The whole idea started in Europe because people were depressed and had no freedom. One reason to go to the New World was that there weren't any restrictions and they could practice there own religious freedom. "The first act of the freemen was to gather, perhaps in some open space in the woods, in order to elect a committee to decide upon the location of the village." The principles for democracy were laid in the New World for in contrast to Europe and its hierarchic principles, the people collectively made the decisions for example how, where houses built, streets and so on.
The first settlers saw themselves as chosen for the Promised Land now known today as the USA. The idea has its roots in the bible where God guided his folk into the Promised Land Israel out of the captivity of Egypt.
"Displacing ancient Israel as the chosen of God, the founders of American plantations regarded themselves as divinely appointed to increase the kingdom of a Protestant Christ and to further the cause revealed by Deity in the Old Testament and continued in the New World."
So people saw it as God's Will to take land and settle down in the New World. ".a New World paradise where farms could be acquired by mere manual labor; and relieving the pressures of superfluous population became a standard theme in colonial promotion"
But with time, the attitude of Manifest Destiny changed and evolved to mean personal expansion. People interpreted under religious aspects Manifest Destiny as their own expansion. So they thought if people expanded, had more property and were prosperous, God must be on their side.
Therefore I want to show from history to now the results of continental expansion-Manifest Destiny- in the US foreign politics.
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