Manifest Destiny is the belief that Americans had the right, or even the duty, to expand westward across the North American continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This would spread the glorious institutions of civilization and democracy to the barbaric Native Americans.

The philosophy describing the necessary expansion of the nation westward was called Manifest Destiny; the belief that it was our duty to settle the continent, conquer and prosper.

There were three basic tenets to the concept: The special virtues of the American people and their institutions. The mission of the United States to redeem and remake the West in the image of the agrarian East. An irresistible destiny to accomplish this essential duty.

At the heart of manifest destiny was the pervasive belief in American cultural and racial superiority. Native Americans had long been perceived as inferior, and efforts to "civilize" them had been widespread since the days of John Smith and Miles Standish.

The belief that the expansion of the United States was justified by God and inevitable.

Table of Contents Louisiana Purchase. Texas Independence. The Coining of 'Manifest Destiny' Oregon Territory. Impact of Manifest Destiny: The Civil War, Native American Wars. Sources.

Manifest Destiny was the 19th-century belief that it was the divine mission of the United States to expand westward across North America. People who held that belief thought that it was the duty of Americans to spread democratic and Protestant ideals across the continent.