Before the Civil War there were multiple land purchases. These included territories such as Louisiana and Texas.
The Louisiana purchase (1803) was during Jefferson’s presidency. There were positives and negatives to the Louisiana purchase. An obvious positive would be that it doubled the size of the United States at the time, however, there were questions on the constitutionality of the subject. Despite Jefferson’s states rights principles, he went through with the purchase and sent out explorations such as Lewis and Clark. Although Manifest Destiny didn’t have much of a part in the Louisiana purchase, the Louisiana purchase set a precedent for Manifest Destiny. The United States saw that we could always have more land, and started to get the idea that we should have more land.
The Annexation of Texas (1845) caused many problems. Mexico said that Texas still belonged to Mexico, and Texas said that it was free from Mexico and now a territory of the Untied States. Mexico saw this unjust taking of land as a good reason to declare war. Texas had tried to become a part of the United States after becoming independent, but Jackson wasn’t so sure about this. Texas no longer wanted to be a part of Mexico, and there was the threat of Mexico attacking and taking back Texas. Naturally, Texas sought protection. It conducted treaties with France, Holland, and Belgium for safety. Britain wanted Texas, but it wasn’t willing to risk the war with America, after all, because of Manifest Destiny, America felt that Texas belonged to them. They thought that since Americans were already on the land, Manifest Destiny works out because Texas became independent with Americans on it. In the eyes of the United States, Texas was already ours.
Then there was the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which addressed the Mexican Cession. It officially gave Texas to the United states, plus land stretching to Oregon, including California. The United States still payed 15 million for the land, but this also helped in the future for access to waterways, gold, and oil. This gave Americans a huge ego boost. We felt that even if the land never really belonged to us, we could and should still have it, and thus we have Manifest Destiny.
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