Manifest Destiny

The 19th century American belief that the people of the United States (often referring to European immigrants ) were destined to expand across the North American continent. The phrase was coined by John L. O'Sullivan, who said the following in regards to land disputes with Britain in the Oregon area in 1845: "...that claim is by the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us."