States was pre-ordained to expand from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast. The concept was expressed during Colonial times, but the term was coined in the 1840s by a popular magazine which editorialized, "the fulfillment of our manifest destiny...to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions." As the nation grew, it said "by the right of our manifest destiny." [ 30 ] :64 "Manifest destiny" became a rallying cry for expansionists in the Democratic Party in the 1840s as the Tyler and Polk administrations (1841–48) successfully promoted this nationalistic doctrine. However the Whig Party , which represented business and financial interests, stood opposed to Manifest Destiny. Whig leaders such as Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln called for deepening the society through modernization and urbanization instead of simple horizontal expansion. [ 58 ] Starting with the annexation of Texas, the expansionists got the upper hand. John Quincy Adams , an anti-slavery Whig, felt the Texas annexation in 1845 to be "the heaviest calamity that ever befell myself and my country". [ 59 ] Helping settlers move westward were the emigrant "guide books" of the 1840s featuring route information supplied by the fur traders and the Frémont expeditions, and promising fertile farm land beyond the Rockies. [ 60 ] Mexico became independent of Spain in 1821, and took over Spain's northern possessions stretching from Texas to California. Caravans began delivering goods to Mexico's Santa Fe along the Santa Fe Trail , over the