O Sullivan's Argument For Westward Expansion Of America?

John Dickinson, who advocated for the ratification of the Constitution in his Letters of Fabius, argued that the states should ratify the document to create a government that promotes happiness and considers examples from history. John Louis O’Sullivan, editor of a prominent periodical in the mid-19th century, argued that America was a new creation that should no longer enslave itself to the ideas passed down from Europe and the Western tradition. While both men looked toward the future of America with hope, O’Sullivan differed from Dickinson because he viewed America as something new that should reject the old, expand, and move forward with the new. O’Sullivan severely departed from Dickinson in his views on the size of the American republic,

He is famous for coining the phrase “Manifest Destiny” concerning the expansion of America. O’Sullivan claims that “the expansive future is our arena, and our history. We are entering on its untrodden space.” Although this is an instance of O’Sullivan describing a form of intellectual expansion, he explains how expansion is applied geographically in various other works in his periodical. He argues that westward expansion is the country's future, agreeing with Thomas Hart Benton and other Jacksonian Democrats. So, while Dickinson advocated against American imperialism, which corrupts the manners of the people, O’Sullivan actively promoted the doctrine of Manifest Destiny which applied American expansion throughout the continent. O’Sullivan’s views on American expansion represent a much more nationalistic view of the American government, while Dickinson heavily advocated for increased states’ rights. Dickinson believed that states played a significant role in the government, referring to them as “confederated states” and claiming that “the government of each state is, and is to be, sovereign and supreme in all matters that relate to each state

However, they also recognized the importance of taking the best parts of their ideas and implementing them more effectively. Because of this, the Constitution that Dickinson defended included many elements taken from parts of Greco-Roman politics. Because O’Sullivan rejected using the past as an example, he opposed what founders like Thomas Jefferson believed when writing foundational American documents. In a letter to Henry Lee, Jefferson wrote about the meaning of the Declaration of Independence and the new American government. He claimed that the Declaration of Independence was “not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of.but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject,” in particular pointing to “Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, &c.” as inspiration. Jefferson did not believe he was creating an entirely new government wholly removed from the influence of all previous thinkers. He recognized each thinker's influence on his writing of the Declaration of Independence. He believed he was simply combining their thoughts and applying them to the American situation in a common-sense