Manifest Destiny

Following the U.S. occupation of New Mexico during the Mexican-American War, the Kearny Code was issued to establish a provisional legal system aligned with American principles. This document outlines the civil and criminal laws enacted by military authority under General Stephen Kearny. It…

In this speech, Stephen F. Austin explains and defends Texas’s decision to revolt against the Mexican government. He outlines the early Anglo-American settlement of Texas, the legal guarantees offered by Mexico, and the settlers’ grievances following the dissolution of the Mexican federal…

This political cartoon depicts future President James Buchanan and a group of men who appear to be thieves. These figures use quotations from the Ostend Manifesto to justify their actions of robbing Buchanan.

The Ostend Manifesto was a 1854 document that urged the United States to forcefully acquire Cuba from Spain. Driven by Southerners seeking to expand slavery and maintain political power, the manifesto argued for Cuba's annexation due to its location, weather, and potential rise of a slave…

In his "Ripe Fruit" Theory, John Quincy Adams argued that Cuba, then a Spanish colony, would gravitate toward the United States once its unnatural connection with Spain was severed. Comparing Cuba to a ripe fruit, Adams argued that the laws of political gravitation would bring the island…

The Monroe Doctrine was a foreign policy statement declaring that the Americas were closed to European colonization. It asserted a sphere of influence for the United States. It also promised U.S. non-intervention in European affairs in return for Europe's non-interference in the Americas.…

3 men plowing with a team of 14 cattle, 2 Indians in foreground, log cabin and 3 deer in background, wild geese flying overhead.

<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> Our Frontier Heritage of Waste</span> </span></p>

<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> Westward with the course of empire Colonel Jonathan Drake Stevenson took his way in 1846. With him went the denizens of New York’s Tammany wards, oyster cellars, and gin mills—the future leaders of California.</span> </span></p>

<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> Before there were Western states, there were public lands—over a billion acres irrevocably reserved for the people of the United States. The Sagebrush Rebels are the most recent in a series of covetous groups bent on “regaining” what was never theirs.</span> </span></p>

<p><span class="deck">The little-appreciated U.S. public-land survey not only opened up our frontier but made possible our freedoms.</span></p>

<p>With five major exploring expeditions west of the Mississippi, John C. Frémont redefined the country — with the help of his wife’s promotional skills.</p>