jan 1, 1845 - Manifest Destiny

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Manifest Destiny is the 19th-century belief that it was the divine mission of the United States to expand westward across the North American continent. In doing so, the Americans would spread democratic and Protestant Christian ideals.

American journalist John L. O’Sullivan coined the phrase "manifest destiny" in an 1845 newspaper editorial. The roots of the concept, however, can be traced to American and European writers of the colonial period. They professed the belief that God had ordained them to supplant the pagan practices of native peoples in the West. Manifest Destiny thus provided justification for the United States to acquire territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean and beyond.

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