Manifest destiny was, at its very best, effective propaganda. At its worst, which was always, it was both a convenient excuse to commit abhorrent violence, and simultaneously a carefully calculated machine designed to ensure that the violence would not stop until its goals were achieved. Just as the Christian God was used by American settlers to justify and perpetuate slavery, it would be used again to justify and perpetuate the westward expansion of Americans as they trampled over the territory of sovereign nations they refused to recognize as sovereign or nations. It is funny, then in a cruel, ironic sort of way, that the term was never intended to be so profound, at least according to Encyclopedia Britannica. It was “coined” by a magazine editor named John O. Sullivan in 1845, who buried the phrase without thinking much of it. Sullivan was actually referring to America’s ‘divine right’ over the country when compared to Europe, not the Native Americans, and so in that way, Manifest Destiny was not initially structured, at least not by its technical creator. But that would not stop what happened next from being coordinated and calculated. Removals, genocides, further removals, and further genocides, all sanctioned by the United States government. There were attempts at diplomacy during this period of history, including treaties, such as the Horse Creek Treaty between the United States and several Indigenous nations, but the true effects of Manifest Destiny remain painfully present to this day. We, America, are the bloody conquers, standing atop land either stolen outright, or through intimidation.