Manifest destiny was the 19th century belief that American settlers were destined to expand across North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. It promoted the idea that it was both God's will and America's destiny to expand westward, and justified the removal of Native Americans from lands being settled. Examples of manifest destiny in action included the Louisiana Purchase, the war with Mexico, and the Indian removal policies like the Trail of Tears, while the Monroe Doctrine discouraged European intervention in the Americas.

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2. New Concept: manifest destiny
(noun)
• Definition: destiny – what is going to
happen to you
• Manifest – to appear, easy to see,
obvious
• Manifest Destiny – the idea in the
United States that the country would
go from east coast to the west coast

3. Essential Characteristics – What
is has to have
About getting land
went from east to west
US idea only
people in the way get moved out
of the way

4. Examples:
Louisiana Purchase
War with Mexico
Indian wars (Trail of Tears)
Monroe Doctrine- US told
Europe to stay out of the
Western Hemisphere

5. Non-Examples:
US invading Iraq
Illegal immigrants
Vietnam War
Armenian Genocide
War on terror (we are not
trying to take over anyone’s
land)

6. Mani f est Dest i ny
• The phrase manifest destiny means “obvious
fate.” It was coined in 1845 by John O’Sullivan,
a New York newspaperman. O’Sullivan wrote
that its was America’s “manifest destiny to
overspread and possess the whole of the
continent.” Looking at the land beyond the
Rocky Mountains, he argued that “the God of
nature and nations has marked it for our own.”
It was God’s plan for Americans to expand their
“great experiment with liberty,” and extend
from sea to sea.

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