Continentalism was an early, loosely defined form of Manifest Destiny, the 'doctrine' that would emerge 25 years later and galvanized the nation's imagination
Continentalism,
a political doctrine that was in vogue in the early 1800s
among expansionist politicians, held that the United State's should
expand its boundaries to the Pacific Ocean. In contrast with
Manifest Destiny, Continentalism was a secular notion whose
advocates believed that the United States would one day spread
south through Mexico and beyond. In the early 1800s,
expanding the nation to the Pacific Ocean was considered very
radical by mainstream citizens and politicians. A generation
later, Manifest Destiny would transform a nation of provincial
outposts into a continental empire.