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FAITH, FISH ‘N FUR. Introduction to AMERICAN EXPANSION OLLI 2010. Manifest Destiny. OUTLINE – 1. I. Purpose II. Details III Narratives A. National B. Personal “Proper use of Soil” Imperial competition. Your family stores. PURPOSE. The Gift Outright.
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FAITH, FISH ‘N FUR Introduction to AMERICAN EXPANSION OLLI 2010
OUTLINE – 1 • I. Purpose • II. Details • III Narratives • A. National • B. Personal • “Proper use of Soil” • Imperial competition. • Your family stores.
The Gift Outright • The land was ours before we were the land's.She was our land more than a hundred yearsBefore we were her people. She was oursIn Massachusetts, in Virginia.But we were England's, still colonials,Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,Possessed by what we now no more possessed.Something we were withholding made us weak.Until we found out that it was ourselvesWe were withholding from our land of living,And forthwith found salvation in surrender.Such as we were we gave ourselves outright(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)To the land vaguely realizing westward,But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,Such as she was, such as she would become.
"... The glory of a next Augustan ageOf a power leading from its strength and pride,Of young ambition eager to be tried,Firm in our free beliefs without dismay,In any game the nations want to play.A golden age of poetry and powerOf which this noonday's the beginning hour."
Robert Frost: • To the land vaguely realizing westward,But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
"On the Pulse of Morning" • History, despite its wrenching pain,Cannot be unlived, and if facedWith courage, need not be lived again.
DETAILS And questions. Website. Readings.
THE NARRATIVES One: The American Dream. Two: Manifest Destiny
THE AMERICAN DREAM "The American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.“ James TruslowAdams, 1931
MANIFEST DESTINY Westward the Course of Empire: Manifest Destiny was the 19th century American belief that the United States (often in the ethnically specific form of the "Anglo-Saxon race") was destined to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. It was used by Democrats in the 1840s to justify the war with Mexico; the concept was denounced by Whigs, and fell into disuse after the mid 1850s.
GO WEST YOUNG MAN • Go West, Young Man! • David Chuhran • Horace Greeley is often credited with a famous quote actually made by John B. L. Soule. The quote first appeared as the title to the 1851, Terre Haute Express editorial written by Mr. Soule. Along with being wrongly credited to Mr. Greeley, it has also often been misquoted. It was originally written as: • "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country." • Even though Horace Greeley was not the author of this famous quote, which he partially used in his own 1865 editorial, he was nevertheless an important contributor to history. He launched the New York Tribune in 1841 and used it as a personal platform for advancing his political views. In one of his other more famous editorials, penned during the Civil War and titled, �The Prayer of Twenty Millions�, he demanded slave emancipation earning him a personal reply from Abraham Lincoln in August of 1862. Greeley was a Republican who hired Karl Marx as his European correspondent during the1850�s. He was an advocate of western settlement as well the voice for many social causes including labor rights. • http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_04/chuhran020204.html
Capt John Smith • “Here every man may be master and owner of his ownelabour and land…If he have nothing but his hands, he may…by industrie quickly grow rich.” His message attracted millions of people in the next four centuries.
THE PROPER USE OF THE SOIL Contact between First Nations and Europeans.
Andrew Jackson • In his, Message to Congress on “Indian Removal,” 1830, Jackson said, “What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute, occupied by more than 12,000,000 happy people, and filled with all the blessings of liberty, civilization and religion?”
General George Washington • Addressing the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Continental Congress in Sept of 1783, Washington wrote of how to “dispose of the Land to the best advantage; People the Country progressively,” He continued….
the propriety of purchasing their Lands in preference to attempting to drive them by force of arms out of their Country; which as we have already experienced is like driving the Wild Beasts of the Forest which will return us soon as the pursuit is at an end and fall perhaps on those that are left there; when the gradual extension of our Settlements will as certainly cause the Savage as the Wolf to retire; both being beasts of prey tho' they differ in shape. In a word there is nothing to be obtained by an Indian War but the Soil they live on and this can be had by purchase at less expence, and without that bloodshed, and those distresses which helpless Women and Children are made partakers of in all kinds of disputes with them. Washington to Congress on Indian removal
John Winthrop • Reasons to be Considered for Justifying the Undertakers of the Intended Plantation in New England (1629)
4. The whole earth is the Lord's garden, and he hath given it to the sons of men with a general commission (Gen. i.28) to increase and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it, which was again renewed to Noah; the end is double and natural, that man might enjoy the fruits of the earth and God might have his due glory from the creature. Why then should we stand here striving for places of habitation, etc. (many men spending as much labor and cost to recover or keep sometimes an acre or two of land as would procure them many, and as good or better, in another country), and in the meantime suffer a whole continent as fruitful and convenient for the use of man to lie waste without any improvement? Winthrop’s Fourth Reason
INDIANS DO CULTIVATE THE SOIL!The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center Late summer is when we begin to harvest maize, or corn, our most important crop. Here, a mother and daughter pick ripe ears of maize and put them into a woodsplint pack basket. The mother makes the job easier by using a woven strap called a tumpline across her forehead, so that her hands are free to pick the maize and the basket is always right where she needs it. Women do most of the work in our gardens, but children, teenagers, and elders help. Families and friends pitch in and work together. Harvesting isn't all work, though; it's a time to chat, catch up on news, laugh, and tell stories. It's also an opportunity for adults to teach children all about growing crops.
James Madison1830 • The plea with the best aspect for dispossessing Indians of the lands on which they have lived, is that, by not incorporating their labour and associating fixed improvements with the soil, they have not appropriated it to themselves, nor made the destined use of its capacity for increasing the number and the enjoyments of the human race. But this plea, whatever original force be allowed it, is here repelled by the fact that the Indians are making the very use of that capacity which the plea requires, enforced by the other fact that the claimants themselves, by their counsels, their exhortations, and their effective aids, have promoted that happy change in the condition of the Indians which is now turned against them
GENDER ROLE CONFUSION “only squaws and hedgehogs are made to scratch the ground.” Iroquois man
Women in battle • By late afternoon, a number of squaws had come forward and joined in the affray in their own way. Beating on kettles with sticks and screeching in shrill, harsh voices, they added significantly to the din in an effort to further intimidate and demoralize the Americans. When they happened across dead Americans, most of them already scalped, they took their weapons and goods ands tripped them of their clothing
European Imperial Competition. Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, French & English
Your Family’s Story: "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country."
GENEALOGY • One of the ways participants can be involved is through sharing their families settling, immigrating and west ward movement. There are many genealogy websites. I use the New England Historic and Genealogical Society; the Church of Latter-Day Saints includes a free genealogy program on their website. If you get really into and are ready to pay for data, Ancestry.com is worth checking out. The Allen County Library in Fort Wayne has an excellent collection. The 9th and Vine Hamilton County and Cincinnati Public Library has a great genealogy section. They hold a beginning genealogy program the first Saturday of each month at 10:00 AM.
