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Historical Comprehension: Manifest Destiny

The term "manifest destiny" first appeared in print in July 1845 in the "Democratic Review." Journalist John L. O'Sullivan supported the United States' claim to Texas over Mexico's by declaring that the United States had a manifest destiny to spread across the continent.

Title page of book
The emigrants' guide to
Oregon and California

This idea of the United States' manifest destiny grew in popularity and influence in the 19th century and is voiced in this collection. Lansford Hastings, a vocal advocate of manifest destiny, led an expedition to Oregon and California in 1841. In 1845, he published The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California, the first substantial guide for traveling across the continent. In it, Hastings presents an unqualified statement of the United States' present and future prosperity:

". . . the present . . . commerce of this infant country, . . . considering the newness of the country, . . . is scarcely equaled, and if the present may be considered as a prelude to the future, the latter is destined, in a very few years, to exceed, by far, that of any other country of the same extent and population, in any proportion of the known world. We are necessarily driven to this conclusion, when we consider the vast extent of its plains and valleys, of unequalled fertility and exuberance; the extraordinary variety and abundance, of its productions, its unheard of uniformity, and salubrity of climate; in fine, its unexhausted and inexhaustible resources, as well, as its increasing emigration, which is annually swelling its population, from hundreds to thousands, and which is destined, at no distant day, to revolutionize the whole commercial, political, and moral aspect of all that highly important and delightful country. In a word, I will remark that in my opinion, there is no country, in the known world, possessing a soil so fertile and productive, with such varied and inexhaustible resources, and a climate of such mildness, uniformity and salubrity; nor is there a country, in my opinion, now known, which is so eminently calculated, by nature herself, in all respects, to promote the unbounded happiness and prosperity, of civilized and enlightened man."

The emigrants' guide to Oregon and California. (page 133)

Map of the western part of North America
A new map of Texas, Oregon, and
California: with the regions adjoining

Hastings's widely used guide encouraged emigrants to make the trek across the Great Plains and establish settlements in the Oregon Territory (claimed by both Britain and the United States) and in Mexican California. His account of the land and his belief that the United States would one day possess the entire continent helped to spur westward migration.

Handwritten letter
Colfax, Schuyler. Across the continent by
overland stage in 1865

Schuyler Colfax was elected to Congress in 1854, became Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1863, and Vice President of the United States in 1868 under the Grant administration. In 1865, Colfax made an overland trip to California and recorded his experience and observations. Like Hastings, he depicted the future of the United States in glowing terms:

"Always an earnest advocate of the Pacific R.R. as a bond of inter-communication between the Atlantic & Pacific portions of the Republic - a bond of union & of strength - a bond of affection as well as of patriotism, - my long journey over the Plains & longer voyage {illegible->} [--] two Oceans home, convinced me more than ever of its priceless value & its incalculable necessity.

Already I see in the swift-coming future, not weak & sparsely settle Territories on its route, but rich & growing States through which the iron base will speed his way over {begin inserted text}across{end inserted text} the vallies & over the Mts of the Interior - not vast untilled & unimproved Plains but irrigation & artesian wells combining to make the desert blossom as the rose - not scores of millions per year from our gold & and silver bearing rocks, reserved by the Creator for ages for our own times, but hundred of millions. for years. Twenty years ago, how inconsiderable was our mineral wealth. {illegible} {begin inserted text} But {end inserted text}now, from the Rocky Mts to the Pacific , 1500 miles in width, & from the British to the Mexican line, 1.000 miles in length, over a over a million square miles, larger than all the mineral area of all the world besides - are proven to be rich in every direction, in mountains & valley, in rive river & ravine, with the precious ore. And There bursts on our view {begin inserted text} almost as if magic {end inserted text} all those golden & silver seams, forced into the molten rock which was to guard them, by the Creator, when he spoke this World into being, & hidden from the morning of Creation till now, when they are found to be the heritage of what He seems to have {begin inserted text} in this afternoon of the 19th Century {end inserted text} intended should be the wealthiest Nation of the World Earth."

Colfax, Schuyler. Across the continent by overland stage in 1865, 1865. Letter-April 18, 1865, pages 38 and 40 - 41

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