Week 1 Assignment – Populating the United States

Learning Objectives Covered

• LO 01.01 – Explain three ways that Manifest Destiny impacts United States workplaces today
• LO 01.02 – Discuss three ways that the policies and the United States Imperialism (e.g., Monroe Doctrine, American Indian policies, slave codes, territorial annexations) have impacted American society and economics today
• LO 02.01 – Identify three ways American Imperialism changed the demographics of the United States and explain how its legacy affects United States society and workplaces today
• LO 02.02 – Discuss how various groups were impacted by immigration and expansion (e.g., Baby Boomers, African slaves, Native Americans, and European immigrants) and how their experience affects your career opportunities today

(These are NOT the assignment questions. Read on to find the assignment prompt below.)

Career Relevancy

The American workplace faces many challenges in the coming years. One of the biggest is workforce development and hiring/retaining skilled workers. In your career, you will encounter people of various backgrounds, including immigrants who receive training in the U.S. to continue living in the U.S. as workers. Your understanding of the history involving their rights gives you a new perspective on how you will interact with these individuals. You will also probably deal with the idea of company expansion. Many times, smaller companies will be taken over by larger companies that have more resources, more employees, and a better business plan. This can be likened to the effects of Manifest Destiny and Imperialism as far as changing the makeup of the employees, the limits of the area the company consumes, and the way it affects the people that work for either company.

Background

It is the mid-1800’s in an ever-changing 19th century. The phrase “Manifest Destiny” is believed to have been created by an editor of the Democratic Review and the Morning News by the name of John O’Sullivan. “Manifest Destiny held that the United States was destined—by God, its advocates believed—to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent” (History.com Editors, 2010, para. 1).

Just like the idea of Manifest Destiny suggests, the U.S. was in a period of new development. In a whirlwind of major changes, the United States experienced things such as the state of Texas entering the U.S. as a slave state, a boundary dispute with Britain over the Oregon territory, and the Mexican War. The United States experienced this constant push for change and an expansion out West. Railcars were running and treading upon new territory, gold was being discovered in California, and the issue of slavery was highly debated. One aspect of Manifest Destiny was the belief that the American culture and government was the best. Along this same line of thought, many companies vied to be the best place to work in their area or region. That was a coveted title that employers hoped would attract quality employees. In essence, they had the same feelings of superiority in their workplace.

This time period was also known as the Age of Imperialism.

‘American imperialism’ is a term that refers to the economic, military, and cultural influence of the United States on other countries. First popularized during the presidency of James K. Polk, the concept of an “American Empire” was made a reality throughout the latter half of the 1800s. During this time, industrialization caused American businessmen to seek new international markets in which to sell their goods. In addition, the increasing influence of social Darwinism led to the belief that the United States was inherently responsible for bringing concepts such as industry, democracy, and Christianity to less developed “savage” societies. The combination of these attitudes and other factors led the United States toward imperialism. (Lumen Boundless US History, n.d., para. 1)

Various groups were affected negatively when it came to changes and ideas happening across the United States during this time. American Imperialism changed the demographics of the United States in the following ways:

1. Native Americans were removed by force from the land east of the Mississippi River and sent to the West.
2. Chinese immigrants were prohibited from becoming American citizens because some Americans felt threatened by the high influx of new immigrants coming to seek gold and work on railroad expansion.
3. Mexican immigrants were forced to march back to their homeland.

This legacy affects United States society and workplaces today in that these minority groups are just in the recent past able to have the freedom to obtain work in higher paying jobs. Up until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, these groups experienced hardship when trying to obtain work. These groups consist of but are not limited to African Americans, Native Americans, and immigrants. The Civil Rights Act helped move equality recognition along, because it prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. This paved the way for a diverse workplace. We see today how there are more diverse management teams. Boardrooms that were once filled with only men, are now seeing women. Multiple ethnicities can now be found in many offices.

How do these events of the past affect us today? During the 1900’s women were taking even more of a stand to be heard and recognized as equal citizens. For example, women fought for the right to vote until it was granted in 1920 with the 19th amendment. This movement and discovery has changed our society and economics in many ways. For example, people moved from the farm to the city for opportunities to work and live.

In the workplace, of course, there have been many changes made since the 1900’s. But we can retrace history’s footsteps back to this industrial age and contribute some of today’s opportunities and societal norms to this time period. Even though there were many negative effects from expansion felt by immigrant groups and from natives of our land, one positive outlook that developed from the age of Manifest Destiny and American Imperialism was the idea of the ‘American Dream.’ To date, people still coin the term and try to achieve this ultimate status. By setting out to achieve their dreams by working hard and expanding to new territories, companies and businessmen and women try to still acquire the American Dream. The American Dream is often seen as an extension of the Manifest Destiny in that Americans feel that their way of life is the best and that they can attain the best life possible through hard work.

In addition to this, the Monroe Doctrine, American Indian policies, and territorial annexations have increased diversity in American society and economics today. More people of minorities are able to obtain jobs due to freedoms granted to the American Indians and the former slaves. The Monroe Doctrine and territorial annexations increased the lands where these freedoms were made available to individuals. Our experiences with diversity in the workplace only strengthen our positions and workplace teams on the whole.

References

History.com Editors. (2010). Manifest Destiny. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/manifest-destiny (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Lumen Boundless US History. (n.d.). American imperialism. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/american-imperialism/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.