Despite internet fantasies about the violent conquests of the “Manifest Destiny” era, the truth is that most of America’s growth came about by the checkbook rather than the sword.

President Donald Trump remains fixated on acquiring Greenland from Denmark—and while he has suggested that the United States could buy it, he has also refused to rule out military force. The truth is that, throughout its nearly 250 years of existence, the USA has expanded as much through purchase as through conquest.

That latter fact actually runs contrary to recent social media memes that proudly proclaim the United States came about as a result of being “conquered, not stolen“—a point meant to suggest that America has the right to deport foreigners, even as the country’s current owners displaced many of its previous inhabitants.

The question of ownership is still one that carries some inconvenient truths. But what those with what could be described as “xenophobic” views misunderstand is that the United States bought much of its land, even the areas it won in wartime. The US really didn’t do that much “conquering” in the traditional sense.

Peter Minuit Bought Manhattan 400 Years Ago This Year

It wouldn’t be hyperbole to suggest that the history of the United States is really a long series of real estate deals intermixed with some military adventures. But the roots of acquisition go back even further.

More than 150 years before the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia, Peter Minuit of the Dutch West India Company purchased the island of Manhattan for the value of 60 guilders, or roughly $24 in trinkets. The current exchange rate would put it at about $1,100—a steal for the Dutch, although Manhattan was then merely an unpopulated island and had none of its later splendor.

Thus, as we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States in July, we should remember it was also 400 years ago this May that Minuit made a New York City land deal the likes of which Trump could never hope to achieve in his wildest dreams.

The Louisiana Purchase Was America’s Biggest Land Deal Ever

As part of the Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the Revolutionary War and ensured the independence of a new nation, the US gained vast lands from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River, more than it might have expected when the conflict began. The change in ownership also likely came as a surprise to the Native Americans, who mostly didn’t really understand the concept of land ownership. In Trumpian terms, they simply had new landlords.

The concept of Manifest Destiny was first used by journalist John O’Sullivan in 1845 in an editorial advocating the US annexation of Texas. Still, many people today believe the Founding Fathers endorsed it, when the truth is a bit more complex. Thomas Jefferson believed in westward expansion, which he envisioned as an “empire of liberty,” but he and the other early patriots likely didn’t envision a vast coast-to-coast nation. If anything, they expected it would take centuries to populate.

Then France made an offer the US could refuse.

The first major real estate deal involving Washington was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which the French Emperor Napoleon offered to support his war effort in Europe. President Jefferson’s dream came true in an instant. It doubled the size of the United States and added land to 15 states, including the core of the Midwest, at a cost of roughly four cents per acre. (As an interesting historical footnote, the land deal was financed through British banks, and Britain—then at war with Napoleon’s France—could have scuppered the deal. However, it opted not to do so, reasoning that Napoleon was making a mistake and not wishing to obstruct him.)

The boundaries of the final deal were vague, and the US quickly expanded to the Pacific, beyond the territory that France sold. 

How America Got Florida from Spain—and the Southwest from Mexico

The next purchase that would also make the current sitting president envious is the one in which Spain ceded Florida to the United States—something Madrid didn’t do happily.

US forces essentially annexed West Florida in 1810, as President James Madison made a largely dubious claim that the land was part of the Louisiana Purchase. Still, it was really to satisfy a strategic desire to control the Gulf Coast ports and the Mississippi River. In 1819, the Adams-Onis Treaty settled matters, with Spain transferring control of Florida in exchange for the United States renouncing its claims to Texas further west. Ironically, two years later, Mexico successfully revolted from Spain, making Madrid’s newfound claim to Texas worthless.

In addition to settling the borders, the Adams-Onis Treaty also established the US territorial claims through the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. Washington didn’t pay Madrid directly, but did have to pay a total of five million Spanish dollars to settle residents’ claims against Spain.

The treaty remained in full effect for only 183 days, after which Spanish officials signed the Treaty of Córdoba, acknowledging Mexico’s independence. Moreover, although the US may have renounced claims to Texas, American citizens had other ideas. They settled the region, which led to the Texas War of Independence and, later, the Mexican-American War.

The Texicans won their independence, and the USA was victorious in its war with Mexico and annexed huge swaths of land from its neighbor to the south that eventually became California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico; for which Washington paid $15 million in 1848 as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Five years later, the United States paid Mexico an additional $10 million for land that expanded the latter two territories (later states) to support a southern railroad route under the Gadsden Purchase. That deal completed the territory of the continental United States today.

Up north, the United States didn’t actually pay for the Oregon Territory. Still, it negotiated a deal that set the disputed region along the 49th parallel, giving the US the land to the south and Great Britain the land to the north, including Vancouver Island. The US also negotiated treaties with Native American tribes for their lands within the territory, paying very little per acre.  

Accordingly, “Manifest Destiny” was achieved as much by the pen as by the sword, despite what Internet fantasies about conquest may suggest. Although it is true that conflict ensued with Native Americans, it could hardly be considered “conquest” of the ancient variety, as the United States sooner or later bought and paid for nearly all of the land west of the Mississippi.

Expansion Beyond the Continental United States

Trump and his supporters may dream of the United States expanding north to Canada and becoming the 51st state, but that is unlikely to happen anytime soon. A union is possible in the future for socio-economic reasons, beyond the sitting president, who argues that a functioning nation only “works as a state.”

Yet, even after Manifest Destiny was fulfilled, the United States continued to see territorial expansion. Again, much of it involved money rather than direct conquest.

In 1867, Russia approached the United States with an offer to sell Alaska. It was seen as a folly at the time, a frozen wasteland of little value—but it soon proved to be a region rich in minerals, including gold, fish, and fur, making it more than worth the $7.2 million (approx. $150 million today) the US government paid.

The truth is that Russia, which had lost the Crimean War to the British and French in 1856, was experiencing financial difficulties and knew it couldn’t maintain control of the territory in the event of another war with the British. For the United States, the purchase was a wise investment, as it ensured a greater presence in the Pacific and removed potential British expansion. 

The American takeover of Hawaii is an example of conquest, but not directly by military force. Instead, it was achieved through a combination of economic interests, political maneuvering, and strategic military timing, culminating in the 1893 overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani by American businessmen and sugar planters. That was followed by the establishment of the Republic of Hawaii, and then by formal annexation in 1898.

After World War II, residents of Hawaii were given the option of either remaining a territory or becoming a state. No option for independence was even offered, which may explain why 94.3 percent voted for statehood in the 1959 plebiscite. The United Nations had found the lack of an independence option problematic, but the United States didn’t seem to care.

How the United States Got Its Overseas Territories

After defeating Spain in the Spanish-American War in 1898, the United States allowed Cuba to achieve independence. That was due almost entirely as Senator Henry Teller (R-Colorado) introduced an amendment to the war resolution that explicitly stated the US would not establish permanent control over Cuba.

The US acquired the former Spanish colonies of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam. As with Mexico, the US paid for the territories it acquired, with Madrid receiving $20 million in compensation under the Treaty of Paris. Puerto Rico and Guam remain territories, with the Philippines being granted independence on July 4, 1946.

A forgotten part of this story is that the Filipinos, like the Cubans, expected to receive independence and fought the bloody Philippine-American War with the United States. The First Philippine Republic was defeated, but the US then faced a decade-long conflict with the indigenous Moro peoples—the US military’s first insurgent war, but far from its last.

Beyond the former Spanish colonies, the United States obtained its claims to Samoa via treaties in 1900 and 1904, but it wasn’t until 1951 that American Samoa was transferred from the US Navy to the US Department of the Interior, enabling civilian administration.

In what could be seen as either a twist of irony or a portent for Greenland’s future, the most recent territory purchased by the United States was the Danish West Indies, today’s US Virgin Islands, which were acquired in 1917 for $25 million. It secured strategic naval bases in the Caribbean, which proved vital in both World Wars.

Despite repeated statements by Trump, Denmark has vowed not to sell Greenland, which would require approval from the residents anyway. But history has shown that the United States has done better with the checkbook than with arms. Trump may simply need to make a better offer.

About the Author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

The post America’s Expansion Was About Real Estate Deals, Not Conquest appeared first on The National Interest.