John o sullivan biography manifest destiny 1839

Cultural belief of 19th-century American expansionists

For other uses, see Manifest Destiny (disambiguation).

"Manifest destiny" is a phrase that represents the belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand westward across North America, and that this belief was both obvious ("manifest") and certain ("destiny").

The belief is rooted in American exceptionalism and Romantic nationalism, implying the inevitable spread of the Republican form of governance.^[2] It is one of the earliest expressions of American imperialism in the United States of America.^[3][4][5]

According to historian William Earl Weeks, there were three basic tenets behind the concept:^[2]

• The assumption of the unique moral virtue of the United States.
• The assertion of its mission to redeem the world by the spread of republican government and more generally the "American way of life".
• The faith in th