The book ‘Lions of the West’ by Robert Morgan talks about how important historical events shaped America. Morgan’s main claims in this book are accurate and he explains them by sources and stating famous persons who impacted westward expansion. By referring to these persons and sources he is showing a great understanding of the topic. His two claims are that heroes and villains make up the history of western expansion, as well as normal citizens. In the painting ‘American Progress’ by John Gast, you can see farmers in the front and waggons in the back all moving west. Farmers needed more land, because there were more and more immigrants coming from the east. The people needed more space and shelter, so they went deeper into the country. This supports Morgan’s idea of how normal citizens carried on the history of western expansion by moving west for different reasons. Resources often was a reason for people to move west, too. Another example of moving west is described in the text ‘The Way to Rainy Mountain’, by Scott Momaday. The Kiowa people moved land because the buffalo died …show more content…
He is trying to overcome problems like slow transportation and communication and to expand the country over the continent. He is referring to his ‘Empire of Liberty’, stretching from the east to the west coast, with just one political system. He wanted to spread his ‘Liberty’ by westward expansion. But to make this dream a reality you need faster communication and better technology, it was impossible to lead a democracy, which is so big, th that time. Morgan is correct when he’s writing and persuading us with his claim that western expansion was in a few heroes’ minds. It all started in Jefferson’s mind:”[...]he awaited with impatience the day when the continent would be settled by a people governed in similar forms, and by similar
The West is a very big part of American culture, and while the myth of the West is much more enticing than the reality of the west, it is no doubt a very big part of America. We’re constantly growing up playing games surrounded by the West such as cowboys and Indians and we’re watching movies that depict the cowboy to be a romanticized hero who constantly saves dames in saloons and rides off into the sunset. However, the characters of the West weren’t the only things that helped the development of America; many inventions were a part of the development of the West and helped it flourish into a thriving community. Barbed wire, the McCormick reaper and railroads—for example—were a large part of the development in the West—from helping to define claimed land boundaries, agricultural development and competition, and even growth of the West.
There are many ways in which we can view the history of the American West. One view is the popular story of Cowboys and Indians. It is a grand story filled with adventure, excitement and gold. Another perspective is one of the Native Plains Indians and the rich histories that spanned thousands of years before white discovery and settlement. Elliot West’s book, Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers and the Rush to Colorado, offers a view into both of these worlds. West shows how the histories of both nations intertwine, relate and clash all while dealing with complex geological and environmental challenges. West argues that an understanding of the settling of the Great Plains must come from a deeper understanding, a more thorough knowledge of what came before the white settlers; “I came to believe that the dramatic, amusing, appalling, wondrous, despicable and heroic years of the mid-nineteenth century have to be seen to some degree in the context of the 120 centuries before them” .
Frontier in American History is divided in two major parts each with an introduction. The first part claims that the gradual settlement of the west is what forms American History. In the following four paragraphs the frontier is explained in details. The frontier is viewed as a moving belts
The West: From Lewis and Clark and Wounded Knee: The Turbulent Story of the Settling of Frontier America.
In the early nineteenth century, most Northerners and Southerners agreed entirely that Americans should settle Western territories, and that it was God’s plan, or their “manifest destiny.” Northerners and Southerners who moved west were in search of a better life and personal economic gain; were they had failed before in the east, they believed they would do better in the west. The Panic of 1837 was a motivation to head
Thomas Jefferson had a different view on how the government should run over what Thomas Paine felt. I really like how Thomas Paine worded it the best by stating “In order for the colonist to prosper in the long term, the colonies need to be independent.” Paine all so states “by declaring independence, America will be able to ask for help from other countries in its struggle for freedom.” The colonist just needed to break away so they could grow on their own. By the colonists breaking away is how the United States of America was formed.
The way that Jefferson structured The Declaration of Independence made the article extremely influential. Jefferson first starts by sharing his belief that governments and monarchies that do not represent the people. He then goes on to tell the rights that he believes all people should have all over the world. The rights he describes are simple and reasonable. From there his last line of that paragraph is “to prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid World.” Then he starts to describe the injustices done to the colonies by the English crown. His structure works well to persuade people because he does not start immediately accusing the king of all these injustices or with strong languages. Like all good speakers and authors, Jefferson starts off with a lightly worded statement about when a group of people should start a new government. He then transitions to a slightly stronger statement about human rights, and then he goes into his compelling injustices of the king. The injustices that he describes include “He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People. The Declaration of Independence is...
“By 1840 almost 7 million Americans had migrated westward in hopes of securing land and being prosperous” (Westward Expansion Facts. Westward Expansion Facts. N.p., n.d Web. 16 Sept. 2016). This movement is called Western Expansion. The movement brought new beginnings and hope to many northerners and southerners. Western expansion not only affected the lives of many Americans, but the Natives living on the land. Throughout the 1860s to 1890s, the movement West altered the lives of Native Americans forever. Settlers deconstructed the Native Americans land in the mindset to grow their economy. Americans attacked and killed large amounts of Natives for no reasonable reason. Also, in hopes to Americanize the natives, they taught and imposed their
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.
Fredrick Jackson Turner and Reginald Horsman present us with two very different views of American History. Turner views the American period of expansionism across the North American continent as if this were a natural phenomenon. In contrast, Horsman begs us to consider such a perception—very seriously. Where Turner sees something like a sprit of freedom and independence driving the course of American history into the western frontier—and (coincidentally) over the peoples already living there—Horsman reveals how such a view of the American people’s ‘nature’ is constructed, ultimately to justify such expansion.
Frederick Jackson Turner and Patricia Nelson Limerick are two historians that had two different points of views to define the West and its history. The West usually refers to the present-day states of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana ( Patricia Nelson, p.8). The first view put forth by Fredrick Turner in the 1890s explained that the movement of American settlers westward, was a process and “ its a form of society rather than a area” (Turner, p. 2). Less than a century later, New Western Historians analyzed that the West is a place that has diverse people, with diverse ethnicity,
In Rereading America “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”, ideas from an author of A New Guide for Immigrants (Mid-American Frontier) by the name of Peck were used to further stress the significance of the Turner thesis in our world today (Peck 42). In his book, Peck identified three different stages or waves of western civilization. The first stage is sort of the epitome of what is now recognized to be American character: the pioneer or farmer (Peck 43). This was a man who provided for his family by depending on vegetation and hunting. He did not care whether the land he temporarily occupied was in his ownership or not. When the area became too civilized, the pioneer moved on to make new discoveries and left his soil and house for the new wave of immigrants. Thus, introducing the second stage of western civilization. These immigrants purchased the pioneer’s land and created a way of life best described as frugal and simple, consisting of school houses and mills (Peck 44). The third and final stage, labeled as “the men of capital and enterprise”, is when the small villages created by the immigrants became...
The early 17’s to early 18’s, the Rainy Mountain and America was the most part of land that was in the western expansion.Their country was large. We were contented to let things remain as the Great Spirit Chief made them. They had the most. The people in both of the stories are Kiowa Indians and Lewis, Clark. Lewis and Clark was going to the mandan mountains, which was the land to get to the western
Indians had been moved around much earlier than the nineteenth century, but The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was the first legal account. After this act many of the Indians that were east of the Mississippi river were repositioned to the west of the river. Tribes that refused to relocate ended up losing much of their land to European peoples (Sandefur, p.37). Before the Civil War in the U.S. many farmers and their families stayed away from the west due to a lack of rainfall (Nash et al., 2010). Propaganda in newspapers lured Americans and many other immigrants to the west to farm. The abundance of natural grasses in the west drew cattlemen and their families as well.
The Frontier is a prominent symbol of American culture. Although it intimidated the colonists and later Americans, it did not prevent us from spreading. What drove us was the idea of unlimited free land, a sense of unlimited opportunity, optimism, and the shredding restraints. The idea of the frontier was significant in American culture between 1860 and 1893 because it was considered by many to be “the last frontier.” Since the beginning of the European settlements, Westward expansion had always served as an inspiration to those dreaming to start a new life. With the last of the frontier being absorbed into civilization, its importance to the American people rose more than ever. Frederick Jackson Turner said that this closing of the frontier “marks the closing of a great historical movement.” The frontier was first the Atlantic coast, and with that the frontier carried a sense of Europe. As the frontier began to move westward over the years, it became more and more American.