Manifest Destiny (1865-1890) Flashcards
1
Q
Manifest Destiny
A
- A belief held by many Americans that God had chosen them to populate the lands from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean
- First used by journalist John L. O’Sullivan who was a strong supporter of the US expansion
- First used the term in 1845 in an essay entitled ‘Annexation’ in the Democratic Review
- Seemed to give white Americans a divine right to populate the whole continent of North America and spread their Christian and republican values
- If the US did not acquire these territories then they could be seized by other rival colonial power
- Clearly a racial doctrine of white supremacy that granted no Native American/non-whites permanent possession of the lands on the North American continent
- Key slogan to justify the US expansion especially into Texas and California
2
Q
Westward Expansion Motives
A
1) Suggested that there was no overriding motive and that it just happened
2) A result of simple demography. Once the first settlers arrived, millions of immigrants followed and reproduced at a high rate
3) A deliberate policy by the federal government during and after the Civil War, following the ruthless and aggressive imperialism practised by the Spanish, French and British in North America in earlier centuries
4) A special mission to bring the benefits of the American way of life as well as democracy and freedom
3
Q
Establishment of Federal Territories
A
- During the Civil War, the federal government was determined to secure the control of west Mississippi
- This was done by the creation of federal territories governed by officials appointed by the federal government in Washington
- Also by populating these vast spaces with settlers
- These territories became subject to the laws of the USA
- Once the population reached 60,000 the territory could apply to become a state
- A state had their own elected assembly and were given authority to make their own laws
4
Q
The Homestead Act
(1862)
A
- Made to encourage settlement in the new territories
- Released land in 160-acre plots, available to farmers for free if they farm on the land for the next 5 years
- The first claim under this act was made by Daniel Freeman for a farm in Nebraska- January 1st 1863
- Settlers/immigrants newly arrived from all over without land of their own including single women and former slaves came to meet these requirements
- Those interested in homesteading first had to file their intentions at the nearest Land Office and check for any ownership claims
- 1865: 20,000 homesteaders settled on Plains
- This act was followed by:
-> The Timber and Culture Act (1873): gave homesteaders additional 160 acres
-> The Desert and Land Act (1877): offered further 640 acres for $1.25 per acre as some was irrigated - These acts were successful and flocked to the West
5
Q
Railroads and Western Expansion
A
- Government was keen to encourage railroad expansion to the West
- 1862: Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act authorising 2 companies to build a transcontinental railroad
- Native Americans were not consulted even though the railroad would run through their land
- The Central Pacific was to build eastwards from Sacramento, California
- The Union Pacific was to build westwards from Omaha, Nebraska
- Both would meet in the middle at the newly arranged site in Promontory, Utah- May 1869
- The railroad companies lured Settlers onto Plains with ‘buy now-pay later’ schemes
- Native Americans: trains disturbed buffalo herds bringing more land-hungry Settlers to Plains
- 1870: first full year, carried 15,000 passengers, 12 years later: 1 million
6
Q
The Second Gold Rush
A
- Began in the Black Hills of Dakota in the mid 1870s
- Rumours about gold in the area since the Civil War
- Prospectors found gold near present-day Custer, South Dakota in 1874 but these deposits were small
- However, the following year much larger deposits were found in Deadwood Gulch
- Thousands of gold-seekers flocked to the new town of Deadwood
- US government recognised the Black Hills as belonging to a Native American tribe, the Sioux, by the Treaty of Laramie of 1868
