To expand the territory of the United States across the North American continent.
Some within the movement also believed that the USA was destined by God to spread democracy and capitalism and be a beacon of such noble governance to the whole world. The phrase "manifest destiny" was coined by journalist John O'Sullivan in 1845. Sullivan was one of those who believed that the USA had a "divine destiny to establish on earth the moral dignity and salvation of man," as he put it. People in political office were more often concerned simply with territorial acquisition.