US History

Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)

Native Americans

This collection uses primary sources to explore the idea of Manifest Destiny and its influence.

A South Central Los Angeles mural of the city’s history. 

An interview with Melvin Longclaws about the US-Dakota War of 1862. 

A poster created in 1998 about the effects of manifest destiny on California’s communities of color. 

*Westward the Course of Empire Take Its Way*, an Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze mural created in 1861 for the capitol in Washington, DC. 

An ornamental map of the US and Mexico created by Humphrey Phelps in 1846. 

An excerpt from *Mistress of Manifest Destiny: A Biography of Jane McManus Storm Cazneau, 1807-1878*. 

An excerpt from *Esther: A Story of the Oregon Trail* by Mrs. Anne S. Stephens, written in 1862.

Letter from A.D. Covin to George Carmack in 1962 criticizing US expansionism.

A mannequin of a Mexican soldier in 1846. 

A 1964 photograph of the “This is the Place” state monument in Salt Lake City. 

Questions

1. Does the [South Central Los Angeles mural](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/manifest-destiny/sources/454) represent a positive or negative portrayal of manifest destiny? Explain.
2. Compare and contrast the [South Central Los Angeles mural](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/manifest-destiny/sources/454) and the [Leutze painting](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/manifest-destiny/sources/457). 
3. How do the memories and experiences of [Mr. Longclaws](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/manifest-destiny/sources/455) represent some of the negative consequences of manifest destiny?
4. Are there stereotypes of Mexicans or Mexican-Americans represented in the [mannequin figure](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/manifest-destiny/sources/462)?
5. What were some of the accomplishments of Jane Cazneau, as seen in the [excerpt from her biography](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/manifest-destiny/sources/459)? How did those accomplishments reflect manifest destiny?
6. How are Native Americans depicted in the [excerpt from *Esther*](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/manifest-destiny/sources/460)? In what ways does that depiction represent some of the ideals of manifest destiny?
7. Using the [letter from A.D. Covin](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/manifest-destiny/sources/461) and the [photograph of the Salt Lake City monument](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/manifest-destiny/sources/463), discuss how ideas of manifest destiny can represent the whitewashing of history.

Activity

Ask students to compare the map in the [poster](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/manifest-destiny/sources/456) and the [ornamental map](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/manifest-destiny/sources/458). Ask students to create a new map of the US representing the diverse immigrant groups of the country. Ask students to review the thirty-seven maps on the following website ([http://www.vox.com/2015/1/12/7474897/immigration-america-maps](http://www.vox.com/2015/1/12/7474897/immigration-america-maps)) and use one of the maps to serve as a model for a new map representing the diverse immigrant groups of the US. Ask students to consider how immigration patterns have changed since the heyday of manifest destiny.

Teaching Guide: Exploring Manifest Destiny

Resources

1. [Manifest Destiny Overview](http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/prelude/manifest_destiny_overview.htm), The U.S.-Mexican War: Prelude to War, PBS. 
2. [Manifest Destiny](http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/essays/1801-1900/manifest-destiny/), American History from Revolution to Reconstruction and beyond. 
3. [The Religious Origins of Manifest Destiny](http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/mandestiny.htm), Divining America: Religion in American History, National Humanities Center. 

Overview

Belief in the God-ordained right of European-Americans to settle and colonize the continental United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast is known as manifest destiny. Coined by newspaper editor John O’Sullivan in 1845, the phrase “manifest destiny” reached its zenith during the US takeover of the Oregon territory, the Mexican-American War, and the California gold rush. Arising from heightened patriotism after the War of 1812, the religious passion of the Second Great Awakening, and the economic drive for more land and profits, this nationalist expansion of “American” people and culture was synonymous with white imperialist, racially supremacist, and religiously intolerant thoughts and actions against Native Americans, Mexicans, Chinese, Japanese, and other people of color. This primary source set includes visual, audial, and written documents that reflect the era’s projected ideals and harsh realities. From twentieth-century posters, monuments, and letters to nineteenth-century maps, biographies, and paintings, this set allows students to gain a greater understanding of how perceptions of manifest destiny have changed over time.

English

Manifest Destiny

manifest-destiny_01_b4adc12e6b74c02ee190f7fd9ba2c85a.jpg

Courtesy of University of Southern California Libraries.

Healy, Wayne and David Botello, Ricardo Duffy, and Robin J. Dunitz, “South Central Codex and Slauson serenade,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/b4adc12e6b74c02ee190f7fd9ba2c85a.

A South Central Los Angeles mural of the city’s history.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 1 of 10 in the Primary Source Set Manifest Destiny