American Progress John Gast

John Gast’s painting titled American Progress perfectly portrays the idea of manifest destiny that was engulfing the minds of Americans. In the right side of the painting you see western influence with the boats, a bridge in the distance, and trains with little or no track in front of them allowing the mind to think they are pushing west. In the middle of the landscape are horses, buggies, covered wagons, showing a slight increase in modernity compared to what is to the far left of the painting, the Indians, savages. Gast also places that of western influence in the light and the old primitive way on the dark. This is not coincidence, the idea that primitive behavior is improper and in the dark of what it could be is precisely what Gast wanted to present. You also see in bottom left corner an animal showing its teeth, another signal of the danger that the move west is. What is probably noticed first is the woman in the center of the painting. The angel is the guiding

There was a motion to uphold the 1846 Wilmot Proviso in regard to the new western territories. The proviso required any territory acquired from Mexico after the Mexican American war free territory. The motion created much agitation among southern House members and the motion ultimately failed and the fate of California and New Mexico was given to president elect Zachary Taylor to decide, slave or free. At this time, another anti-slavery group came out of the woodwork that advocated for “free soil.” This group was made up of primarily Northerners who opposed the expansion of slavery into the Western territories. Congress pushed popular sovereignty as law in the Compromise of which meant any new state could be either slave or free. Which enraged southern states, which thought with an unbalanced voice in the house, slavery would inevitably be abolished, even though the free soil advocates refuted that they intended