Look at the following excerpt, taken from John O’Sullivan’s treatise “Manifest Destiny” (1839).
The American people having derived their origin from many other nations, and the Declaration of National Independence being entirely based on the great principle of human equality, these facts demonstrate at once our disconnected position as regards any other nation; that we have, in reality, but little connection with the past history of any of them, and still less with all antiquity, its glories, or its crimes. On the contrary, our national birth was the beginning of a new history, the formation, and progress of an untried political system, which separates us from the past and connects us with the future only; and so far as regards the entire development of the natural rights of man, in moral, political, and national life, we may confidently assume that our country is destined to be the great nation of futurity...
According to the passage, which of the following describes the destiny of the United States?
Explanation
The passage states that the development of the United States will be separate and different from other nations and the past, so you can eliminate (A). There is no mention of either economy or empire in the passage, so neither (B) nor (C) describes the destiny of the United States. The passage presents a “new history” developing the values of democracy, so (D) is the answer.