Manifest Destiny Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Manifest Destiny - Essay Example happy millions.†1 In 1845, O’Sullivan wrote yet another article entitled â€Å"Annexation† where he expounded the doctrine and used it to justify the annexation of Texas to the union and called it â€Å"the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence.†2 Since then the ‘imagined’ divine right has been used to justify American expansionism to the west by American politicians. Despite the fact that O’Sullivan first coined the term Manifest Destiny, expansionism however was not his original idea but has already been in practice since the dawn of the country’s history. English settlers first came to the New World, specifically along the eastern seaboard of the North American continent not as a divine right as O’Sullivan would have it but for more practical reasons. England was then at that time experiencing economic difficulties and settlers came to the New World for better opportunities, while others to evade political and religious persecution. The New World likewise became an imprisonment camp outside of England. 3 The first attempt of the English to establish a colony in the New World turned out to be a disaster. In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh brought a company of soldiers and mercenaries to the outer banks of North Carolina to establish the first English colony in the New World. 4 In 1607, one hundred colonists established the first permanent settlement in the Chesapeake Bay and survived with the help of the Algonquians under the leadership of Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas. John Rolfe, an English settler who married Pocahontas, developed the tobacco Virginia became famous of – a hybrid of North American and Indian tobacco – and made the colony a success. However, the English colonists wanted more land from the natives, pushing the latter farther until the Algonquians revolted and launched an attack against the surprised colonists. The war dragged on for ten years but because of the success