Manifest Destiny was like a big idea in the past that said it was America's destiny, or fate, to stretch and grow all the way from one side of the country to the other, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. People believed it was their job to explore and settle new lands, spreading their way of life. 

It was kind of like a grand adventure where they thought they were making the country better by expanding and bringing their ideas to more places. It led to people moving west, building new towns, and believing in the idea that America was meant to be really big.

Manifest Destiny is the concept of the nation's destiny to expand from coast to coast.  Many believed it was the nation’s “divine right” to expand settlement. 

John Gast American Progress 1872

Important things to note in the painting:

• People/ Groups: 

  • • • Farmers

      • Miners

      • Mountain men

      • Pony express rider

      • Indigenous people

      • Buffalo (including buffalo skeletons)

• Technology: 

  • • • Steamboat

      • Railroads

      • Telegraph

      • Steel plow

• Geography:  

  • • • Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on sides of painting

      • River (possibly Mississippi River) is present.  

      • The Great Plains and Rocky Mountains are in the background.

• Angel: 

  • • • The angel is called Columbia. 

      • She is holding a schoolbook (education) and telegraph wire. 

      • By dressing Columbia as an angel, it shows government and religious support for westward expansion.   

      • Everywhere she has traveled, she has brought light, or civilization, with her.  Where she has not visited, it is dark.