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America's Westward Expansion
John Gast’s American Progress
Impact of westward expansion on the us
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American Progress was painted by John Gast in 1872. It was produced on commission for George Crofutt - the publisher of a popular series of western travel guides; when manifest destiny was a prevalent belief in the United States. The painting is a secondary source of information, since it was painted by an artist who had never even left Brooklyn, New York. For this reason, the reliability can be questioned. The painting American Progress (1872), shows the beauty of the country’s expansion, along with the peaceful movement of the country spreading west. The contrast between the east, as a light place and the west as dark, shows the hope that is waiting for them. The angelic figure of Lady Liberty, gliding above them showing them the way, with this she brings communication advancement and education. She is an unstoppable force. Just like America’s destiny to expand. The simple Indian travois …show more content…
The native Americans are on the left side of the painting, shown as wild uncivilized groups, that are running away from the whites.It shows that the American expansion was a peaceful movement, evidence of this is shown via the lack of weapons in the pictured scene. Manifest Destiny was the idea that Americans were destined to rule the continent. John Gast justified Manifest Destiny by using symbolism and imagery to show the west as uncivilized and wild, that the Americans must dominate. The perspective he gives on Manifest Destiny was that the west was given to the Americans to settle, but the west belonged to the Native Americans; who had lived there for a thousand of years until the settlers came and took their land. Manifest Destiny is a wrong view of westward expansion, as it justified the conquering of the west and the destruction as a way of life. The reality – the expansion was not peaceful as John Gast shows in his painting, it was full of fighting, killing and
Many Americans packed few belongings and headed west during the middle to the late nineteenth century. It was during this time period that the idea of manifest destiny became rooted in American customs and ideals. Manifest Destiny is the idea that supported and justified expansionist policies, it declared that expansion was both necessary and right. America’s expansionist attitudes were prominent during the debate over the territorial rights of the Oregon territory. America wanted to claim the Oregon territory as its own, but Great Britain would not allow that. Eventually the two nations came to an agreement and a compromise was reached, as seen in document B. The first major party of settlers that traveled to the west settled in Oregon.
One must understand the context in which Custer fought at Little Bighorn. The year was 1876, and the country was growing. The United States had, since the settlement of North America by Europeans in the 16th and 17th centuries, been populated in an east-to-west manner. People generally moved west as the population increased, and resources as well as physical space became sparse in a particular area. People at the time viewed The American West as an area under-utilized by the Indians, and there was a land grab by settlers as the population continued to increase in the East and the South. Additionally, the idea of Manifest Destiny was perhaps at its most fevered point during and after the period following the Civil War. Manifest destiny is the concept of a kind of American Imperialism that holds the belief that Americans are simply destined to occupy the continent of North America, and that they should remake the West into an American agrarian region.
America’s Manifest Destiny first surfaced around the 1840’s, when John O’Sullivan first titled the ideals that America had recently gained on claiming the West as their ‘Manifest Destiny.’ Americans wanted to settle in the West for multiple reasons, from the idea that God wanted them to settle all the way to the West co...
These particular journeys would be featured as a two part series on the victims of manifest destiny. The beginning part of the first episode should discuss the theory of manifest destiny, opening with George Berkeley’s “Verses on the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America.” The last two lines of the poem should be emphasized as it discusses “…Westward the course of empire takes its way. The first four Acts already past, a fifth shall close the Drama with the day; time 's noblest offspring is the last.” This particular poem inspired Americans to claim land westward, as well as different painters to depict such action such as: Thomas Cole and Emmanuel Leutze. Leutze painted a picture with the title “Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way.” This poem also depicts America as the last great civilization. It also reflects the ideas of the people during this time period. This idea Americans starting to move westward was depicted in the painting by Leutze. The painting ...
The term “Manifest Destiny” was never actually used until 1845, but the idea was always implied from the Doctrine of Discovery. Without understanding the Doctrine, it is impossible to understand the reasons and fundamentals behind why Manifest Destiny began.This Doctrine was a set of ten steps and rules that European nations followed in order to avoid conflict over land holdings, created in the early 1400s. The first few steps give the discovering country full rights to buy the land from the native peoples. This is important, since it gave the discovering country the power of preemption. Conquered Indian peoples lose sovereign powers and the rights to free trade and diplomatic relations, and the land they occupy is said to be vacant. Religion played a massive role in the regulations of the Doctrine, since “non-Christian people were not deemed to have the same rights to land, sovereignty, and self determination as Christians”(Miller 4). These rules were all meant to favor the ethnocentric, with full understanding of the repercussions on those who lived in the places being conquered.
Manifest Destiny was the motivating force behind the rapid expansion of America into the West. This ideal was highly sponsored by posters, newspapers, and various other methods of communication. Propaganda is and is still an incredibly common way to spread an idea to the masses. Though Manifest Destiny was not an official government policy, it led to the passing of the Homestead Act. The Homestead Act gave applicants freehold titles of undeveloped land outside of the original thirteen colonies.
Manifest Destiny was the idea that it was the United States’ destiny to take over all of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Most of the public was in favor of territorial expansion, though some politicians felt it contradicted the constitution.
The Manifest Destiny was a progressive movement starting in the 1840's. John O'Sullivan, a democratic leader, named the movement in 1845. Manifest Destiny meant that westward expansion was America's destiny. The land that was added to the U.S. after 1840 (the start of Manifest Destiny) includes The Texas Annexation (1845), The Oregon Country (1846), The Mexican Cession (1848), The Gadsden Purchase (1853), Alaska (1867), and Hawaii (1898). Although this movement would take several years to complete, things started changing before we knew it.
In 1845, a fellow named John C. Calhoun coined the term "Manifest Destiny." The term Manifest Destiny was a slogan for westward expansion during the 1840's. In the west there was plenty of land, national security, the spread of democracy, urbanization, but there was also poverty out west. People moved out west in search for a new life such as a new beginning. Moving out west, settlers from the east were taking a risk of a lot of things. The climate was different and there were more cultures that lived out west because of how much land was available.
Approaching the mid-1800’s, a movement coined as “Manifest Destiny” took over the American nation. Manifest Destiny was the overall idea that Americans had the “divine right” to expand towards the west. Many reasons were considered when talking about settling west, reasons such as cheap land, economic growth, and job opportunities, etc. Americans wanted to expand the national territory from ocean to ocean and express their superiority. Overall, the purpose of Manifest Destiny was to spread American values and expand the geographical borders of the nation.
The United States, as a young nation, had the desire to expand westward and become a true continental United States that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Various factors, strategic and economic, contributed to the desire to expand westward. According to John O’Sullivan, as cited by Hestedt in Manifest Destiny 2004; "the U.S. had manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence to the free development of our yearly multiplying millions" (¶2). As Americans ventured westward to settle the frontier, their inherent superior beliefs, culture and the principles of democracy accompanied them. America’s ruthless ambition to fulfill its manifest destiny had a profound impact on the nation’s economy, social systems and foreign and domestic policies; westward expansion was a tumultuous period in American History that included periods of conflict with the Native Americans and Hispanics and increased in sectionalism that created the backdrop for the Civil War.
John Gast’s painting titled American Progress perfectly portrays the idea of manifest destiny that engulfed the minds of Americans. Portrayed in the right side of the painting is indubitable western influence with boats, a bridge in the distance, and trains with little or no track in front of them which allows the mind to conclude the newcomers are pushing west. In the middle of the landscape are horses, buggies, and covered wagons, showing a slight increase in modernity compared to what is shown in the far left of the painting, Indians or better known by 18th and 19th century Europeans as savages. Gast also places the portrayal of western influence in the light portion of the piece, and the old primitive way of live portrayed by savages on the dark side of the piece. This is not coincidence, primitive behavior was viewed as improper and it needed enlightenment this is precisely what Gast presents in American Progress. In the bottom left corner an animal shows its teeth, which could be a signal of the dangers to moving west. What is probably noticed first however is the woman in the center of the painting. The angel, the guiding light of Manifest Destiny the one who is bringing the light that you see so prominently in the right side of the painting. Manifest Destiny was thought of as God’s call to bring western enlightenment to the west. Those who were enlightened and civilizations created by those who were enlightened were viewed as utopian. However, eleven years before Gast painted American Progress was the start of a war that rattled America. Westward expansion and subsequent acquisition of the west was fought over and the utopian ideal Gast portrays was...
In the late nineteenth century the expansion to the west increased the American culture. Since population was growing they needed to satisfy demands equally for every person. The idea of Manifest Destiny was used as a justification for the expansion and westward movement. Natives Americans were against the thought Americans had about the West. As a result Americans put a number of policies that helped remove the Natives Americans of the West. Americans were trying to destroy the culture Natives had.
The word progress has several different meanings. These definitions played a vital role in American thought. From the initial immigrants to the first government, progress was always on the American mind. Wars were fought on the grounds on progress. The first United States president represented progress. Everything America stands for is based on the progression of its people.
Manifest Destiny! This simple phrase enraptured the United States during the late 1800’s, and came to symbolize an era of westward expansion through numerous powerful entities. The expansion can be inspected though many different contextual lenses, but if examined among the larger histories of the United States, this movement can be classified as one of the most influential developments of the post-Civil War period. While very influential to the larger part of American history, the seemingly barbaric methods that were used conquer the western lands and their peoples took physical and economical forms that proved to be a plague upon the West.