John O'sullivan On Manifest Destiny

America’s Westward Expansion was published on suite101, an American History website, in February 2007 and was written by K.C. Morgan. K.C. Morgan is a professional freelance writer who has written various articles and blog posts that appear on a range of websites. After several years of writing fantasy fiction, she decided to write about the real world she faces everyday. During her years of writing professionally, however, she has covered a wide range of topics. The purpose of America’s Westward Expansion is to provide a very ‘native American friendly’ view of the manifest destiny ideal. This article, though very one-sided, had great value to me. In it the author stated that the famous phrase “manifest destiny” was coined by a journalist in 1844. This information enlightened me about the fact that the idea of manifest destiny existed and was being executed for many years before it was actually given a name. This was not something I had ever given thought to, however, I had the misconceived notion that the word came before the definition, which is a false statement when pertaining to any topic. Though it presented some very interesting information, this website was limiting in the fact that it only presented information that was very

Manifest Destiny is a term coined by John L. Sullivan in 1845 when talking about the annexation of Texas. He believed, along with other expansionists, that it’s inevitable that the US population would spread across North America because the land is given by Providence to the United States and that it’s natural that the land should be part of the country [Doc 1]. The idea of westward expansion and Manifest Destiny had positive and negative effects on the politics, society and the economics of the United States and

There are people today who think that the United States of America’s boundary was created by fate; however, much complexity was involved in the gaining of our country’s boundaries. Manifest Destiny comes from the desire that Americans had to expand their borders. Americans wanted a distinct expansion from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The term “Manifest Destiny” originated when John L. Sullivan published an article on the annexation of Texas. O’Sullivan believed that the expansion of the United States would be beneficial and better our nation. The American settlers became very determined to expand their civilization across North America. The Second Great Awakening, the belief that God would bless the growth of the country, created another reason for Americans to want to expand. “The Democratic Review asserted that God had preordained expansion across the continent” (Greenberg, 15). Manifest Destiny has played a very important role in our country’s past, its present, and it will have a significant role on its future. “Without Manifest Destiny, the territorial expansion of the United States from a strip of Atlantic coast colonies to a continental empire in less than a -century would have been, literally, unthinkable” (Greenberg 2). If our country continues to expand its perimeter, the concept of Manifest Destiny will always play a role in history.

Industrialization of the United States was in full swing by the 1840s. Which evidenced that the continued expansion of the states was an issue and the idea of a Manifest Destiny was of major importance. John L. O’Sullivan once stated, “Our Manifest Destiny is to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions” (America: A Narrative History). The idea of a Manifest Destiny originated in the 1840s by the Anglo-Saxon Colonists to expand their ideal civilization and institutions across North America to become a super nation. There were conflicts during this expansion, but they only led to major successes that molded the states into the superior country it is today. The Manifest

Following the ratification of the treaty, some politicians felt the manifest destiny of the United States was to annex all of Mexico. The territory gains between 1845 and 1848 were enough to satisfy all but the most zealous advocates of manifest destiny. John O'Sullivan criticized the opponents of Texas annexation. He went beyond the immediate issue of Texas to argue that it is the fate of America to grow to encompass much, if not all of the North American continent. O'Sullivan is credited with inventing the term "manifest destiny" to describe his expansionist views for America. This phrase was coined in a New York Morning News editorial. (Wexler,153).

Throughout the American history, we have seen “Manifest Destiny” at work, and how it has helped grow our nation. The idea of Manifest Destiny helped in creating revolutions that would help them find freedom in the U.S., but it also had some negative effects. Most believe that “Manifest Destiny” began in the 1840’s, when John L.O’Sullivan coined the term “Manifest Destiny” in 1845, but if we look closer we can see that even all the way back to the first settlers we can see that“Manifest Destiny” was already at work as in, the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The term is defined and recognized as, the Americans belief that it was their destiny given to them by God, to expand into the Western territories “ The whole continent was to be theirs.”1 We

John L. O’Sullivan was a famous editor for the United States Magazine and Democratic Review 1840s. John L. O’Sullivan had tried to encourage expansionism, the political belief of territorial expansion . Manifest Destiny took a big part of the Mexicans and Native Americans lives and history today. Many Americans had believed that the Americans were destined by god to conquer the continent through the pacific ocean. Not only by population but also the expansion of “democracy” and “freedom”. Perhaps it was true for some, others not so true.

Under James Knox Polk, the United States grew by more than a million square miles, adding territory that now composes the states of Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, much of New Mexico, and portions of Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado. Much of the United States is owed to the expansion planned by Former President John K Polk. His actions would lead to the annexation of Texas and purchase of California and New Mexico from Mexico. In the mid 1840’s John L. O’Sullivan editor of the United States magazine and democratic Review used the phrase “Manifest Destiny”. To him these words seemed to be an appropriate label for the spirit of expansionism that boosted from the presidency of John K Polk and his extension of pre-civil war united states.

The spirit of Manifest Destiny rose because Americans wanted to make the United States bigger. In the book, it provides the quote from John O’sullivan ‘“our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions’” (). Sullivan also believed that Americans bear a God-given right to spread the benefits of American democracy to other people like the Mexicans and Indians. He believed that if required the Americans could use force to spread the benefits. The approach of manifest destiny summarized American pride, missionary diligence, and racism. The spirit of expansionism was tied to national politics. Most of the Democrats were supporters of expansionism. The Whigs, on the

The O’Sullivan article on Manifest Destiny sparked an initial interest amongst the American people. The idea that it was the United States’ destiny to expand across the continent became an ardent hope. America had a strong Christian belief that God had intended this for the country. The need for more land became vital as an increasing amount of immigrants flocked to the country each year. As the US gained more land, they steadily began to approach the western part of the continent. At the time, the United States was half of what it is now. The other half was owned by a country that would soon be forced into a two year war.

John L. O’Sullivan first coined the phrase manifest destiny in 1845. In these two words, he voiced the idea that it was America’s God-given right to expand across the North American continent. This idea was evident in the Ostend Manifesto of 1854 (Document J) where the writer claims ”[B]y every law, human and divine, we shall be justified in wresting [Cuba] from Spain if we possess the power.” This idea was partially created because of the idea that the Americans were superior to the Native

Manifest Destiny was a phase that was made up by journalist John L. O’sullivan back in 1844. O’sullivan thought that expansion of the country would make it a stronger nation. The United States wanted to push westward to the frontier, towards Texas, California, and Oregon. The reason behind Manifest Destiny was to expand to provide new places to live and more job opportunities. Manifest Destiny is the belief that the Americans could extend themselves from coast to coast. It is known as an ideology that started American history. The Americans were determined to conquer the land so they began to remove the Native Americans.

The term “Manifest Destiny” has been a paramount concept ever since its emergence during the time of Andrew Jackson and his ideals of westward expansion for the United States. Prior to the term of Manifest Destiny, the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 was in full effect, in which the argument could be made that these two concepts are somehow correlated. The primary source documents such as “The Monroe Doctrine Declares the Western Hemisphere Closed to European Intervention, 1823,” and essays such as, “Expansionist Ambition, Not Republican Ideals,” will support the structure of this essay, showing that there is a reflection of Manifest Destiny ideology in the Monroe Doctrine. Using various primary and secondary sources from Major Problems in American Foreign Relations, this short essay will argue that the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 was a reflection of Manifest Destiny ideology.

During the first half of the 19th century, the United States experienced westward expansion into territories, like Oregon, Texas, and California. The main incitement for the expansion was the Doctrine of Manifest Destiny. In 1845 an American columnist, John Louis O’Sullivan, introduced the term “Manifest Destiny,” which applied to the idea that America was destined to expand. According to the doctrine, America had a God given right to expand its democratic institution because Americans were morally and racially superior to the uncivilized people in their way of expansion. Therefore, O’Sullivan and many others used the phrase “Manifest Destiny” to promote and justify the annexation of Texas and the Oregon Country to the United States. As a result, the idea of westward expansion led to the events, such as the victory of James K. Polk in the United States’ presidential campaign in 1844, the United States’ treaty with Britain over Oregon, the Mexican American War, and the revival of the issue of slavery in the United States.

Relying in the ideal that God had been favored the United States to fulfill their destiny, the President James Polk started an expansionist campaign to annex not only Texas, but also Oregon, and California to the American territory. John L. O’Sullivan could not be imagined that his expression “Manifest Destiny” would became an ideal of the Americans territories expansion. In 1845, Sullivan stated in a New York City paper about Texas expansion, “fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” (Fraser 299). Inspired by Sullivan’s ideal many settlers and politicians supported Polk administration and the military