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The Doctrine of Discovery, The Manifest Detiny, Thomas Jefferson, and the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Thomas Jefferson:

            In his Democratic Republican view, Thomas Jefferson believed in the romanticized idea that the American farmer was the core of the American economy and the key to its future. The only problem was that there was a finite amount of land to be farmed in the United States and it need to be expanded; so, he created the “empire of liberty”.  The only problem, however, was the need for more land to continue this way of life. To solve this problem, Jefferson wanted to create an “empire of liberty”. Jefferson’s “empire of liberty” was “the expansion of the United States across the North American continent, a process he believed would lead to the moral betterment of the entire world.”

“He argues that the doctrine prompted Jefferson to dispatch Meriwether Lewis and William clark to solidify U.S. ownership of the Northwest, that the exploerers’ journey played an important role in U.S. expansion through application of the principle of discovery, and that the expedition demonstrates how Jefferson was responsible for putting the idea of Manifest Destiny into motion. “

He states that the Manifest Destiny naturally came out of the Doctrine of Discovery. manifest destiny

Rosen, Deborah A.. 2007. The American Historical Review 112 (3). [Oxford University Press, American Historical Association]: 845–46. http://www.jstor.org.pointloma.idm.oclc.org/stable/40006715.

Rosen, D. A.. (2007). [Review of Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny]. The American Historical Review, 112(3), 845–846. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.pointloma.idm.oclc.org/stable/40006715

Wiki cor disc...

In his Democratic Republican view, Thomas Jefferson believed in the romanticized idea that the American farmer was the core of the American economy and the key to its future. The only problem, however, was the need for more land to sustain/continue this way of life. To solve this problem, Jefferson elected to create an “empire of liberty”. Jefferson’s “empire of liberty” was “the expansion of the United States across the North American continent, a process he believed would lead to the moral betterment of the entire world.”

Jefferson’s expansionist characteristics/beliefs evolved out of the practices of the Doctrine of Destiny and from the romanticized ideals of the Manifest Destiny. 

The Doctrine of Destiny was used by European powers to justify their imperialistic behaviors and grant them legal rights to newly discovered territory. When a European or Christian nation discovered new territory, the Doctrine of Destiny automatically gave them the right to that land despite already being occupied by foreign, non-Christian peoples. This is a doctrine that naturally made its way over to North America and influenced the way in which Thomas Jefferson and the United States dealt with Indian Nations.

The Manifest Destiny, which was a core belief by many Americans, was born out of the Doctrine of Destiny. Americans believed that they and their institutions held special virtues and they were destined by God to expand and influence the world for the better.

In his first inaugural address, Thomas Jefferson refers to the country as “a rising nation” who is “advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye” because they are a “chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation.” He clearly had westward expansionist ideas influenced over time by the ideas of the Doctrine of Destiny and the Manifest Destiny when he commissioned the Corps of Discovery to charter new territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean.