Manifest destiny
Also known as: westward expansion
Manifest destiny was the expansionist colonial belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand westward across North America, and that this belief was both obvious ("manifest") and certain ("destiny").
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ideological justification for the use of the trails
This belief in the divinely ordained expansion of the United States across North America provided the cultural impetus for the mass migration along the trails.
ideological driver for wagon migration
The belief in Manifest Destiny encouraged thousands of Americans to use covered wagons to settle the West, viewing it as their divine right and duty.
ideological motivation
The belief that American expansion across the continent was inevitable and divinely ordained fueled the mass migration that utilized the Oregon Trail.
ideological justification for settling the Great Plains
This 19th-century belief provided the cultural impetus for the United States to expand across the Great Plains to the Pacific coast.
Ideological motivation for the characters
The characters' drive to move west and claim land is deeply rooted in the 19th-century belief that American expansion across the continent was inevitable and divinely ordained.