Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Manifest Destiny

Written by: Marlin and Jason


Shortly after the War of 1812, only a few Americans explored the West. However, by the 1840’s, many Americans believed in the idea of manifest destiny, the belief that the United States was predestined by god to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican and Native territory; this was believed to be inevitable. In addition to manifest destiny, Americans had several reasons for moving west. Settlers moved to the West in hopes of acquiring parts of abundant land. Merchants and manufacturers followed the settlers, seeking markets for their goods. Many Americans also moved West in hopes of escaping economic problems in the East.

Settlers and traders who travelled west followed old Native-American trails, which included the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail. Settlers traveled in large groups, in fear of attacks from Native-Americans.

In 1821, Stephen F. Austin established colonies in Texas, the main settlement known as San Felipe de Austin. By 1825, 297 land grants were issued to settlers, resulting in over 20,000 Americans residing in Texan lands.

In the late 1840's, hundreds of thousands of Americans moved west into California, as the Gold Rush began. Mining camps quickly sprung up, as gold revolutionized the Californian economy. San Francisco soon became the "pandemonium of a city", as California's economy quickly rose above other areas. In the end, California reached a gold production value of two billion dollars.

The idea of Manifest Destiny evidently lead to the expansion of American land into what it is today. Settlements were made throughout the Midwest and West coast, and the American economy rose out of its previous slump.

22 comments:

terrell said...

Good for including dates, and good use of details.
This is a very well written and specific summary.

Erin M said...

I think it's pretty cool that everyone thought manifest destiny would happen and then it actually did. It seems not many things in history work out that way.
This is a nice, clear summary of manifest destiny. God job.

Benjamin said...

Good explanation, going from the idea of manifest destiny into what the american people did with the idea in terms of colonization. Also, generally the paragraphs are well structured, helping the flow of the overall post. A couple weaker points would be some choppy segments, where sentence flow was stopped by short sentences (1st paragraph). Also, certain repetition, where you repeat the end of a sentence at the beginning of the next. Other then that, good job! Didn't catch any horrific typos...:)

cory said...

Good summary, very specific. Next time you might want to make the font a little bigger so it will be easier to read. Other than that good job!

Alvin said...

It is interesting how God plays a crucial role in a common belief and American policy. Overall, this summary contains concise information of the effects of manifest destiny. However, there is a typo in the summary (San Francisco, not San Frasisco).

Andy said...

Its funny how people swarm to an event base on hope: Manifest Destiny, Gold Rush, land,... lottery. A nicely written summary with alot of dates.

Derek said...

Well written, and informative, especially on the reasons provided for manifest destiny. However, I wish I had seen some examples of the adverse effects manifest destiny had on Native Americans, because your explanation of manifest destiny makes it appear more peaceful than it actually was. Besides that, I also liked the level of detail you provided for the other events that led to the eventual occupation of the western United States. Good job on writing everything so clearly.

Alice said...

Well written, good job explaining the reasons for why people moved to the west. Very informative as well. Good summary.

Sheng-Han said...

Well written and informative on the reasons behind manifest destiny. Formatting the work with a blank line between paragraphs would make the writing easier to read. Overall, a great job.

Jonas P said...

Good job, I liked the detail and organization. Very good way of presenting it. A picture would have topped it off.

Liane said...

I enjoyed reading this blog a lot, because it phrased the facts in a clear, concise, well-organized way that made it interesting as well as easy to understand. Although, I do believe that in the last paragraph, 'coast', as in "West coast", should be capitalized. I had no idea that the Gold Rush created a "gold production value" of as much as two billion dollars.

Andrew C said...

I love the brevity of this post. Short and straight to the point.

I wish you could have added a description of WHY its exactly called "Manifest Destiny," in addition to the definition.

Also, I you forgot to the label. Better fix that fast =)

Noel said...

This posting had a good summary of what manifest destiny was and included all the important dates. The paragraphs didnt flow very well or transition. I thought that some of the information was just being repeated and not fully explained.

Jesus G said...

Lots of good information and nice summary. I knew that people moved for land and for goods but I never knew people left to avoid the economy. The idea of Manifest Destiny would help create the united states today. Perhaps a picture could have for added effect.

Jinwoo said...

You wrote very well like including some definitions and organizing your posting in paragraphs. I think you can improve your posting by changing your font and size of it because it is little bit hard to read.

JonMarsnow said...

Good information and well phrased. However, I noticed one type. I believe it should be"a" instead of "the" in "'San Francisco soon became the 'pandemonium of a city'" Overall, nice job.

Yotam said...

its interesting how religion played such a big role back then. You had a really good summary with a lot of really good details. One thing for next time is make the font a bit larger. Other than that, really good

Holt said...

The way you divided the information into paragraphs really helped me understand the information. I also liked how you explained how Manifest Destiny helped shape our country's economy and how it gave birth to the nation we live in today.

Will said...

Very short, to the point, and easy to read. It was very well organized, and you had quantitative as well as qualitative information

Sam Cai said...

You did a good job organizing and summarizing the events. Brief to the point, easy to follow along the whole set of dates.

Anonymous said...

well written and very interesting
it was also very descriptive and gave me a better judgment and view of the whole concept

Jesus G said...

Good, well written summary. Very descriptive and informative. I never knew the Manifest Destiny played such a major part. Maybe next time you can add a picture perhaps?