Methodist minister George S. Phillips said during the civil war that “Our mission . . . should only be accomplished when the last despot should be dethroned, the last claim of oppression broken, the dignity and equality of redeemed humanity everywhere established, and the American flag . . . should wave over every land and encircle the world with its majesttic folds. Then, and not till then, should the nation have accomplished the purpose for which it was established by the God of heaven.”