What was Manifest Destiny?

• A. The belief that the U.S. should expand west.
• B. A plan to build factories.
• C. A treaty with Britain.
• D. A revolution in the colonies.

Answer: (A)

Manifest Destiny is the 19th-century belief that the United States was destined to expand its territory westward across North America, reaching the Pacific and extending its political system and values. This idea motivated people and leaders to push settlement and annexation—from Texas and the Oregon Country to the lands won in the Mexican-American War—shaping a large part of U.S. policy and frontier experience. It also fed debates over how new territories would handle issues like slavery, since expanding west meant deciding whether new areas would be free or slave states. The concept does not describe building factories, making a treaty with Britain, or conducting a colonial revolution, but rather the conviction that westward expansion was a natural and justified path for the United States.