THE IDEOLOGY OF MANIFEST DESTINY
The idea of manifest destiny fueled the continued American expansion westward. Americans from the time of the Puritans spoke of America as a community with a divine mission. Beginning in the 1830s, some began to express the view that it was “God’s plan” that America expand beyond the Mississippi River. Both political leaders and Protestant missionary organizations fervently supported western expansion. In 1845 Democratic newspaperman John O’Sullivan wrote that the most critical need for America was “the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.”
Americans had begin to settle in Oregon in the 1830s. The six-month, 2000-mile journey along the Oregon Trail brought settlers to the Oregon territory; many of them settled in the Willamette Valley. Many settlers in the Ohio Valley began to catch “Oregon Fever” by 1842; stories of a mild climate and the possibility of fur trading fueled the imaginations of many. Missionaries came to “tame” the Native Americans that lived in the region. By 1845 over 5000 had streamed into the Oregon territory. A section of Oregon was controlled by the British and a section by America. “Fifty-four Forty or Fight” became the rallying cry for expansionists who wanted all of Oregon to be under American control. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 gave most of Oregon to the Americans. The California territory, controlled by Spain, also attracted the interest of American settlers; American settlers first arrived there in the 1830s. The future of expansion in Oregon and California were key issues in the 1 844 presidential campaign.