Manifest Destiny: Trump is now planning to bring back a concept last used in the 1800s
Manifest Destiny was a 19th-century belief in the United States that Americans were destined by divine providence to expand their territory across the North American continent. The term was coined by journalist John L. O’Sullivan in 1845 when he wrote that the US had a right to claim and spread democratic values and civilization across the continent. The ideology became one of the driving forces behind westward expansion and shaped US territorial, political, and social policies.
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The roots of Manifest Destiny can be traced back to the early 1800s when the newly formed United States began looking to expand beyond the original 13 colonies. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which doubled the size of the country, was one of the first major events that fueled this belief. By the 1840s, Manifest Destiny had become a political and cultural mantra advocating for US control from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
This ideology was used to justify key events, such as:
- The annexation of Texas in 1845
- The Oregon Trail settlement and acquisition of the Oregon Territory
- The Mexican-American War (1846–1848), which resulted in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, adding California, Arizona, and other southwestern states to the U.S.
- The displacement and forced relocation of Native American tribes
