Manifest Destiny Themes

The concept of Manifest Destiny was simple: American settlers believed that they were destined to grow across the continent, coast to coast. There are two basic themes to Manifest Destiny. They are the principles of American people and the Americans mission to move into the west. Historians say that Manifest Destiny was like a competition. Democrats endorsed the idea of it; however, many of the leading Americans, like Lincoln and Grant, rejected the idea of it. “American imperialism did not represent an American consensus; it provoked bitter dissent within the national polity….Whigs saw America’s moral mission as one of democratic example rather than on of conquest,” said Daniel Walker Howe.
The term Manifest Destiny was born in the

1840s. It was a term that described the attitude of America during the 19th century and with American expansion. The attitude fueled the western development, Native American removal and the Mexican War. John L. O’Sullivan was a magazine editor and he claimed, “our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” At first, Manifest Destiny was only a Democratic problem, but Republicans jumped on the bandwagon as time passed.
Numerous Americans believed that God blessed the growth of American. They were sure of there ethnic superiority, but they knew their destiny was to spread out and inform nations who were so lucky. This explained the acquisition of territories and reasons to go to war, like the war with Mexico. During the Spanish-American war, Spain gave jurisdiction of the Philippine Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States. These were the terms of the Treaty of Paris. Ultimately, the United States expanded into the west and it was the idea of Manifest Destiny that led them to do it.