Manifest Destiny
During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the United States saw many problems come and go. Some problems were more important than others, however all led to further division of American politics. The most divisive issue in American politics during this time frame was the idea of Manifest Destiny, or territorial expansion.Manifest Destiny was the idea that it was the United States' destiny to take over all of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Most of the public was in favor of territorial expansion, though 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 centered their platform around the fact that the constitution never directly states that the federal government has the right to acquire land. Those that view the constitution liberally, or loose constructionists, counter that stand by claiming the right of e
The potential war with Britain was resolved early in Polk presidency. One such accusation was made by Charles Sumner. Entering the mid eighteen hundreds slavery was a very sensitive subject, and some of the bad feelings that caused this sensitivity were caused by territorial expansion. War with Mexico and Great Britain worried many of the people who were against expansion. " (Tindall 587)Polk's unexpected election, slavery conflicts, and the Mexican war were all issues in American politics during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Polk was strongly in favor of expanding the United States to the Pacific. For instance, free state members of Congress began accusing the slave state members of conspiracies. One of the supporters of Manifest Destiny was, democrat, James Polk who served as president from 1844 to 1848. "Slavery stirred up a lot of hard feelings though the slavery issue was not the hottest of the problems associated with territorial expansion. The idea of Manifest Destiny split American politics more than any other factor up to the eighteen fifties. This is what Sumner called the "Slave Power Conspiracy. Polk won because the majority of the public believed in Manifest Destiny. This opinion won him the election of 1844. Of all the possible explanations for these problems, territorial expansion is the number one reason. Loose constructionists and strict constructionists are the main divisive factor for the United States political parties: the democrats and the whigs.
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Acceptance Essays
