Question

The term manifest destiny, used in 1846 by newspaper editor John L. O'Sullivan, could best be described as a policy that would ________.

• A. bring democracy to the West and expand the territory of the United States.
• B. remove the French from Oregon.
• C. increase immigration from Europe.
• D. push the Spanish out of Texas.
• E. protect Indian culture.

Answer 1

The correct option is A bring democracy to the West and expand the territory of the United States.

Manifest Destiny was the idea that it was the obvious (manifest) fate of the United States to "O'er spread the Continent," a statement by John O'Sullivan in 1846. He said that the United States would be doing a good deed by bringing democracy to the peoples of the West. At the time, the French (B) were not in Oregon (the English claimed it). Immigration from abroad (C) was not a tenet of Manifest Destiny movement to the west by Americans was. The Spanish (D) had not been in Texas since 1821. Native American culture (E) was not a concern of the people who wanted their land.