-1630 John Winthrop’s City Upon A Hill speech (Massachusetts) states that “wee shall finde that the God of Israell is among us” echoing what Herman Melville would say years later about Manifest Destiny
-1689 English philosopher John Locke writes Of Property stating that God wants land to be put to use and made beautiful, and if land is idle or underused, then a person can cultivate it and thereby own it
-Washington, Hamilton, and Jefferson-all envision extending our country to the Pacific Ocean
-The Proclamation of 1763-Great Britain wants the U.S. to not cross the Appalachian Mountains, this proclamation feeds the spirit of American Revolution
-1803 Louisiana Purchase-almost doubles the land of the U.S.
-1830’s Native Americans are removed from the Eastern States to west of the Mississippi River
-1845 John O’Sullivan coins the phrase “Manifest Destiny”-meaning obvious fate with Providence: “under the protective care of God” the U.S. will settle the west
-1846 Wilmot Proviso is unsuccessful in forbidding slavery in land acquired by war with Mexico, this highlights the ongoing political tension over slavery
-1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War increasing the size of the U.S. by a third, into all or parts of CA, NM, AZ, NV, WY, CO, TX
-1893 Frontier Thesis by Frederick Jackson Turner declares the frontier is closed
-U.S. continues to look for opportunities to expand with turn of the century imperialism in Hawaii, Philippines, Panama Canal, and Puerto Rico
-U.S. looks to spread Democracy/Capitalism in the 20th Century
-Space Colonization and the Final Frontier, ideas of Stephen Hawking and others
Daniel W. Polk 