Westward The Course Of Empire Takes Its Way Analysis

Across the Continent: “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way” is a lithograph created by Frances F. Palmer in 1868, during the establishment of the transcontinental railroad. In the painting, the railroad is headed toward the Pacific dividing the land into a booming town of settlers and a rugged wilderness inhabited by the Native Americans. The European settlers are using modern tools to chop down pine trees for lumber to construct the town. Outside the school the children are laughing, playing with dogs and running toward the train to greet the arrivals. There are horses pulling covered wagons across town and cattle left to graze freely on the land. The train tracks go for as far as the eyes can see while the train is traveling further

westward into the horizon. On the other side of the tracks there are only two Native Americans solemnly sitting on horses watching the train steaming along. In the distance there are two more Indians in Birchwood canoes on a twisting river within a land untouched by the white man. On the horizon, the dark clouds are rolling in from the East revealing a dark contrast on the settlers land versus the sunshine on the Natives.
Across the continent: “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way” truly depicts characteristics in defense of expected Western values. The train is often seen in the Wild West as a symbol of expansion for settlers in the frontier making shipping and travel more efficient. Slave laborers, creating an endless highway of locomotives while making the North, South, and East more accessible, laid the endless train tracks. The white man is using axes, saws, and shovels to deforest the land to create buildings for their people to prosper. The people in town are portrayed as hard working and well off while the Natives watch from the distant West as simple people just trying to survive. The settlers are trying to farm the land by having small yards with gardens and cattle to graze the land. The children are attending a traditional school to acquire an education and be children while their parents are working to make money to survive in such barren conditions of the new frontier.