An overview-Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny was the idea that said that white Americans were ordered by divinity to settle the entire North American continent. The idea of Manifest Destiny influenced a variety of measures designed to remove or destroy the native American population. The President of the United States, James K. Polk (1845-1849), is the leader who is most associated with Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny inflamed sectional tensions over slavery, which ultimately led to the Civil War.
How the term Manifest Destiny was introduced
In 1845, John O'Sullivan, the editor of a newspaper, used the term 'Manifest Destiny' to describe the idea of continental expansion.
Although the term was new for the people, the concept underlying it was much older, dating back to the first colonial conflict between Europeans and Native Americans. The idea that came to be known as Manifest Destiny consisted of belief in the inborn supremacy of white Americans and also the opinion that they were destined by God to rule the territories of North America, starting from sea to shining sea.
The idea of Manifest Destiny completely justified extreme measures to remove the native population from the land of North America, including removal by force and violent killing of people. For promoters of Manifest Destiny, the American Indians were mere hindrances to the forward march of racial and technological progress, and they advocated pursuing an Indian removal policy.
Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, formulated the policy of 'Indian removal,' which was signed as the Indian Removal Act in May 1830. The Indian Removal Act authorized a series of migrations that became known as the Trail of Tears.
