Origin Of Manifest Destiny

The term "manifest destiny" found its origins in the 1840s. It described the belief that it was Anglo-Saxon Americans’ mission to grow their civilization and institutions across the commonwealth of North America. It was, as O’Sullivan stated, ‘our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.’ The concept was taken up by those wanting to secure the Oregon Territory, California, Mexican land in the Southwest, and, in the 1850s, Cuba. Originally as a partisan Democratic issue, "manifest destiny" received Republican adherents as time went on. By the end of the century, expansionists were employing quasi-Darwinist reasoning to argue that because its "Anglo-Saxon
heritage" made America supremely fit, it had become the nation’s ‘manifest destiny’ to extend its influence beyond its continental boundaries into the Pacific and Caribbean basins.