This new Seminar Study surveys the history of U.S. territorial expansion from the end of the American Revolution until 1860.

The book explores the concept of 'manifest destiny' and asks why, if expansion was 'manifest', there was such opposition to almost every expansionist incident. Paying attention to key themes often overlooked - Indian removal and the US government land sales policy, the book looks at both 'foreign' expansion such as the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and the war with Mexico in the 1840s and 'internal' expansion as American settlers moved west .

Finally, the book addresses the most recent historiographical trends in the subject and asks how Americans have dealt with the expansionist legacy.