To improve their economic prospects, Americans and immigrants alike began to seek better opportunities elsewhere; "roughly two-thirds of the rural population moved every decade, and population turnover in cities was even greater" (305) .
Reform movements caused groups, such abolitionists, to also head west to escape the evils of a society dependent on slavery. Abolitionists have mostly freed slaves, who promoted to end slavery completely and emancipate all slaves, but had a hard time gaining support from others. Although white Northerners were against slavery, they still held the belief that Africans were inferior and that slavery was inevitable, "necessary, and even desirable". Since abolitionists were unable to gain the support to end slavery completely, they decided their next best resolution was to make sure slavery did not spread geographically. Fulfilling America's manifest destiny offered abolitionists an opportunity to "link their unpopular ideal to a goal that many white Northerners found much more attractive-limiting the geographic expansion of slavery" (323).
Lastly, another group of Americans who believed so strongly in this destiny of their country was the ones seeking religious freedom such as the Mormons. Mormons were considered a "threat to American morality and institutions" (310) as they were a community that practiced polygamy. After years of suffering persecution in the East, the Mormons had fled west for religious freedom and a place that they could be a community in peace, eventually settling themselves in Utah near the Great Salt Lake. .
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American's territorial conquest of Texas, Oregon, and the Mexican war were all perfect examples of how American's took advantage of their Manifest Destiny. First, Americans sought out to expand their territory to Oregon. After agreeing on "joint occupation" with Great Britain, settlers set out along Oregon Trail to migrate to the west.
