Other arguments advanced by Sumner were from a text approved, if not in fact prepared, by Seward. Wrapped snugly in the cloak of Manifest Destiny, these included extending America’s sphere of commerce and settlement on the Pacific coast and widening its base of commerce with China and Japan. It was a good thing that Sumner was not counting on Great Britain as much of a friend, because he went on to argue that “more than the extension of domain is the extension of republican institutions…. The present treaty is a visible step in the occupation of the whole North American continent…. By it we
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