Manifest Destiny DBQ

Billy Cohen
April 18, 2010
Smith-3rd Period
SCORING GUIDELINES
Question 1
In what ways did American expansionism in the 1830’s and 1840’s both transform the West and
create sectional issues that would eventually lead to the dissolution of the Union?
The 8-9 Essay
• Has a well-developed thesis that fully examines the multiple ways in which the West was
altered in the appropriate time period and why this created sectional tension within the
Union
• Contains effective and in-depth analysis of expansionism during the 1830’s and 1840’s
and its effects, both positive and negative, on the unity of the nation
• Effectively uses an appropriate number of documents
• Supports thesis with credible and substantial outside information that is relevant to the
time period
• Contains minor errors
• Has clear organization and flows well
The 5-7 Essay
• Has a thesis that addresses the new West and the sectional issues that arose during this
period
• Has limited analysis of expansionism and its effects during this time period, may not
address why this specifically connects to the sectional issues that arise
• Effectively uses some documents
• Supports thesis with relevant outside information
• Shows acceptable organization and flow; language errors do not interfere with the overall
comprehension of the paper
The 2-4 Essay
• Has a limited or undeveloped thesis
• Over-simplifies the expansionist feelings during this period and their effect on the
sectional issues that arise
• May address only the sectional issues that come out of expansionism, instead of
describing the numerous quantities of land and transformations that impact the West
• Contains little or irrelevant outside information, information may be inaccurate
• Contains major errors in organization and style
• Does not flow as a whole, may be poorly organized and/or written
The 0-1 Essay
• Contains no thesis, or a completely irrelevant thesis that does not answer the question in
any way.
• Shows complete misunderstanding of the question/time period
• Has very little understanding of any of the documents, may not use them at all
• Major, glaring errors
• Very poor writing, inhibits understanding
• Blank or completely off topic
Billy Cohen
April 18, 2010
Smith-3rd Period
Manifest Destiny DBQ
Directions: The following question requires you to construct a coherent essay that
integrates your interpretation of Documents A-H and your knowledge of the period
referred to in the question. High scores will be earned only by essays that both cite key
pieces of evidence from the documents and draw on outside knowledge of the period.
1. In what ways did American expansionism from the 1830’s through the 1850’s
both transform the West and create sectional issues that would eventually lead to
the dissolution of the Union?
Document A
Source: John L. O’Sullivan in "The Great Nation of Futurity," The United States
Democratic Review, Volume 6, Issue 23, pp. 426-430.
“We point to the everlasting truth on the first page of our national declaration, and we
proclaim to the millions of other lands, that "the gates of hell" -- the powers of
aristocracy and monarchy -- "shall not prevail against it." Yes, we are the nation of
progress, of individual freedom, of universal enfranchisement. Equality of rights is the
cynosure of our union of States, the grand exemplar of the correlative equality of
individuals; and while truth sheds its effulgence, we cannot retrograde, without
dissolving the one and subverting the other. We must onward to the fulfillment of our
mission -- to the entire development of the principle of our organization -- freedom of
conscience, freedom of person, freedom of trade and business pursuits, universality of
freedom and equality.”
Document B
Billy Cohen
April 18, 2010
Smith-3rd Period
Document C
Source: Charles Sumner’s Crime Against Kansas Speech
“They were left free to adopt slavery. And this was called Popular Sovereignty! Time
does not allow, nor does the occasion require that I should stop to dwell on this
transparent device to cover a transcendent wrong. Suffice it to say, that slavery is in
itself an arrogant denial of human rights, and by no human reason can the power to
establish such a wrong be placed among the attributes of any just sovereignty. In
refusing it such a place, I do not deny popular rights, but uphold them; I do not restrain
popular rights, but extend them.”
Document D
Source: John Tyler’s Annual Message to Congress, 1841
“We are all called upon by the highest obligations of duty to renew our thanks and our
devotion to our Heavenly Parent, who has continued to vouchsafe to us the eminent
blessings which surround us and who has so signally crowned the year with His
goodness. If we find ourselves increasing beyond example in numbers, in strength, in
wealth, in knowledge, in everything which promotes human and social happiness, let us
ever remember our dependence for all these on the protection and merciful
dispensations of Divine Providence.”
Document E
Billy Cohen
April 18, 2010
Smith-3rd Period
Document F
Source: Andrew Jackson’s Annual Message to Congress, 1830
“It is, therefore, a duty which this Government owes to the new States to extinguish as
soon as possible the Indian title to all lands which Congress themselves have included
within their limits… may we not hope, therefore, that all good citizens, and none more
zealously than those who think the Indians oppressed by subjection to the laws of the
States, will unite in attempting to open the eyes of those children of the forest to their
true condition, and by a speedy removal to relieve them from all the evils, real or
imaginary, present or prospective, with which they may be supposed to be threatened.”
Document G
Source: Oregon Boundary Treaty
From the point on the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, where the boundary laid down in
existing treaties and conventions between the United States and Great Britain terminates,
the line of boundary between the territories of the United States and those of her Britannic
Majesty shall be continued westward along the said forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to
the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island, and
thence southerly through the middle of the said channel, and of Fuca's Straits, to the Pacific
Ocean: Provided, however, That the navigation of the whole of the said channel and straits,
south of the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, remain free and open to both parties.
Document H
Source: Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The United States will conquer Mexico, but it will be as the man swallows the arsenic…
Mexico will poison us.”
Billy Cohen
April 18, 2010
Smith-3rd Period
Document I
Billy Cohen
April 18, 2010
Smith-3rd Period
Document Information and Inferences
Document A: John L. O’Sullivan in “The Great Nation of Futurity”
Document Information:
o John L. O’Sullivan is important proponent behind Manifest Destiny
o Shows a key motive behind expansion
1. Spreading the principle of democracy throughout the West
o Compares monarchy and aristocracy to the gates of hell
o Expansion also signifies upholding the Constitution by spreading our principles to
the new lands
Document Inferences:
o West experiences American democracy
o Expansion is guided by God, develops the idea of divine expansion
o Instills sense of pride among Americans, idea of superiority to Native Americans
o Expansion leads to new lands, which leads to controversy over whether or not to
admit these lands as slave or free states (Ex.=Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, etc.)
Document B: Map of Western Expansion in the United States (1787-1867)
Document Information:
o Shows Westward expansion in nineteenth century America
o Shows the Oregon boundary
o Shows the land acquired before the 1830’s in the Louisiana Purchase under
Jefferson
Document Inferences:
• The desire to expand westward was present in America long before 1830.
• Mexican cession resulted in massive additions of land
• Because land was added to America in segments at different times from different
countries, the acquisition of these lands resulted in conflict and debate over the
status of slavery in the West.
Document C: Charles Sumner’s Speech
Document Information:
• Kansas was put under popular sovereignty, in hopes of resolving the major issue
of whether or not slavery would be allowed in the new Western states.
• Under popular sovereignty, there is still a possibility of slavery, which Sumner is
adamantly against.
Document Inferences:
• The Kansas-Nebraska Act established popular sovereignty in Kansas, which
allowed the settlers of the territory to determine if slavery would be allowed
within their boundaries.
Billy Cohen
April 18, 2010
Smith-3rd Period
• The establishment of popular sovereignty was not successful in eliminating the
sectional tension brought about by the acquisition of Western states because it
broke the Missouri Compromise by allowing the possibility of slavery to exist
above the 3630 line.
Document D: John Tyler’s Annual Message to Congress, 1841
Document Information:
• States another driving motive of Manifest Destiny: God
• Expanding westward under divine providence, spreading religion to the new
territory.
Document Inferences:
• West is transformed through the desire to spread religion.
• God has destined America to expand its influence and power
• Results in ignorance and intolerance of Native American culture and religion by
expelling them from their territories.
Document E: Brooks-Sumner Cartoon
Document Information:
• Preston Brooks beats Senator Charles Sumner with his cane
• Pertains to the controversial admission of Kansas into the Union under popular
sovereignty
Document Inferences:
• Shows intense sectional tension resulting from westward expansion and the issue
of slavery.
• Brooks, like most pro-slavery candidates, wants Kansas to be admitted under
popular sovereignty, but Sumner is against this because it nullifies the Missouri
Compromise, which would make it another failed compromise in resolving
sectional tension.
• This conflict over popular sovereignty would also lead to Bleeding Kansas, the
mini civil war that took place in Kansas over the slavery issue.
Document F: Andrew Jackson’s Annual Message to Congress, 1830
Document Information:
• Referring to the Indian Removal Act that Jackson enacted in 1830, this section of
Jackson’s speech shows the brutal removal of the Indians in the Western
territories that Americans, and more specifically, Southerners strongly desired
Billy Cohen
April 18, 2010
Smith-3rd Period
Document Inferences:
• The transformation of the West in regards to the demise of Indian culture in the
1830’s was significant, as they were removed from their land and often times
forced to assimilate into White culture.
• The Trail of Tears was a result of the Indian Removal Act enacted by Jackson in
1830.
• While in this case, racism promotes Manifest Destiny, in that the Indians should
be removed from America because they are inferior, racism often discouraged
expansion, in the belief that we should not interfere or get involved with the
Indian race so that America can be an all white country.
Document G: Oregon Boundary Treaty
Document Information:
• The boundary dispute between Great Britain and the United States over the
Pacific Northwest territory of America was resolved in the Oregon Boundary
Treaty.
• This Treaty created the 49th parallel compromise, in which the U.S. settled for this
line as a boundary between British and U.S. territory.
Document Inferences:
• Americans wanted the Oregon country up to the 54 40 parallel, earning the
popular slogan “54 40 or fight!” under the idea of Manifest Destiny.
• However, Polk settled for the 49th parallel compromise in order to avoid war with
Great Britain.
• This compromise of the 1840’s showed how this boundary dispute in the West
further asserted the American claim to Manifest Destiny, in that there was a huge
thirst for land.
• This general desire for expansion, although calmed in this situation, would soon
lead to war with Mexico.
Document H: Emerson’s Prediction
Document Information:
• Ralph Waldo Emerson predicts that we will be successful in conquering
Mexico in war, but the land acquisitions and aftermath of the war will poison
our country with conflict and sectional tension.
Document Inferences:
• Emerson’s prediction was, in fact, correct.
• The lands ceded to us from Mexico resulted in sectional tension over the
controversial issue of whether or not slavery would exist in these lands.
• This conflict, combined with unsuccessful compromises eventually led to the
dissolution of the Union.
Billy Cohen
April 18, 2010
Smith-3rd Period
Document I: John Gast’s Painting
Document Information:
• God sends an Angel to lead American expansion westward, with innovations like
the railroad
• Under this divine providence, we are led in the light to expel the Native
Americans from their lands
Document Inferences:
• The stark contrast in lighting implies that Whites are divinely guided to expand
west and expel the primitive, dark Indians from their lands.
Commonly Seen Relevant Outside Information
Manifest Destiny
“54 40 or fight!”
Indian Removal Act
Trail of Tears
Preston Brooks
Charles Sumner
Bleeding Kansas
Kansas-Nebraska Act
James K. Polk
“From sea to shining sea”
Divine Providence
Mexican-American War
Nullification of Missouri Compromise
Compromise of 1850
Annexation of Texas
Wilmot Proviso
Free-Soil Party
Continentalism
John C. Calhoun
Superiority of the “Anglo-Saxon” Race
Billy Cohen
April 18, 2010
Smith-3rd Period