Manifest Destiny, the Closure of the Frontier, and the Price of Progress Discussion Goals To define Manifest Destiny and understand its relationship to American Exceptionalism. To discuss ideas, images, and the “closure” of the frontier and the American West. To understand the high price all Americans paid for the “progressive” federal policies related to Manifest Destiny throughout the 19th Century. 1

Manifest Destiny, the Closure of the Frontier, and the Price of Progress WHAT DO YOU SEE IN THIS FAMOUS PAINTING BY John Gast, 1872 “American Progress?” Symbolic representation of Liberty - freedom floating through the sky, brave pioneers coming across by stagecoach and train, bear, buffalo, Indians pushed away by farmers, settlers, cowboys, wagons, railroad trains. LET’S SEE HOW THIS IDEALIZED VERSION OF PROGRESS COMPARES WITH THE ACTUAL DEFINITION OF MANIFEST DESTINY… 2

What is “Manifest Destiny”? The belief that Americans had the God-given right to expand westward, to spread democracy, and to conquer anything and anyone as they marched across the North American continent. The image is Albert Bierstadt’s painting of the Rocky Mountains in 1863. The period of manifest destiny began at the turn of the 19th Century as Americans began to cut a small pathway into the American west. It grew to a tremendous march in the years after gold was discovered in California in 1848. The march of westward expansion really didn't slow down until 1890 when the federal government declared after the census that a "frontier of settlement" no longer existed: the country's "unsettled area has been so broken into that there can hardly be said to be a frontier line." (as quoted in Henretta, et. al, America, 448.) This term - Manifest Destiny - is not only essential for us to understand as we begin our discussion of American History from 1877 to 1987, but it is also important because it is the heart of one of our course themes - Manifest Destiny defines our approach to foreign policy. As our discussion continues over the next few days, please keep this theme in mind. This painting is but one of hundreds that were painted during the 19th Century that gave visual “proof” to the idea of Manifest Destiny - an empty continent just waiting for Anglo-Americans to settle it. 3

Such destiny was dependent upon obtaining the land - land that was settled and occupied by many people. The people living in the western part of North America were Mexicans – this is a portrait of General Santa Anna, fur trappers of French, English, Dutch, German, and American descent, Chinese workers, and American Indians. Photo, 1836 - General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Source: http://old-photos.blogspot.com/2008/04/general-antonio-lopez-de-santa-anna.html ”Chinese Chinese Life in San Francisco,” 1850. Source: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?cic:18:./temp/~ammem_GP9l:: “An emigrant train attacked by hostile Indians on the prairie.” Wood engraving by Nichols in Ballou's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, Aug. 15, 1857, at http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/picamer/paExWest.html “Fur-traders on the Missouri attacked by Indians.” Wood engraving in “Harper's Weekly”, May 23, 1868. Big Mouth Spring at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Big_Mouth_Spring.jpg 4

How, then, did the Anglo- Americans obtain the land? Purchase Diplomacy War Appropriation 5

Obtaining the Land - Phase 1 War 1 - the 13 colonies become the original 13 states after the Declaration of Independence. When - 1776 6

Obtaining the Land - Phase 2 War 2 - Western Lands gained from Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris after the Revolutionary War. 2 1 When - 1783 7

Obtaining the Land - Phase 3 Purchase 3 - Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson wanted the port of New Orleans and got all of Louisiana instead 3 1 2 B A The small piece of land in the northeastern part of the Louisiana Purchase was known as the Red River Cession of 1818. Located in the The Red River Valley - it encompasses part of current day North Dakota and Minnesota. It was the result of a diplomatic negotiation - the Treaty of 1818 - signed between the United States and Great Britain that resolved standing boundary issues between the two nations, and set the boundary at the 49th parallel. When - 1803 8

Obtaining the Land - Phase 4 War/Purchase 4 - Florida sold to U.S. by Spain for $5 million after Andrew Jackson invaded. 3 1 C 2 A B B A When - 1819 4 9

Obtaining the Land - Phase 5 Appropriation 5 - Texas annexed to the United States, despite Mexico’s refusal to accept the annexation, during the Polk Administration. 3 1 C 2 2 A 3 1 B B A 5 4 4 When: 1845 10

Obtaining the Land - Phase 6 Diplomacy 6 - Oregon - claimed by both U.S. and Britain - and becomes part of U.S. via a compromise at the 49 parallel. 6 3 1 C 3 2 2 2 A 1 3 1 B B A 5 5 4 4 4 When - 1846 11

Obtaining the Land - Phase 7 War 7 - Mexican Cession after the Mexican American War and signing the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. 6 6 3 1 C 3 3 2 2 2 2 A 1 3 1 1 B B A 7 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 When - 1848 12

Obtaining the Land - Phase 8 Diplomacy 8 - Gadsden Purchase bought from Mexico for the southern hope of completing a transcontinental railroad line to California 6 6 3 1 C 3 3 2 2 2 2 A 1 3 1 1 B B A 7 5 5 5 8 4 4 4 4 When - 1853 13