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Difficulty: EasyManifest Destiny and Westward Expansion

"Our national birth was the beginning of a new history, the formation and progress of an untried political system, which separates us from the past and connects us with the future only... We have no interest in the scenes of antiquity, only as lessons of avoidance of nearly all their examples. The expansive future is our arena, and for our history. We are entering on its untrodden space, with the truths of God in our minds, beneficent objects in our hearts, and with a clear conscience unsullied by the past. We are the nation of human progress, and who will, what can, set limits to our onward march? Providence is with us, and no earthly power can."
— John L. O'Sullivan, "The Great Nation of Futurity," 1839

Which of the following historical developments was most directly justified by the ideas expressed in the excerpt?

  1. A
    The establishment of mercantilist trade restrictions to enrich the federal treasury
  2. The territorial expansion of the United States toward the Pacific OceanAnswer
  3. C
    The formation of a permanent defensive military alliance with Latin American republics
  4. D
    The containment of foreign political systems through overseas military intervention

Answer

The territorial expansion of the United States toward the Pacific Ocean
The correct answer is correct because John L. O'Sullivan's essay outlines the core tenets of Manifest Destiny: the belief that the United States possessed a unique moral mission to spread its democratic institutions, and that its expansion across the continent was guided and sanctioned by divine providence. This ideology was directly used to justify the annexation of Texas, the settlement of the Oregon Territory, and the acquisition of California and New Mexico.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus document to identify its core argument.
The author argues that the United States has a divine mission ('Providence is with us') and is destined to move forward ('our onward march') into the 'expansive future' and 'untrod space' without limits.
Understanding the source is necessary to link it to the correct mid-nineteenth-century development.
2
Connect the identified argument to the historical context of the mid-1800s.
The belief in a divine mission to expand territory is the defining characteristic of the ideology of Manifest Destiny.
This links the intellectual ideas of the era to actual historical events and trends.
3
Evaluate the choices to find which development represents this ideology.
The option concerning the territorial expansion toward the Pacific Ocean directly matches the ideology of continental expansion described in the text.
This identifies the correct answer by matching the concept of Manifest Destiny to the correct historical action.

Key Concept

Manifest Destiny and its role in justifying US continental expansion during the 1840s.
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Manifest Destiny and Westward Expansion

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