This era led to a lot of technological innovations and a lot of heartbreak...especially for Native Americans.
For this week's blog, complete the following two activities.
1) Read this brief article about the history of Manifest Destiny.
2) Carefully examine the painting below. The artist was John Gast and the title is American Progress.
For the comment section, write 200 words on how the painting illustrates what you learned from the article about America's westward expansion.
The painting, “American progress” very well represents exactly that, the progress of America moving into more land. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson led the Louisiana Purchase and because of this, it doubled the size of the country within an instant. In 1818 Andrew Jackson moved into Florida to invade the land and make it become part of the US. Around 1848 the Manifest Destiny triumphed over Mexico and gave the United States more land and gave lots of potential, this ended the war. The pictures shows many different forms of moving into other territory. You have the farmers and cattle and then the “business men” and a train, and many different types of people who are moving to the new land. This represents how anyone and everyone was moving. I’ve seen this painting many times, and it always has to do with history and the moving into new land. I think this picture represents the moving into Louisiana Purchase and how ready everyone was to have more land. The women in the middle of the pictures seems to be like the “leader” you could say. It’s like she’s leading the whole crowd of where to go...even though technically they’re headed for water. Which I think this has some sort of foreplay in it because the townsman are headed for the ocean, as what it looks like and that must mean something. (231)
ReplyDeleteIn the painting “American Progress” it shows people moving to new land or where recorders were discovered. This painting relates to Manifest Destiny by how we got a bunch of new land. Some examples of this are purchasing Alaska and the Louisiana Purchase what Thomas Jefferson got with a stroke of a pen. Some of the other ways America expanded were by going to war with people an example of this is when Andrew Jackson went into Florida in 1818 and claimed the land and another way of taking their land was through fierce battle. We also expanded our land by signing treaties/documents with Indian tribes and neighboring lands. Some examples of some treaties we signed and documents are Louisiana Purchase,Transcontinental treaty, and the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The Guadalupe Hidalgo treaty did not only end a war but gave the US 525,000+ miles of land. So in the end Manifest Destiny helped the US grow and gain more people than it has ever had before. So in conclusion Manifest Destiny played a huge part in the US becoming what it has today thanks to the treaty’s we signed to the land we took from Indians and other colonies. (202)
ReplyDeleteThe “Manifest Destiny” defines a period of time where people were expanding in land. Pres. Thomas Jefferson came up with the Louisiana Purchase. This purchase was to expand the size of the land. The painting is a very good representation of the expansion of land. Then in 1818 Andrew Jackson invaded Florida so that America could claim the Pacific. The United States gained more than 525,000 miles of land during this time. These new states were also added: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah. This is after the American Revolution and when everybody was making cotton or “Cotton Kingdom”. After this was the transcontinental treaty which was an accord between the United States and Spain that divide their North American statements. Then the Indians in the Southeast gave up their territories to the Americans and then relocated on the west side of the Mississippi River under the policy of President Andrew Jackson that removed the Indians. These Indians suffered greatly from this policy. One of the hardships is the trail of tears where Indians were being moved on this long road. Indians would get tired,dehydrated, and they would have to stop. If they could not move any farther then they would get killed. A lot of tears were shed because of the deaths that occurred. ( Word count 222)
ReplyDeleteI feel that the manifest destiny was gods plan because of how much it helped expand the world with going out west. The purchase of alaska helped alot with the expansion. John l. O’sullivan, the editor of a magazine, first wrote of the manifest destiny in 1845 but at the time he did not think the words would stand out, the phrase was buried halfway through a paragraph of a long essay in the july-august issue of The United States Magazine. In general, i think that the painting shows that how the expansion to the west was a holy thing that happened mainly because in the painting it shows an angel that looks to be leading settlers west to populate new areas for the better of our great country. The expansion out west definitely involved god because of how much it helped form the united states into what it is today (minus all the hate and slanderous motives from corrupt politicians) but all in all it has turned the US into the most powerful country in the world because we are the main country where the REAL god is worshipped and not any fake gods or idols like many other countries worship.
ReplyDeleteThe “Manifest Destiny” was a huge part in American history, it was a huge part of helping us go out west. Going out west was our goal and I think purchasing Alaska really helped out with that cause. John L. O’sullivan first wrote about this in 1845, but did not think it would be worthy to read. I think the painting definitely explains this very well, considering the angel seems to be leading people out west somewhere. There is aslo many different ways of transportation in this picture, such as wagons, a train, horses, and men walking. This picture also in my opinion shows how God was involved in this, allowing them to find this new land. The men wanted to expand our great country and the way to do that was head out west, they found ways to get there and help our country grow larger. I think originally they were going to try and make the country larger, but also to find new resources of food and place to help their families grow also. They might have needed to find new places for families and opportunities too. Overall I think the Manifest Destiny was a huge event in our history and helped our country grow much larger. (209)
ReplyDeleteManifest Destiny was the idea that white Americans were divinely told to settle the entire continent of North America. This Manifest Destiny inspired the removel or destruction of many of the native Americans. The painting shows an angel or divine being leading the pioneers westward which lead to railroads and trains resulting in more people heading west. It also depicts the native Americans being forced out of their homelands. I also noticed some buffalo running away in the painting. This shows that with the whites taking over the west they also killed an astounding amount of buffalo which many Indian tribes relied on as there main source of life. The Louisiana purchase is an example of Manifest Destiny. President Jefferson doubled the size of the country with this purchase. After this many people naturally begin moving further and further west causing more expansion. With so much new land that America now owned everyone thought that it was god telling them to move west and colonize it. They did, which made America what it is today but with the expansion also came a great loss to the native Americans and some wildlife. I think that with or without Manifest Destiny Americans would have taken over the west anyway, however it would have been better if they could have in a peaceful way. (221)
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ReplyDeleteManifest destiny was a term first used by John .L O’Sullivan. Whom was the editor of “The United States Magazine, and Democratic Review” of which was an organ of sorts for the Democratic Party. At the time, France and England were trying to keep the U.S. from annexing Texas whereas Sullivan used the term first halfway through the third paragraph:”(France and England)for the avowed object of thwarting our policy and hampering our power, limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” Although this was the first time the term was officially used. The term “manifest destiny” simply refers to the concept of the belief that the US expanded its land westward is the people of the US’s God-given destiny. Which is a conceptually clearly rooted In the painting “American Progress.” We can see this through the angelic female moving westward in the direction the US was expanding its territory . Although the significance of manifest destiny lies more so in the divinity of the angelic being more so then the direction it’s heading. As it’s divinity seems to convey a form of Providence explaining that it’s God’s will for the Christians of the US to expand their territory and assimilate their culture. While the angle shows the most significant the ordinal people following after helps put the message into a more human perspective as one can imagine the rough journey of riding in a bumpy wagon for miles on end in search of a better life for all the pilgrims of different backgrounds. I find it really interesting to see how throughout history people use religion in different ways to convey their political agenda , and I really enjoy how this painting accomplished that goal. That is Because it shows a duality of sorts as it portrays a heavenly figure showing the hope of a new land yet the earthly struggle of obtaining it.
In 1803, Thomas Jefferson double the size of the country with the Louisiana purchase. They strongly encourage people to move out west and 1818 Andrew Jackson and booted Florida which is owned by Spain at the time and took over Florida with the transcontinental treaty. The painting American progress represents the development and civilization of in the American west the woman in the middle represents the minors in settlers that travels and move across moved across America from east to west this is very important for American history because it shows how much we have grown and how we continue to in 1803, Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the country with the Louisiana purchase. The strongly encourage people to move out west and 1818 Andrew Jackson invaded Florida which is owned by Spain at the time and took over Florida with the trans continental treaty. The painting American progress represents the development and civilization of the American west the woman in the middle represents the miners and settelers who moved across America from east to west this is very important for American history because it shows how much we have grown and the struggles the American people have gone through. (200j
ReplyDelete“American Progress” shows the large growth that America has made in the last two-hundred years. Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which doubled the size of the United States. In 1818, Andrew Jackson claimed Florida as part as the U.S. which also made the United States grow. The Manifest Destiny in 1848 gave the U.S. even more land. The “American Progress” painting represents the hard work it took to make the United States the country it is today. It also might represent moving into the Louisiana Purchase and the Woman might represent a guardian angel for the people traveling in the picture. America was the first country to ever be founded independently by there own citizens and not by government. The citizens of America had to fight and work hard to make the US their own country that’s what it shows in the painting. The picture really shows how the United Stares settlers stuck together throughout history, and the smoke and the fire-looking stuff in the picture also represent hard work.
ReplyDeleteGast’s, American Progress, shows scenes typical of life in the early 1800’s. We see the distant snow-covered mountain peaks and the fertile valleys before the mountains. When the USA was first formed, only a few pioneers were willing to move west into “Indian Territory” to make a home. Life west of the Mississippi River included hunting, fishing, and cutting down trees to build a house. It also included fighting for your life against the natives and wild animals.This painting tells the story of the westward expansion into the new land by large numbers of ordinary people.The angel-like figure hovering over all of this activity represents different things to different viewers. It might be viewed like the figure-head of an old sailing ship leading the sailors to new lands and adventures. The book held by the figure could be the Constitution of the United States, representing the law moving with the people to the new lands. I think the figure is an Angel of God holding the Holy Bible while watching over the people as they moved west. This is similar to how the Hebrew slaves followed Joshua into the land promised by God. The Hebrews had a Manifest Destiny and so did the first Americans. (207)
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