Which term did americans use in the 1800s to describe the idea that the united states should possess the entrie continent?

Manifest Destiny

John O'Sullivan coined the phrase "Manifest Destiny" to describe what he saw as the God-appointed duty of the United States to expand across the North American continent and to lead the world by the example of its values.  O'Sullivan was editor of the Democratic Review and of the New York Morning News when editorials in both publications (in July 1845) put forth arguments for annexing Texas and the Oregon Territory.  US public policy in the years that followed did essentially pursue the sort of territorial goals O'Sullivan had described, even if not always with his same spiritual ideology in mind.

the right answer for the question that is being asked and shown above is that: "their policy of "divide and rule" pitted political groups against each other to keep any one group from becoming too powerful.  " the  participant in european imperialism is being described below is that  their policy of "divide and rule" pitted political groups against each other to keep any one group from becoming too powerful.