What is "manifest destiny"

manifest destiny \manifest destiny\ n. A policy of imperialism rationalized as inevitable (as if granted by God).

n. 1 (context US English) The political doctrine or belief held by the United States of America, particularly during its expansion, that the nation was destined to expand toward the west. 2 (context US English) The political doctrine or belief held by many citizens of the United States of America that their system is best, and the idea that all humans would like to become Americans. 3 The belief that God supports the expansion of the United States of America throughout the entire North American continent except Mexico.

n. a policy of imperialism rationalized as inevitable (as if granted by God)

In the 19th century, manifest destiny was a widely held belief in the United States that its settlers were destined to expand across North America. Historians broadly agree that there are three basic themes to manifest destiny:

• 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 agrarian America
• An irresistible destiny to accomplish this essential duty

Historian Frederick Merk says this concept was born out of "a sense of mission to redeem the Old World by high example ... generated by the potentialities of a new earth for building a new heaven".

Historians have emphasized that "manifest destiny" was a contested concept—pre-civil war Democrats endorsed the idea but many prominent Americans (such as Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and most Whigs) rejected it. Historian Daniel Walker Howe writes, "American imperialism did not represent an American consensus; it provoked bitter dissent within the national polity ... Whigs saw America's moral mission as one of democratic example rather than one of conquest."

Newspaper editor John O'Sullivan coined the term manifest destiny in 1845 to describe the essence of this mindset, which was a rhetorical tone. It was used by Democrats in the 1840s to justify the war with Mexico and it was also used to divide half of Oregon with the United Kingdom. But manifest destiny always limped along because of its internal limitations and the issue of slavery, says Merk. It never became a national priority. By 1843 John Quincy Adams, originally a major supporter of the concept underlying manifest destiny, had changed his mind and repudiated expansionism because it meant the expansion of slavery in Texas.

Merk concludes:

Manifest destiny is a belief that the United States were destined to expand across the North American continent.

Manifest Destiny may also refer to:

• "Manifest Destiny" (The Outer Limits)
• Manifest Destiny (opera), a 2003 opera by Keith Burstein
• Manifest Destiny (Brand X album), 1997
• Manifest Destiny (The Dictators album)
• " Manifest Destiny/Sorority Tears",a 2006 song by Guster
• "Manifest Destiny" (Jamiroquai song), 1994
• "Manifest Destiny", a 1988 song by Dirty Rotten Imbeciles from the album 4 of a Kind
• X-Men: Manifest Destiny, a 2008 storyline involving the X-Men
  • Wolverine: Manifest Destiny, four-issue limited series
• "Manifest Destiny", a comic series published by Image Comics
• "Manifest Destiny", a case in the video game L.A. Noire

Manifest Destiny is the second album by The Dictators and their first after switching to the Asylum label. Trouser Press praised the album as "another helping of brilliant Shernoff originals". 1

"Manifest Destiny" is an episode from the sixth season of The Outer Limits. It originally aired on 2000-02-11.

Manifest Destiny is a studio album by jazz fusion group Brand X. It is their final studio album to date.

Manifest Destiny is a British opera composed by Keith Burstein with a libretto by Dic Edwards. The opera is notable for dealing with the subject of Islamic suicide bombers, and with the ramifications of both the Middle Eastern conflict and the War on Terror.

Set in the present day or "near-future", the complex plot centres on a harrowing journey through the War on Terror by the Palestinian poet Leila who - along with her friend Mohammed - is radicalised and drawn into a suicide bomber cell, leaving her lover (the Jewish composer Daniel) in a state of hysterical blindness due to his despair at her loss and at the state of the world. Leila and Mohammed subsequently undergo a profound change of heart and, on the eve of their suicide mission, renounce violence and reject their own bombs. However, their attempts to achieve a more peaceful resolution to their lives (in the face of a brutal and cynical war campaign involving the President of the United States of America and her Director of CIA) result in them becoming further - and fatally - entangled in the conflict when Mohammed takes the fatal step of "saving" Leila by turning her over to American forces, leading to her internment and subsequent death in Camp X-Ray. The plot is resolved when Mohammed retrieves the dead Leila's poetry as a completed libretto, which he brings back to Daniel to set to music (effecting a symbolic reconciliation between Jewish and Palestinian cultures in spite of realpolitik interests and personal tragedy). Manifest Destiny has attracted a large amount of press attention due to its themes, content and subject matter - including scenes showing the preparations for a suicide bomb raid and the incarceration and maltreatment of Leila in Camp X-Ray (the latter of which was a scene written prior to public knowledge of the events at Abu-Ghraib). An accusation in the press was the subject of a libel action (Burstein vs Associated Newspapers) in the British High Court.

The opera has been staged twice: once at London's Tricycle Theatre in 2004 and once at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2005.

Six years after the Edinburgh performances, the opera was extensively rewritten and restaged in London as Manifest Destiny 2011.