During the nineteenth century, manifest destiny was a philosophy with a theological underpinning that was used to rationalize the expansion of the United States into Mexican territory and that included the removal of Native Americans from their lands.20 This belief justified the Anglo-Saxon mission to civilize and expand into these territories in order to establish what was thought to be a superior society because it brought forth the full potential of the land and the people by way of developing political and economic institutions to further liberty and progress. Manifest destiny was
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