Propounded during the second half of the 19th century, the concept of Manifest Destiny held that it was the divinely ordained right of the United States to expand its borders to the Pacific Ocean and beyond.
The ultimate destination for much of the silver produced in the Americas and Japan was China. Silver from the Americas flowed mostly across the Atlantic and made its way to the Far East. A popular route was around the Cape of Good Hope into the east, and sometimes it came over land.
