Manifest Destiny was a term used in the 1840s to justify the United States' westward expansion into such areas as Texas, Utah, Oregon and California. There was a widely held underlying belief that Americans, the chosen people, had a divinely inspired mission to spread the fruits of their democracy to the less fortunate (usually meaning Native Americans and other non-Europeans).The idea of an almost religious manifest destiny was a common staple in the speeches and newspaper articles of the time. …
