FWeek 3 discussion PDF

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Weekly Discussion-Week 3
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For the Week 3 discussion: 1) Based on the reading, how would you characterize the expansion of the United States? Provide 2 examples which support that characterization. 2) Do you think your characterization corresponds to the way most Americans generally think about the past and “Manifest Destiny”? 1. Based on the reading, I would characterize the expansion of the United States as inhumane. A great deal of land was essentially stolen from the Native Americans. Not only was this inhumane but it was also an injustice to those who had to relocate and even die to fight for their homes/land. As mentioned in the book “The Mexican annexations of 1836 to 1848, however, were not sufficient to satisfy the expansionist schemes of Manifest Destiny proponents. Some called for seizing ore of Mexico’s mineral-laden northern territory” (Gonzalez, page 47). Another example in the book is “Along with the conquered lands came unwanted people: Native Americans, who were pushed farther west, then herded onto reservations, and several million Mexicans, Cubans, Filipinos, and Puerto Ricans, who were placed under U.S. sovereignty” (Gonzalez, page 29). 2. I do not think my characterization corresponds to the way most Americans generally think about the past and “Manifest Destiny”. I think many people just saw these events as an opportunity for growth for the U.S. but do not know what happen to the people who were bullied out of their homes. For example, some people in Texas for example were promised American citizenship but were lied to. With our current political issues, it is frustrating that many people are uneducated with how the U.S. took over a great deal of land not acknowledging that a lot of land such as California and Texas use to be Mexico’s land....