As with most things American the more likely explanation is we played ourselves
At first, settlers had stuck to the edges of America, leaving the middle untouched, like a frozen pie in a microwave.
But Americans back then weren't the humble, unassuming people they still aren't today.
They believed in something called Manifest Destiny, the belief that all the land belonged to them and that God wanted them to go west and claim it back from the Native Americans he'd put there first by mistake.
As with most things American the more likely explanation is we played ourselves
-Philomena Cunk from Cunk on Earth.
What's the relevance to your quote?