DK - The American Civil War

PIONEERS GAZE IN AWE AT THE NEW WORLD
In his iconic painting, Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way
(1861), Emanuel Leutze promoted the idea of Manifest Destiny—
a 19th-century notion that encouraged westward expansion to the
Pacific Ocean. Occupying the New World was perceived by many
European Americans to be a democratic right and people journeyed
west in search of a better life, urged by the journalist John L.
O’Sullivan to “overspread the continent allotted by Providence.”