Answer:
Manifest Destiny was a widely held belief in the 19th century United States that it was the nation's destiny and divine right to expand its territory and influence across the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The idea was rooted in the belief that American institutions and values were superior and needed to be spread throughout the continent to promote democracy, freedom, and prosperity.
Westward expansion led to conflict between northerners and southerners in the United States, primarily due to the issue of slavery. As the United States expanded westward, there was a debate over whether new states should be free or slave states. Northerners, who opposed slavery, wanted new states to be free states, while southerners, who relied on slavery for their economy, wanted new states to be slave states.
This conflict came to a head with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, which allowed new states to decide whether they would allow slavery or not through a popular vote. This led to a violent struggle in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces, known as "Bleeding Kansas."
The conflict over westward expansion and slavery ultimately contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, as the southern states seceded from the Union in an effort to protect their right to own slaves. The concept of Manifest Destiny, while promoting westward expansion and American exceptionalism, also highlighted the deep divide over the issue of slavery and contributed to the sectional tensions that led to the Civil War.