John O'sullivan Manifest Destiny Quote

July, 1845 – John L. O'Sullivan Advises Americans of Their "Manifest Destiny"

Posted on July 11, 2014 by rhapsodyinbooks

In the July–August 1845 upshot of the Democratic Review, John Louis O'Sullivan published an essay entitled "Looting," advocating that the U.Southward. admit the Republic of Texas into the Spousal relationship. O'Sullivan argued that the United States had a divine mandate to expand throughout Northward America, writing of "our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the gratis evolution of our yearly multiplying millions."

John L. O'Sullivan as he appeared on the cover of Harper's Weekly in November 1874

John L. O'Sullivan as he appeared on the embrace of Harper's Weekly in November 1874

The phrase didn't really catch on yet until another article of O'Sullivan's appeared in the "New York Forenoon News" on Dec 27, 1845. In this case, he was justifying the American merits to Oregon, averring:

…that merits 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."

This is not the first time a religious justification had been used to support land expansion. John Quincy Adams firmly believed that territorial expansion across the whole continent of Northward America was "destined by Divine Providence." Every bit Secretary of Country, his views helped guide the policies of President James Monroe. It was the affairs of Adams' that was largely responsible for the U.S. acquisition of Florida and the U.Southward. supposition of Spain's claim to the Oregon country. The 1823 Monroe Doctrine, formulated by Adams, warned Europe that the Western Hemisphere was no longer open for European colonization. However, Adams had not employed the catchy phrase, "manifest destiny." Moreover, the possibility of a continental republic seemed much more possible in the 1840'southward than it had earlier.

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