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The timeline can be navigated with the “Scroll Left” and “Scroll Right” buttons or by dragging the pointer to a date on the timeline waveform (located at the bottom of the screen on the desktop version and on the left of the screen on mobile). To filter by a particular topic and see a smaller section of the data, make a selection on the dropdown “Filters” menu or click “Search” to do a keyword search. Hover over the abbreviated filter tags in the blue boxes to see the complete name of the filter, or click a filter to display all the data with this tag. If you want to take a deeper dive into a specific topic by viewing a narrative essay page and a curated timeline, click on “Stories.”

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Settlers travel west by foot, horses, carriages, and train aside mountains and buffalo. In the air, an angel with long hair carries a book.
"American Progress" by John Gast, a painting depicting "Manifest Destiny" (1874).

"Manifest Destiny" solidifies as a narrative advocating for the consolidation of the U.S. empire.

1845

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"American Progress" by John Gast, a painting depicting "Manifest Destiny" (1874).

"Manifest Destiny" becomes the national narrative used to justify the continued violence of the U.S.' ongoing nation-building. It is rooted in the belief that Americans and American institutions are "morally superior," and are therefore "morally obligated" to spread those institutions in order to "free" people in the Western Hemisphere from European monarchies and to uplift “less civilized” societies, such as Native communities and the people of Mexico.