Manifest Destiny

Concept of Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny may be defined as: The term “Manifest Destiny,” originally used by journalist John O’Sullivan in 1845, refers to the idea that (settler) U.S. Americans had the providential right to expand and govern the North American continent south of Canada. “Manifest Destiny” was also clearly a racial doctrine of white supremacy that granted no Native American or nonwhite claims to any permanent possession of the lands on the North American continent, and justified white American expropriation of Indian lands. “Manifest Destiny” was also a key slogan deployed in the United States’ imperial ventures in the 1890s and early years of the twentieth century that led to U.S. possession or control of Hawaii and the Philippine Islands. The concept is still central to much U.S. foreign policy and contemporary political debate.(1) See more related entries to Manifest Destiny in this legal encyclopedia.

Resources

Notes

1. From Donald M. Scott, “The Religious Origins of Manifest Destiny.” Divining America, TeacherServe©. National Humanities Center. .