ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by your divine right,

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the holiest of turns.

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All right, yeah, check out this picture.

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Hot woman.

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All right, before the Civil War, the idea of Manifest Destiny

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was most complicated by which of the following issues?

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And here are your potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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[ mumbling continues ]

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All right, so what's this question asking?

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Well, we know that Manifest Destiny was the belief that settlers

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had a divine right to inhabit America

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from sea to shining sea.

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But there were bound to have been some bumps along the road

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that whitewashed or idealized things.

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So let's see which of the answers

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best describes the issues at hand.

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Before the Civil War, was Manifest Destiny complicated by

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A - the balance of power

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between the states and the federal government?

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Hmm. Well, remember the Northwest Ordinance?

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Well, it gave the federal government the power to

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regulate territorial expansion.

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So that balance of power had long been

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shifted in Washington D.C.'s direction.

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Was a problem for Manifest Destiny

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B - the existing treaties between

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the U.S. government and the American Indians?

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Well, you know how all the settlers believed it was their

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destiny to move west?

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Well, they also thought it was their

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destiny to ignore all existing treaties with American Indians.

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Could the issue have been D -

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the uncertainty of how new

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immigrants would assimilate into society?

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With the exception of areas on the coast

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and along major rivers,

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westward expansion didn't actually add

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a large number of new immigrants.

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That means the biggest issue with Manifest Destiny

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before the Civil War was C -

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the question of whether new territories would

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prohibit or allow slavery.

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With every new territory added to the United States,

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there was fierce debate as to whether or not

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they would allow slavery.

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Actually "fierce" might even be an understatement,

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since there were deadly skirmishes

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in the Kansas and Nebraska territories over the issue.

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So the correct answer is C.

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It turns out that Manifest Destiny

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is a little bit more complicated than running westward

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and yelling, "America!"

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at the top of your lungs. Yeah.

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Different.

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