflicts rise and pass, some more important than others. However, all of these issues, whether big or small, led to further division of politics in the United States. The most dividing issue during this period of time was the idea of Manifest Destiny, or territorial expansion. Manifest Destiny was the idea that it was the right and, well, the destiny of the United States to take over every bit of North America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. Most citizens were in favor of expansion, although some politicians felt it contradicted the constitution. Strict constructionists were against territorial expansion, while loose constructionists felt expansion was the United States' destiny. Strict constructionists focused their argument around the fact that the constitution never directly states that the federal government has the righ
Luckily for Polk, the potential war with Britain was resolved early in his presidency. He felt that a war with Mexico would only prove profitable for the United States, so, in a strategic battle move, he enticed the Mexicans to attack first. Polk, however, did not have the fear of Mexico that he had of Great Britain. Of all the possible explanations for these problems, territorial expansion tops the list. This caused great upset among the senators and representatives. Along with influencing the presidential elections, Manifest Destiny played a role in the issue of slavery. The idea of Manifest Destiny split American politics more than any other issue, movement, or factor in the mid-eighteen hundreds. James Polk had been elected on the edge of a knife and the verge of war. Those that viewed the constitution liberally, or loose constructionists, countered the opposing viewpoint by claiming that the right of expansion falls under the government's implied powers. With more lands being received and settled, the number of slave state and free state representatives in Congress had become unbalanced. Slavery stirred up a lot of hard feelings, but it was not the biggest issue where Manifest Destiny was concerned. One of the supporters of Manifest Destiny was James Polk, a democrat, who served as president from 1844 to 1848. Polk wanted nothing to do with Britain's powerful navy, and agreed to a compromise that gave the United States far less of Oregon than the public wanted. In the mid-eighteen hundreds, slavery was a very sensitive subject, and some of the feeling that caused this sensitivity was caused by territorial expansion.
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Acceptance Essays
