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Manifest Destiny was considered a God-given right, that we were destined to expand to the Atlantic Coast of the continent.

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The term Manifest Destiny, was not a common coined term at the time. It wasn't the official term used in the offices or anything like that. It was a phrase coined by a journalist that died before it ever caught wind and gained popularity around the 1890's. His name was John L. O' Sullivan.

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Many people who believed in Western expansion did not even feel it was a success at a time. Lots of controversy followed it. Lots of northerners thought it was code for spreading slavery.

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The Second Great Awakening revived the fervency of religious determination, fueling the idea of Manifest Destiny being a god sanctioned right and inevitability.

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Many people also fled to the West in search of a place where the would not be persecuted for their religion, such as the Mormons.

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The United States believed its mission was to extend the "boundaries of freedom" to others by imparting its idealism and belief in democratic institutions to those who were capable of self-government. It "excluded those people who were perceived as being incapable of self-government," such as Native American people and those of non-European origin.

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Nearly 300,000 people traveled West.

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there were additional forces and political agendas at work. As the population of the original 13 Colonies grew and the U.S. economy developed, the desire and attempts to expand into new land increased. For many colonists, land represented potential income, wealth, self-sufficiency and freedom. Expansion into the western frontiers offered opportunities for self-advancement.

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As America Expanded and began annexing new states the balance between free and slave states was always a prominent necessity. So many states were put on hold until the government could find a solution to possible imbalances.

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The Nationalism of Americans very much led to Westward Expansion by fueling the fire of the entitlement and determination to reach somewhere new and somewhere West.

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Many people traveled West in the search for Gold during the California Gold Rush. They were given the nickname, Forty Niners.

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Expansion required many disputes over land, and purchases for land, such as the Louisiana purchase, or the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo, and then the Annexation of Texas.