“From sea to shining sea.” This map shows how the Americans came to possess the land that would make up the “great nation” promised to Joseph’s son Manasseh.
The amazing story of American expansion
The United States did not receive the full physical birthright blessings immediately after the Revolution. In fact, those blessings would slowly mature over the next 150 years. While Britain rose to its pinnacle as a prophesied empire throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, America was slowly building the great nation that would fully realize its physical blessings in the mid-20th century. After the Revolution, the United States remained relatively weak. Many believed a republic could not work in a nation as large and diverse as the United States. Indeed, its competing regional interests—mainly the commercial north and the agrarian south—immediately threatened the fledgling nation, and the issue of slavery would increasingly polarize it and ultimately lead to civil war. 88 THE UNITED STATES, BRITAIN AND THE COMMONWEALTH IN PROPHECY