The search for the frontier, expansion into new lands and the dichotomy between the core and periphery has been an aspect of the human condition since the first hunter-gatherers wandered the earth. In modern times, manifest destiny has been seen as an implicitly American phenomenon. There has been very little discussion of how concepts and theories of manifest destiny have affected colonialism and imperialism, specifically French colonialism. This paper will explore how theories of manifest destiny and the American model of its implementation affected the theories of the Saint-Simonians in France and their colonial possession of Algeria. The Saint-Simonians were a product of the rapidly industrializing environment in France. Claude Henri de Rouvroy, commonly referred to as Henri Saint-Simon, was best known for his philosophical writings on how industrialization should reorder society through Christian principles. While Henri Saint-Simon’s writings never became prevalent in French society, many of the adherents to his philosophy occupied influential posts in France and abroad. Saint-Simonians were influential in the conceptional creation of the Suez Canal, the railroad system in the Americas and consequently the railroad system in Algeria. It was this group of expatriate Saint- Simonians who first likened America's westward expansion so France's acquisition of Algeria. Just as California was America's current frontier, Algeria was France's opportunity to experience the growth, financial gains and prosperity that westward expansion had brought America. In the footsteps of the American model, a Saint- Simonian named Michel Chevalier, who lived in Mexico and America studying the railroad system, decided that a railroad would allow for the borders of Algeria to closer to Paris than Washington DC was to California. This paper, will explore the Saint-Simonian’s contribution to the creation of the railroad in Algeria, specifically their work to mimic the American model of manifest destiny, and how this affected their preferred approach to colonization.