Essay On The Relationship Between Americans And Land

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Recommended: “Manifest Destiny ”, John O’Sullivan

In many works of literature, readers are able to explore the relationship and possession between Americans and land. Stephen Ambrose, John O’Sullivan, and John Gast all display accurate examples of this. The feelings between American settlers and has for undiscovered land are often unfolded in history.

In his painting, American Progress, Gast displays how Americans value the land and possess it. The artwork features American settlers modernizing land towards the west, and taking the land already settled by Native American tribes. This instance shows exactly how American settlers had a true desire to expand upon something that wasn’t really possible to possess in the first place. Territory is an imaginary boundary of land that isn’t possible to actually own. However, Americans stole lands from tribes already inhabiting the area to fulfill Manifest Destiny. These settlers had greedy relationships with new, undiscovered lands. In another piece of literature, “on Manifest Destiny, 1839,” O’Sullivan encourages Americans to expand westward to settle on new lands. He often mentions Manifest Destiny and describes how it is fate for Americans to expand west. In his article he states, “We must onward to the fulfillment of our mission…” This quote explains how it is …show more content…

In his chapter, “Reporting to the President, September 23-December 31, 1806,” Ambrose tells how disappointed Thomas Jefferson was when he discovered the Northwest Passage did not exist. Jefferson sent men to search for lucrative, new lands to be inhabited. This shows how Jefferson was eager for land to make profit off of the passage. The chapter also gives insight to the relationship between Americans and the land by telling the readers how interested in trade and profit settlers were settlers were in trade and profit. Ambrose's chapter clearly depicts the desire for

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