Problems with The Manifest Destiny

An essential moment in United States history was from 1800 to 1850, in which the ideas of expanding from “sea to shining sea” seemed of paramount importance to copious Americans, particularly apparent in the beliefs of the Democrats. The immense quantity of territory attained during this time had numerous contrasting affects on national unity and sectionalism in America. Initially, the acquisition of land had a positive affect on the United States, which empowered the idea of Manifest Destiny. Eventually, political quagmires emerged due to the exponentially increasing magnitude of American territory, ultimately threatening the national unity that had developed during the first quarter of the nineteenth century.

Land was an efficient tool in developing national unity in America. Such notable moments in history in which the United States was able to prosper would include the Louisiana Purchase, the Missouri Compromise, and the industrial revolution. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 was noteworthy in developing national unity because it unlocked additional land for the agrarian society to thrive, and it allowed for a dual-nature trade system between the agrarian society and the industrializing society. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 affected the national unity of America in a dissimilar method. The Compromise did not create reciprocated relationships between regions; instead, it settled the free state versus the slave state dispute. This assuaged the radical feelings of various people and prevented disunity. The industrial revolution did not take place within a couple of years but over an expansive duration of time in which several aspects of American life changed. Moreover, land acquisition was exceedingly promoted by it because it required an abundance of land and various resources. Furthermore, it allowed America to transport resources swiftly, and communicate further distances; overall, this led to improved relations between distant regions. Evidently, America was experiencing fervent national unity during the initial quarter of the nineteenth century because there was mutual trade between diverse regions, there were agreements on different conflicts, and because relationships across distances improved.

Acquiring land could not always be characterized as improving national unity because it did begin to alter between 1815 and 1825. This period of time can be exemplified as the transition period between national unity, and disunity. Disunity became more of an ominous and plausible possibility because of two major political issues that was separating the nation, slavery and sectionalism. The periods of 1815 to 1825 were periods in which both of these factors were strongest because this was the time period, in which new states were being organized. Slavery and sectionalism during this period of time were interrelated, and were both caused by immense territorial expansion. The slave states were equivalent in number to the free states for an extensive period, but with the addition of land, an unbalance occurred between the two distinct regions. The conflict was primarily between the North and the South, in which the South was pro-slavery, and the North was anti-slavery. With this dispute of the regions came sectionalism, in which the South and the North tried to claim supremacy in American politics. An example of sectionalism on the rise would be the nullification crisis, which was caused by Calhoun’s theory of nullification. This was caused because western lands were dominating the trade of agricultural products, in which South Carolina could not compete. Calhoun argued this as an injustice and threatened secession. Therefore, the national unity was not always empowered by land acquisition.