The people of 19th century approvingly observed the expansionist spirit of America in the 1840's, and called it 'Manifest Destiny.' This phrase has been adopted by historians to characterize both the mood and the process of expansion. The people believed that it was the obvious fate of the American people to advance into and take possession of neighboring lands, in essence they said that the United States was preordained to control all of North …showed first 75 words of 805 total…

…showed last 75 words of 805 total…seeming obsession of Americans of the 1840's to extend the nation to the Pacific. But to the people of the time when they looked at a map and saw everything west of the Louisiana Purchase claimed by a foreign power, it made them feel that America was incomplete. The felt it was their destiny to extend onto the entire continent. It seems that everything they did, every action, election, war, all led to this end.