Manifest Destiny and the Tanscontinental Railroad

Manifest Destiny and the Transcontinental Railroad

What Manifest Destiny lead to in the U.S.

What is Manifest Destiny?

Extending the boundaries of the United States had turned into being a cultural war because the southerners were looking for land that would be suitable for growing cotton and that would eventually lead to slavery in the new territory, but north of the Mason-Dixon Line the people were worried about adding more slaved states to our country. The southerners also wanted to extend our territory westward because new slave states would increase the South’s power in Washington and serve as an outlet for its growing slave population. Manifest Destiny touched on issues such as religion, money, race, patriotism, and morality which lead to regional conflict based on the opinions of the citizens.

Over a four year period the nation’s area increased by 1.2 million square miles, which was a gain in land of more than sixty percent. This large increase in land was known as Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny is the Americans idea that it was God’s will for them to move west.

The Transcontinental Railroad

Where did the term Manifest Destiny come from?

. The term “Manifest Destiny” originated from John O’Sullivan’s newspaper article trying to gain support for expansion into Texas in the 1840’s and was a general notation not a specific policy towards the American people. But, any act of colonization and settlement at the expense of another race can be said to be an expression of Manifest Destiny.

The Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad that was built across the United States as a mode of transportation to get from coast to coast without all of the danger. It stretched from the west coast to the east coast and helped with trading, such as, shipping produce, textiles, and other goods from one end of the country to the other. It also helped people who wanted to get from one coast to the other get there safer and faster than before. Before the transcontinental Railroad was built it took five to six months to reach the other coast and many people often died from disease, starvation, or in conflicts with an Indian tribe. So as you can see the Transcontinental Railroad was very good for our country but not all of it was as good as they had hoped.

"(It is) ...our manifest destiny to over spread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty"

- John O’Sullivan

The Positive effects

The Negative effects

Some of the positive effects of the Transcontinental Railroad were that it created a mode of transportation from the East to the West. Also, it increased trading between the East and the West. It also helped the growth of the United States because it allowed people to spread out across the country. The railroads helped many people by creating jobs for more Americans, and it made the journey from the east to the west a lot faster and safer for everyone. The new railroad also helped increase our nation’s population by making it easier for immigrants to come to America.

Some of the negative effects of the Transcontinental Railroad were that many Native Americans had to leave there land. After that they had trouble living in new areas they were not accustomed to and ended up having to work on the railroads. The railroads also effected the animals, such as the bison because the Americans were shooting them for fun and killing off the Indian’s main food source and this nearly lead to their extinction.