Manifest Destiny

The United States started off as 13 colonies on the East Coast. As the development of the colonies grew, people believed the United States was meant to be the country that filled North America. With this in mind, many people had an opposite view on this movement because they thought that by moving they would go against the values that as Americans they all had. As the Manifest Destiny began to roll into reality, there were far more challenges than anticipated. Many Americans believed that moving out the west coast was going to be easy, but they did not take account for land in the west to be inhabited by others, such as Native American Tribes. In “Manifest Destiny” it explained what happened while trying to move to the west coast, “...the Rocky Mountains loomed as undesirable to all but fur traders, and all Native Americans west of the Mississippi appeared too powerful to allow for white expansion.” This explained that it was difficult for the Americans to take over the land that Native Americans were living on. The primary sources used in this project shed light on how the movement of the Manifest Destiny was not as flawless as it may seem, with wars, betraying tribes, and even having foreigners and immigrants becoming a threat to the American expansion.