Manifest destiny: Difference between revisions

There was never a set of principles defining manifest destiny; it was always a general idea rather than a specific policy made with a motto. Ill-defined but keenly felt, manifest destiny was an expression of conviction in the morality and value of expansionism that complemented other popular ideas of the era, including [[American exceptionalism]] and [[Romantic nationalism]]. [[Andrew Jackson]], who spoke of "extending the area of freedom", typified the conflation of America's potential greatness, the nation's budding sense of Romantic self-identity, and its expansion.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Ward|1962|pp=[https://archive.org/details/andrewjacksonsym0000ward/page/136 136–137]}}</ref><ref name="Manifest Destiny">{{Cite web |last=Hidalgo |first=Dennis R. |year=2003 |title=Manifest Destiny |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401802517.html |access-date=June 11, 2014 |publisher=Encyclopedia.com taken from Dictionary of American History}}</ref>

 

 

==Etymology==

 

[[File:John O'Sullivan.jpg|thumb|[[John L. O'Sullivan]], sketched in 1874, was an influential columnist as a young man, but he is now generally remembered only for his use of the phrase "manifest destiny" to advocate the annexation of Texas and Oregon.]]

 

Six years later, in 1845, O'Sullivan wrote another essay titled "Annexation" in the ''Democratic Review'',<ref name="Annex">{{Cite journal |last=O'Sullivan |first=John L. |date=July–August 1845 |title=Annexation |url=http://web.grinnell.edu/courses/HIS/f01/HIS202-01/Documents/OSullivan.html |journal=United States Magazine and Democratic Review |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=5–11 |access-date=May 20, 2008 |archive-date=November 25, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051125043717/http://web.grinnell.edu/courses/HIS/f01/HIS202-01/Documents/OSullivan.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> in which he first used the phrase ''manifest destiny''.<ref>See Julius Pratt, "The Origin Of 'Manifest Destiny{{'"}}, ''American Historical Review'', (1927) 32#4, pp. 795–798 [https://www.jstor.org/pss/1837859 in JSTOR]. Linda S. Hudson has argued that it was coined by writer Jane McManus Storm; Greenburg, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=EQV6wPzlyOcC&pg=PA20 20]; Hudson 2001; O'Sullivan biographer Robert D. Sampson disputes Hudson's claim for a variety of reasons (See note 7 at {{Harvard citation no brackets|Sampson|2003|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=d1y5ew93xxIC&pg=PA244 244–45])}}.</ref> In this article he urged the U.S. to [[Texas annexation|annex]] the [[Republic of Texas]],<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Adams|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9SE_zwYlXrQC&pg=PA188 188]}}.</ref> not only because Texas desired this, but because it was "our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by [[Divine providence|Providence]] for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions".<ref>Quoted in Thomas R. Hietala, ''Manifest design: American exceptionalism and Empire'' (2003) p. 255</ref> Overcoming Whig opposition, Democrats [[Texas annexation|annexed Texas]] in 1845. O'Sullivan's first usage of the phrase "manifest destiny" attracted little attention.<ref>Robert W. Johannsen, "The Meaning of Manifest Destiny", in {{Harvard citation no brackets|Johannsen|1997}}.</ref>