Key Expansionist Journey

Abstract

The purchase by the United States Government from the Republic of Mexico of territory south of Arizona's Gila River, and a narrow strip along the southern most part of present day New Mexico, cannot be viewed as merely an isolated episode in the development of American history. This agreement stands out rather as the culmination of a program begun in the 1840s of aggressive expansionist nationalism to which the Democratic Party had aligned itself under James K. Polk. It is during this particular phase of development that the phrase "manifest destiny" has been first used. The Gadsden Purchase of 1853 does indeed represent the final step in the widespread belief that the United States was preordained to expand throughout the entire continent, or one could say the Gadsden Purchase was a direct result of the national psychology of the United States prior to the Civil War. Its significance in the territorial development of the United States is of such a magnitude that an approriate survey of the events leading up to the purchase is necessary to properly enhance its merit. "Manifest destiny" was in reality the antebellum desire for what came to be known as manifest opportunity, and the Gadsden Agreement exemplified the wish for such aggressive opportunity. [1] The political, cultural, and economic questions which the Gadsden Treaty attempted to settle may be traced back to the diplomatic controversies which developed from the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo made upon the termination of conflict in the Mexican War. The Mexican War seemed to best exemplify the initiation of an aggressive foreign policy toward the unstable government of Mexico. [From introductory section]