What economic benefits could the US get from following the ideals of Manifest Destiny?

Answer 1

Economics is all about growth. The more your company grows, the better it does. Growth is good.

Manifest Destiny was the idea that it was America's most important (manifest) destiny to grow from shore to shore. As the country expanded, new markets were formed for goods and services. Those new markets in turn provided resources such as coal, oil, precious metals, and later on food and their own manufactured goods and services. All this boils down to one thing: economic growth.

Today, we believe that it is America's Manifest Destiny to "Americanize" the world in terms of freedom and democracy and capitalism. If other countries shared these ideals, American business and, by default, its people, would prosper. But there is a downside, too. If the whole world were to "Americanize," then competition would grow exponentially greater than it is now. The consumers would prosper, but America as a whole might not.

With all that said, however, the main benefit of Manifest Destiny principles is economic growth.