In the years between 1830 and 1860, the United States grew economically, socially, and most noticeably, geographically. In this time period, Texas, Oregon, California, New Mexico, and Arizona were gained, completing the continental United States. Many Americans in the 19th century believed this acquisition of territory was a manifest destiny, or event accepted as inevitable. They thought it was the destiny of the U.S. to control all land from the east coast to the west coast. …showed first 75 words of 768 total…

…showed last 75 words of 768 total…motivated by the power that could be attained by expanding the size of the nation, motivating many of the decisions regarding territory in this time period. Also, if the belief in manifest destiny were held true, the United States would currently encompass much of Canada, Cuba, and Latin America., which is obviously not the case. The actions of our nation in the 19th century were not that of manifest destiny, but in fact aggressive imperialism.