<P> The origin of the first theme, later known as American Exceptionalism, was often traced to America's Puritan heritage, particularly John Winthrop's famous "City upon a Hill" sermon of 1630, in which he called for the establishment of a virtuous community that would be a shining example to the Old World . In his influential 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, Thomas Paine echoed this notion, arguing that the American Revolution provided an opportunity to create a new, better society: </P> <P> We have it in our power to begin the world over again . A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now . The birthday of a new world is at hand...</P> <P> Many Americans agreed with Paine, and came to believe that the United States' virtue was a result of its special experiment in freedom and democracy . Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to James Monroe, wrote, "it is impossible not to look forward to distant times when our rapid multiplication will expand itself beyond those limits, and cover the whole northern, if not the southern continent ." To Americans in the decades that followed their proclaimed freedom for mankind, embodied in the Declaration of Independence, could only be described as the inauguration of "a new time scale" because the world would look back and define history as events that took place before, and after, the Declaration of Independence . It followed that Americans owed to the world an obligation to expand and preserve these beliefs . </P> <P> The second theme's origination is less precise . A popular expression of America's mission was elaborated by President Abraham Lincoln's description in his December 1, 1862, message to Congress . He described the United States as "the last, best hope of Earth". The "mission" of the United States was further elaborated during Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, in which he interpreted the Civil War as a struggle to determine if any nation with democratic ideals could survive; this has been called by historian Robert Johannsen "the most enduring statement of America's Manifest Destiny and mission". </P>

Manifest destiny was used as a justification for us expansion into