Is your idea of American identity the same as that of John L. O’Sullivan?

Posted: January 15th, 2014

On the following page you will find an 1845 essay by John L. O’Sullivan, who coined the phrase Manifest Destiny. This piece, written one year before the Mexican War and sixteen years before the Civil War, presents a vision of America that is full of pride, innocence and optimism. At the beginning of the year we told you this course would be about the formation of the American identity. Is your idea of American identity the same as that of John L. O’Sullivan?

Your task is to write an essay in response to O’Sullivan’s piece. Did America live up to his predictions? Use your knowledge of the United States after 1861 to assess O’Sullivan’s vision for the future of America. Draw specific, detailed examples from at least four of the following areas of study:

Civil War
Reconstruction
The Myth of the West
Expansionism
Immigration
Industrialization and Urbanization
The Progressive Era
World War I
The Roaring Twenties
The Great Depression
World War II