Manifest Destiny - This paper focuses on Richard Henry Dana who wrote the book, "Two Years Before Mast," and the books influence on America to expand westward.

For the duration of the voyage to the elusive California coast, Richard Henry Dana was nineteen years old, working as a sailor aboard the Pilgram, engaged in the hide and tallow trade. Dana was an elite member of the upper class. As a student at Harvard, he became infected with a case of the measles that left him with a painful eye condition. Dana then began his career at sea as a sailor and set …

…Dana's Two Years Before Mast is a prime example. Dana's book illustrates an alluring California, and focuses on its riches of prosperous and exploitable resources. He also contrasts its assets with the Californians, who he ignorantly portrays as lazy, unintelligent and unworthy of their thriving surroundings. The United States was aware of California's potential, and it was the desire of power and wealth that led to the Manifest Destiny, not because it was God's mission.