What is an allegory ?

1. What is an allegory? the use of characters, pictures, symbols or events to represent ideas or principles in a story

2. Example: The Wizard of OzStory about the Progressive Era – late 1800’s early 1900’s • Wizard • Dorothy • Tinman • Yellow brick road • Witches • President • common man • industrial worker • gold standard • natural disasters and bankers and capitalists

4. Allegorical Painting Symbolism Railroads and telegraph wires – innovation/technology Everything is moving east to west – western expansion Diversity – train, Oregon Trail wagon train, mail stagecoach, farmers, miners, industrialized society, settlements The woman’s dress may symbolize an angelic figure. It may also be Greek garb (toga) that represents education (also symbolized by the school book she is holding). Light clouds in the east (enlightened and industrialized society) Dark clouds in the west (unknown, negative effects – buffalo and Native Americans)

5. Manifest Destiny Manifest = obvious, embedded into Destiny = future fate, the way it’s going to be What did Americans consider to be their “obvious fate” in the early 1800’s?

6. “…he believed that America had a duty to extend the blessings of democracy to new lands and peoples.” Why does this sound familiar?

8. Louisiana Purchase • In 1803 President Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million. • Doubled the size of the United States and opened up the west for settlement.

9. Lewis and Clark • William Clark and Meriwether Lewis led an expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory (1804-06). • The explorers drew maps, established relations with natives and brought back information about plant and animal life that would encourage western settlement. Sacagewea was a famous native that helped them travel and survive.

10. Trail of Tears • The forced removal of thousands of Cherokee by the US government to what is now known as Oklahoma from 1838-39. • The removal resulted from the desire of Americans to expand west and search for gold on Cherokee land.

11. Oregon Trail • Thousands of settlers would move across the Oregon Trail beginning with the Great Migration in 1843. • The trail created a direct and easy route into the northwest.

12. Manifest Destiny • Manifest Destiny is term referring to the “obvious fate” that the United States should expand from the Atlantic to the Pacific. • The phrase gave Americans pride that it was their destiny to expand into the west, spreading their faith, culture, technology, and democracy. It also was used to justify the War with Mexico in the 1840’s.

13. California Gold Rush • When gold was discovered in 1849, thousands of Americans and immigrants “rushed” to the west. • So many people migrated to the region that California became the first state in the west and a land of diversity and economic opportunity.

14. Transcontinental Railroad • In 1862, the Pacific Railroad Act chartered the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad Companies, and tasked them with building a transcontinental railroad that would link the United States from east to west. It took seven years before the two railroads met at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869. • The transportation innovation would increase the number of citizens moving west, spark new land claims, increase the number of trains being built, and influence the transporting of goods and people.

15. School House Rock - Elbow Room http://bit.ly/qtMjq1