Page 219 - Family History

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George Ambrose Corgan’s Manifest Destiny

Note: I believe this photograph to be George Ambrose Corgan although I’m not 100% certain.
From Athelene Poulsen’s “Corgan Photo Album” courtesy of Janine Poulsen.

“Manifest Destiny” is a subject briefly presented to fourth-grade students by
their teachers - including Miss Poulsen - my daughter Sarah – now a fourth-
grade teacher herself. Sarah’s three times great grandfather - George Ambrose

Corgan, at the age of just 16, was a
private in the Mexican-American
War and as such a participant in
America’s Manifest Destiny.
“Manifest Destiny” was the belief
that America was “destined” to

expand its territory westward. The
term was coined in 1845 by a
newspaper man and the idea was
touted by then President James Polk.
The painting American Progress

(right) depicts “Manifest Destiny” – the figure Columbia (representing
America) travels westward carrying a schoolbook. Light from the east is

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