— Ch. 1 · Origins And Etymology —
Manifest destiny.
~7 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
John L. O'Sullivan wrote an article in 1845 that first used the phrase manifest destiny to describe American expansion. The Democratic Review published this essay titled Annexation on the 27th of December 1845. O'Sullivan argued that the United States had a right to claim all of Oregon based on this new concept. He believed Providence had given the nation a mission to spread republican democracy across the continent. This specific usage appeared just one year after the Democratic Party won the 1844 presidential election. Some historians suggest journalist Jane Cazneau actually wrote the unsigned editorial where the term first appeared. Others credit O'Sullivan as the primary propagandist for the Confederacy who popularized the idea later. His original conception did not call for territorial expansion by force but rather natural growth through immigration. He predicted California would follow Texas and even Canada might eventually request annexation. Whig opponents quickly denounced the phrase as treason against the Constitution and Declaration of Rights. Representative Robert Winthrop used the term for the first time in Congress on the 3rd of January 1846. He called it a new revelation of right that superseded all other titles to land. Despite early criticism from political rivals, expansionists embraced the phrase so quickly its origin was soon forgotten.
Core Ideological Tenets
Historian William Earl Weeks identified three basic tenets behind the concept of manifest destiny. The first assumption held the unique moral virtue of the United States above all other nations. The second assertion claimed a mission to redeem the world by spreading republican government and the American way of life. The third faith believed in the nation's divinely ordained destiny to succeed in this global mission. Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Monroe about distant times when rapid multiplication would cover the whole northern continent. Abraham Lincoln described the United States as the last best hope of Earth in his the 1st of December 1862 message to Congress. John Winthrop delivered his famous City upon a Hill sermon in 1630 calling for a virtuous community to shine as an example. Thomas Paine echoed this notion in his 1776 pamphlet Common Sense arguing America provided a chance to begin the world over again. Clinton Rossiter described the view that God bestowed a peculiar responsibility on hardy souls from old nations. This belief system implied the inevitable spread of republicanism and white nationalism across North America. It became one of the earliest expressions of American imperialism rooted in romantic nationalism. Many writers focused primarily upon expansion into Mexico or across the Pacific while others saw it as a call to example.