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The phrase Manifest Destiny was first used by the American journalist and diplomat John Louis O'Sullivan, in an editorial supporting the annexation of Texas. The phrase appeared in the July-August 1845 edition of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review. (Encarta) The phrase was later used by expansionists in all political parties to justify the acquisition of California, and the Oregon Territory. By the end of the 19th century the same phrase was being applied to the proposed annexation of various islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Manifest Destiny was what the United States saw when it looked at Asia and the Far East.
Manifest Destiny has no end. It is perpetual and everlasting. Without Manifest Destiny the world would be flat and the earth would be the center of the solar system. Whether divinely ordained or not, expansion is inevitable and without limit. Yes, land is a finite commodity...on earth.
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