
Overview
- Manifest Destiny was the idea that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire continent of North America.
- The ideology of Manifest Destiny inspired a variety of measures designed to remove or destroy the native population.
- US President James K. ...
What was meant by Manifest Destiny?
Manifest destiny is the belief that it was Americans' mission to expand from the east coast of North America all the way to the west coast. American settlers would settle throughout this area and, over time, set up many settlements. The land that they were settling on included Texas, California, Oregon, and New Mexico.
What does the term Manifest Destiny refer to?
Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny is a term for the attitude prevalent during the 19th century period of American expansion that the United States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast. This attitude helped fuel western settlement, Native American removal and war with Mexico.
What did the phrase "Manifest Destiny" refer to?
Manifest Destiny was a term that came to describe a widespread belief in the middle of the 19th century that the United States had a special mission to expand westward . The specific phrase was originally used in print by a journalist, John L. O'Sullivan, when writing about the proposed annexation of Texas.
What does manifest destiny mean?
Manifest destiny was a widely held cultural belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America. There are three basic themes to manifest destiny: The special virtues of the American people and their institutions

What is Manifest Destiny example?
Manifest-destiny definition Manifest Destiny is defined as a 19th century American belief that the spread of the United States across the continent was inevitable. An example of Manifest Destiny is the belief by President Polk's administration that the U.S. should expand throughout the continent.
What is a good sentence for Manifest Destiny?
Examples of manifest destiny in a Sentence They were living in a time when expansion to the Pacific was regarded by many people as the Manifest Destiny of the United States.
What did the Manifest Destiny do?
Manifest Destiny was the idea that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire continent of North America.
What are 3 reasons for Manifest Destiny?
Weeks noted in 1996 that three key themes were usually touched upon by advocates of manifest destiny: the virtue of the American people and their institutions; the mission to spread these institutions, thereby redeeming and remaking the world in the image of the United States; the destiny under God to do this work.
What is another name for Manifest Destiny?
synonyms for manifest destinycolonialism.expansionism.imperialism.neocolonialism.
Does Manifest Destiny still exist today?
Manifest Destiny existed and still exists as the philosophy that embraces American history as a whole. Manifest Destiny is an intangible ideology that created American history.
What is a fact about Manifest Destiny?
Manifest Destiny, in U.S. history, was the belief in the supposed inevitability of the United States expanding its borders westward across the North American continent to the Pacific Ocean and beyond. In the 19th century the idea of Manifest Destiny resulted in extensive territorial expansion.
What is the dark side of Manifest Destiny?
The dark side of Manifest Destiny revealed the white man's belief that his settlement of the land and civilization of its native peoples was preordained. The settlements that extended across the Western territories promised the American dream: the freedom and independence of a seemingly limitless land.
What did Manifest Destiny mean for freedom?
Manifest Destiny was a phrase that expressed the belief that the United States had a mission to expand, spreading its form of democracy and freedom. Advocates of Manifest Destiny believed that expansion was not only good, but that it was obvious (" manifest") and certain (" destiny").
What was Manifest Destiny and how did it affect the United States?
Manifest Destiny was an ideology of expansion across the continent. Some even wanted to annex Canada and Mexico. It affected the US because the idea drove expansion, annexation and active movement towards the west.
How do you use manifest in a sentence?
She manifestly failed to last the mile-and-a-half of the race. If you manifest a particular quality, feeling, or illness, or if it manifests itself, it becomes visible or obvious. He manifested a pleasing personality on stage. The virus needs two weeks to manifest itself.
What is Manifest Destiny pros and cons?
Pros and Cons of Manifest DestinyWhat is Manifest Destiny?Pro: Overall Great Gain in Land.Pro: Mexican American War.Pro: Jobs Gained.Con: Slave Controversy.Con: The Mexican American War.Con: Native Conflicts.
What is a fact about Manifest Destiny?
Manifest Destiny, in U.S. history, was the belief in the supposed inevitability of the United States expanding its borders westward across the North American continent to the Pacific Ocean and beyond. In the 19th century the idea of Manifest Destiny resulted in extensive territorial expansion.
Who benefited from Manifest Destiny?
With its triumph in the Mexican-American War, the United States seemingly realized its Manifest Destiny by gaining an immense domain (more than 525,000 square miles [1,360,000 square km] of land), including present-day Arizona, California, western Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah.
What was Manifest Destiny?
Propounded during the second half of the 19th century, the concept of Manifest Destiny held that it was the divinely ordained right of the United S...
When was the term Manifest Destiny coined?
The term Manifest Destiny was coined in the July–August 1845 issue of The United States Magazine, and Democratic Review by its editor, John L. O’Su...
How did Manifest Destiny lead to the growth of the West?
The idea of Manifest Destiny arose in response to the prospect of U.S. annexation of Texas and to a dispute with Britain over the Oregon Country, w...
What is manifest destiny?
history, the supposed inevitability of the continued territorial expansion of the boundaries of the United States westward to the Pacific and beyond. Before the American Civil War (1861–65), the idea of Manifest Destiny was used to validate continental acquisitions in the Oregon Country, Texas, New Mexico, and California.
When was manifest destiny first used?
The term Manifest Destiny was coined in the July–August 1845 issue of The United States Magazine, and Democratic Review by its editor, John L. O’Sullivan. He expanded the idea in the New York Morning News in December, invoking “the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us ...
Why did the idea of manifest destiny arise?
The idea of Manifest Destiny arose in response to the prospect of U.S. annexation of Texas and to a dispute with Britain over the Oregon Country , which became part of the union.
Who wrote the phrase "manifest destiny"?
Origin of the term. John L. O’Sullivan, the editor of a magazine that served as an organ for the Democratic Party and of a partisan newspaper, first wrote of “manifest destiny” in 1845, but at the time he did not think the words profound. Rather than being “coined,” the phrase was buried halfway through the third paragraph ...
What was O'Sullivan protesting?
O’Sullivan was protesting European meddling in American affairs, especially by France and England, which he said were acting. Austin, Texas. Lithograph of Austin, Texas, c. 1840. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
What is manifest destiny?
Manifest Destiny was the concept that the United States had a God -given right to claim territory across North America. The phrase "Manifest Destiny" was created in 1845 by a newspaper writer named John L. O'Sullivan. Quickly, the idea became very popular ...
Why was the belief in manifest destiny important?
Settlement of the west. The belief in Manifest Destiny was also important in encouraging people to go to other parts of the west, like Oregon and southern California.
Who was the first president to use the idea of manifest destiny?
Use by President James Polk. In 1845, James K. Polk was elected President. Polk believed very strongly in the idea of Manifest Destiny. During his Presidency, the United States grew by a million square miles.
Why did the belief in manifest destiny help convince Americans to support the war?
A belief in Manifest Destiny helped convince Americans to support the war. It told them it was all right to fight, kill, and take land from Mexicans or other non-Americans. This was all right because they were only doing what God wanted. They were doing what they were destined to do.
Examples of manifest destiny in a Sentence
They were living in a time when expansion to the Pacific was regarded by many people as the Manifest Destiny of the United States.
First Known Use of manifest destiny
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What is the meaning of manifest destiny?
In the mid-nineteenth century, newspaper editor John O'Sullivan coined the term 'manifest destiny' to describe the belief that God intended for the United States to occupy North America from Atlantic to Pacific.
Who coined the term "Manifest Destiny"?
In 1845, newspaper editor John O’Sullivan coined the term “ Manifest Destiny ” to describe the ideology of continental expansionism. Though the term was new, the ideas underlying it were much older, dating back to the first colonial contact between Europeans and Native Americans. The ideology that became known as Manifest Destiny included ...
How did manifest destiny help?
Manifest destiny helped increase national unity because the US was growing stronger, and making people believe that the US had the right to expand furthered their belief the the US was the place to be.
What was the idea that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire continent of North America?
Manifest Destiny was the idea that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire continent of North America.

Louisiana Purchase
Texas Independence
- Cries for the “re-annexation” of Texas increased after Mexico, having won its independence from Spain, passed a law suspending U.S. immigration into Texas in 1830. Nonetheless, there were still more Anglo settlers in Texas than Hispanic ones, and in 1836, after Texas won its own independence, its new leaders sought to join the United States. The administrations of both And…
Oregon Territory
- An 1842 treaty between Great Britain and the United States partially resolved the question of where to draw the Canadian border, but left open the question of the Oregon Territory, which stretched from the Pacific Coast to the Rocky Mountains over an area including what is now Oregon, Idaho, WashingtonState and most of British Columbia. Polk, an ardent proponent of Ma…
Impact of Manifest Destiny: The Civil War, Native American Wars
- By the time the Oregon question was settled, the United States had entered into all-out war with Mexico, driven by the spirit of Manifest Destiny and territorial expansion. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War in 1848, added an additional 525,000 square miles of U.S. territory, including all or parts of what is now California, Arizona, Colorado, New Me…
Sources
- Julius W. Pratt, “The Origin of ‘Manifest Destiny’,” The American Historical Review (July 1927). Sean Wilentz, The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (New York: Norton, 2005). Michael Golay, The Tide of Empire: America’s March to the Pacific Era of U.S. Continental Expansion, History, Art & Archives: U.S House of Representatives. Access hundreds of hours of …
Definition
Use by President James Polk
- In 1845, James K. Polk was elected President. Polk believed very strongly in the idea of Manifest Destiny. During his Presidency, the United States grew by a million square miles.
Settlement of The West
- The belief in Manifest Destiny was also important in encouraging people to go to other parts of the west, like Oregon and southern California.
Growth of The Country
- Hover over each photo to view its label. Click on the picture to make it bigger.
- Mapof the United States in 1840 (before "Manifest Destiny")
- The United States in 1850, after winning the Mexican-American War
- The United States in 1860
Problems
- The United States was very determined to take control of all of North America. Unfortunately, the parts of North America they wanted were not empty. They were places that Native Americanshad always lived. The United States government wanted these tribes to move outside the United States, to what is now Oklahoma. The government was able to convince some of these Native A…