'Manifest Destiny' Peters Out

Manifest destiny, the overriding feeling that an American North America was not only a right, but inevitable, was the rallying cry of American expansion across the continent. But how inevitable was it?

Please 1) engender a scenario where manifest destiny peters out somewhere between the periond immediately before the Lousiana purchase and the acquisition of California, and
2) Speculate as to how North America will look now. Strong Mexico? Super Canada? Native American Nations? :)
 
Easiest first guess would be a tougher Mexico, that hangs onto Texas better. Without that (and assuming the Mexicans can win the first Mexican-American War, which IOTL was not nearly as one-sided an affair as the treaty at its end would suggest) the idea may never become quite so popular in the first place.

Alternately, Anglo-America II: The Empire Strikes Back, where the US loses its claim on Oregon, which (especially when added to the above) would pen the US into the Mississippi basin pretty well.
 
Alternately, an independent Texas - even one which stays independent for only a decade longer - greatly reduces the chances for an invasion of Mexico (after 1850 or so, slave-free state quarrels reduce the chances for annexation). Russia, too, might preemt the Pacific Northwest, especially if, say, Czar Alexander decides to ship a hundred thousand or so serfs to North America to reeinforce Russian claims to the area. (Heck, they got as far as California OTL).

Bruce
 
Manifest destiny, the overriding feeling that an American North America was not only a right, but inevitable, was the rallying cry of American expansion across the continent. But how inevitable was it?

Please 1) engender a scenario where manifest destiny peters out somewhere between the periond immediately before the Lousiana purchase and the acquisition of California, and
2) Speculate as to how North America will look now. Strong Mexico? Super Canada? Native American Nations? :)
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