Manifest Destiny was a 19th century belief that America was destined to stretch from coast to coast, and that it was the people's duty to help the nation expand. This attitude fueled westward expansion and played a role in establishing today's western United States. Native Americans were often forcibly removed from their lands due to beliefs of white racial superiority. The United States also went to war with Mexico and gained over half a million square miles of new territory, furthering the ideology of American dominance. Manifest Destiny was an important driver of westward expansion, Native American removal, and territorial growth that shaped the geographic size of the modern United States.

1. Manifest Destiny
JACKSON PETRIE

2. What is it?
 Manifest Destiny was an attitude that many Americans had in the
19th century that helped fuel westward expansion. People beloved
that America was destined to stretch from coast to coast, and that
it was the peoples duty to help it expand.

3. Impacts of Manifest Destiny
 Because of this expanding attitude, many settlers chose to move
west. Manifest destiny played a major role in establishing what has
turned into todays west coast.

4. Native American Removal
 Due to the idea of racial superiority, many Native Americans were
perceived as inferior to the white people. American Settlers often
used force to remove them from their land, and many Natives were
killed.

5. Religious effects
 When the Settlers encountered the Native Americans, some of them
attempted to convert the Natives to Christianity. They thought that
this would help to “civilize” them and thought that by converting
them, they were saving them from hell.

6. War with Mexico
 When the USA and Mexico had conflict over borders and who
owned what, it quickly turned into a war. This was the first US war
fought on foreign soil, and we won. Our victory added more than
half a million square miles to the USA, and helped to further fuel the
American superiority attitude of manifest destiny.

7. Land Gained
 Because of our Manifest Destiny philosophy, we gained a lot of land.
Our biggest gains were the Oregon territory, and the California
territory. Even though we won the war, we still paid Mexico 15 million
dollars for the land.

8. Why is this important?
 Manifest destiny was very important for many reasons like, Native
American removal, westward expansion, and the war with Mexico.
These all shaped who we are as a county today, and are reasons
that our country is so geographically large.