Manifest Destiny manifested itself in several ways during the period 1840-1896. Almost every major crisis or notable event was somehow related to manifest destiny. To understand the meaning of Manifest Destiny, we need to go back to its origins.
The term Manifest Destiny was first used by John O´Sullivan in July-August 1845, in the Democratic review; “our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions” O´Sullivan said this while asking Congress for the annexation of Texas. The annexation followed quickly after but O´Sullivan´s use of sentence was barely noticed. Later in 1845, O´Sullivan reused the phrase but this time it created an extremely influential political idea.
The general idea of Sullivan´s phrase was that God gave the United States of America territory so that the American people could travel westwards and settle on land that was rightfully theirs. We can notice that Manifest Destiny is a racial doctrine and it put forward the white supremacy. Some people say, that the idea served as a justification for the expropriation of Native American lands. This theory cost the death of many Whites, Blacks and Native Americans. O´Sullivan created the perfect excuse for politicians like Polk, to push forward their plans of expansion in the West.
James Polk was the 11th President of the United States and was in charge during both of the annexation of Texas and the Mexican War. He is one of the only presidents that competed his agenda while he was in his office. He was the last president before the outbreak of the Civil War. He is mostly remembered for his foreign policy success.
The only reason Polk was not criticized a lot about the war was that he put forward Manifest Destiny. He stated that he was fighting for the Americans so that they could move westwards into new land. While the Mexican war was going on, Polk managed to