“It is beyond question the destiny of our race to spread themselves over the continent of North America.”
—JAMES BUCHANAN
“We need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California. It is Manifest Destiny.”
—WILLIAM MCKINLEY
“I have about the same desire to annex [Dominican Republic] as a gorged boa constrictor might have to swallow a porcupine wrong-end-to.”
—THEODORE ROOSEVELT
“When great nations fear to expand, shrink from expansion, it is because their greatness is coming to an end. Are we, still in the prime of our lusty youth, still at the beginning of our glorious manhood, to sit down among the outworn people, to take our place with the weak and the craven? A thousand times no!”
—THEODORE ROOSEVELT
“I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also.”
—THEODORE ROOSEVELT