Discussion & Blog
During the 19th century, “Manifest Destiny” (personified in the painting above) referred to the widely held belief that Americans were fated to expand beyond the
Eastern seaboard and “civilize” the entire North American continent. Do you believe that westward expansion was inevitable due to the young nation’s economic growth
and population size, or do you think the concept of manifest destiny was simply a way of masking economic and political motives for expansion and simply a large scale
territory grab across North America? Explain the reasons for your interpretation in your post.
The preceding web link, “The Diary of Bennet H. Barrow, Louisiana Slaveowner,” documents everyday life on a Southern plantation and sheds light on the activities of
slaveowners and slaves. After reading Barrow’s diary, address the following prompt in at least two paragraphs:
What does Barrow’s diary reveal about the mindset of slaveowners and the experience of African-Americans living on plantations in Antebellum America?
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/barrow.htm
