Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny was a term coined in the 1840's to describe the belief that the United States was destined to expand its territory from the Atlantic to the Pacific. People who held this belief thought God intended for the United States to expand. They thought the country's democratic political system was superior to any others and therefore should spread across the land. The idea of Manifest Destiny contributed to the westward expansion into Indian and Mexican territories during the 19th century.

Directions - The document below was published in 1839. It describes the concept of Manifest Destiny. Read the two paragraphs and answer the following question in your notebook using complete sentences.

1. In the first paragraph, what reasons does O'Sullivan give for the United States being "destined to the the great nation of futurity?"
2. In the second paragraph, what is O'Sullivan saying about the destiny of the United States? Summarize the paragraph in your own words.

John L. O'Sullivan on Manifest Destiny, 1839

The American people having derived their origin from many other nations, and the Declaration of National Independence being entirely based on the great principle of human equality, these facts demonstrate at once our disconnected position as regards any other nation; that we have, in reality, but little connection with the past history of any of them, and still less with all antiquity, its glories, or its crimes. On the contrary, our national birth was the beginning of a new history, the formation and progress of an untried political system, which separates us from the past and connects us with the future only; and so far as regards the entire development of the natural rights of man, in moral, political, and national life, we may confidently assume that our country is destined to be the great nation of futurity.

The far-reaching, the boundless future will be the era of American greatness. In its magnificent domain of space and time, the nation of many nations is destined to manifest to mankind the excellence of divine principles; to establish on earth the noblest temple ever dedicated to the worship of the Most High – the Sacred and the True. Its floor shall be a hemisphere – its roof the firmament of the star-studded heavens, and its congregation an Union of many Republics, comprising hundreds of happy millions, calling, owning no man master, but governed by God's natural and moral law of equality, the law of brotherhood – of "peace and good will amongst men.". . .