Why were the early months of World War II referred to as the “phony war”?

The idea of manifest destiny simply stated it was america's destiny to expand from the atlantic ocean to the pacific. the word "destiny" implies an idea that it was within our rights as a nation to expand. in a paragraph of 125+ words, explain what could be wrong with that idea.

An educated member of the government

In a brief paragraph, use information from the lesson to explain the united states' foreign policy after the spanish-american war.