John Gast's Painting, American Progess, Shows Human Progress Requires Sacrifice, Suffering, and Struggle

“The Indian presence precipitated the formation of an American identity” (Axtell 992). Ostracized by numerous citizens of the United States today, this quote epitomizes Axtell’s beliefs of the Indians contributing to our society. Unfortunately, Native Americans’ roles in history are often categorized as insignificant or trivial, when in actuality the Indians contributed greatly to Colonial America, in ways the ordinary person would have never deliberated. James Axtell discusses these ways, as well as what Colonial America may have looked like without the Indians’ presence. Throughout his article, his thesis stands clear by his persistence of alteration the Native Americans had on our nation. James Axtell’s bias delightfully enhances his thesis, he provides a copious amount of evidence establishing how Native Americans contributed critically to the Colonial culture, and he considers America as exceptional – largely due to the Native Americans.

“There were scores of Indian tribes living across Louisiana, but, given their lack of effective political organization, their inability to combine forces into an alliance, their utter dependence on whites for rifles, and the experience of Americans east of the Appalachians in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and in Kentucky and Ohio in the 1790s, it could be taken for granted that the conquest of the Indian tribes would be bloody, costly, time-consuming, but certain.” The Indians’ government was no match for our government. We were and still are so far ahead of them when it came to politics, we needed to keep things in order by our government being in charge. In order for the westward expansion to be effective we needed to be in charge and take control of the land.

Faragher, Buhle, Cziyron and Armitage ( 2010) note the westward development into the new territories of the United States usually took place in three stages; trade, settlement and statehood. The speed at which this expansion occurred reinforced America's sense of themselves as a pioneering people. This experience worked to create a belief that the United States was a nation of adventurous, optimistic, and democratic people (p. 357).

“Here, at last, we begin to appreciate the enormity of the calamity, for the disintegration of native America was a loss not just to those societies but to the human enterprise as a whole. . . . The Americas were a boundless sea of novel ideas, dreams, stories, philosophies, religions, moralities, discoveries, and all the other products of the mind”(137).

The painting by Robert Lindneux is titled “Trail of Tears”, and illustrates the migration that many Native Americans were forced to undertake from their homelands to the West in the winter of the early 1830’s (Doc 4). Because the Indians are pitifully portrayed as miserable, poor, and cold, one can assume the point of view of this painting is from an artist who had a negative perception of the removal of Indians from their homelands and the Trail of Tears. The intended audience was the general public, though there was a limited purpose: the trail of tears had occurred almost a century before the painting was finished in 1942, so there was no active purpose for Robert Lindneux in displaying the painting besides attempting to lament the event and perhaps draw sympathy from the US citizens now on the Indians’ land. Even though the Cherokees had a right to their lands, as ruled by Cherokee Nation v. Georgia in 1831, Jackson refused to enforce the decision and opted to expel the Cherokees from Georgia.

The Europeans had became greedy and selfish. They had become reliant on the native Americans to do everything for them. They had made them do necessary tasks that they could have done themselves, but chose not too. They had made them carry them when they didn’t want to walk, feed them, fan them,carry their hammocks,etc. They had become conceited, thinking they were too “royal” to do anything for themselves. They had made the Native Americans slaves and servants to their every bidding no matter the circumstance. They had become puppets to the Europeans and they controlled the Natives and forced them to do whatever they wanted. They had made the Natives lose their dignity and sink so low by making them complete their every request. The Natives had been worn down and degraded to be known as nothing to the Europeans but servants and people who they could call to do something for them. Countless Natives had died because of what the Europeans had brought to them

The Statue of Liberty is one of the most well know symbols of the United States, across the world. For this reason I chose to analyze the dramatic effect it creates, and what methods it implores to invent this "universal" meaning. It is one of the strongest visual representations of the ideals which our country is founded upon. I intend to defend the argument that the Statue of Liberty posses the power of persuading human thought using the terms encompassed in Kenneth Burke's Pentad, shaping the definition of "America" for people through out the world.

At first glance, the painting above may seem very odd. There is a woman flying above what appears to be settlers on the open plains. However, after examining this image closely it begins to make more sense. The title of this painting is American Progress by John Gast. The title of this painting goes along with the painting itself very well as this painting depicts American progress.

Although “historians no longer use the word “discovery” to describe the European exploration, conquest and colonization of a hemisphere already home to millions of people”, it was one of the greatest and most important discoveries ever in our history that changed the lives of millions of people. (Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty: An American History (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008), pg 1.) For some the “discovery”of America would mean an opportunity for a better life, for others the “discovery” brought misery and death.

history focuses on the conquest of new land through westward expansion and global imperialism. Starting with the roots of frontier and building up into a huge network of land and territory evokes a common and national goal among the American people during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Frontier and expansion of the great west allowed for the United States to gain power and work its way up to bigger and better: the world. With so much land to acquire and such a desire to conquer, the United States was able to build its coveted empire, but only with a certain cost. The damages and death brought about by westward expansion and imperialism greatly outweigh the benefits. The United States grew rapidly and was able to spread its culture like wildfire but the territories and nations that were to be civilized were damaged victims. Culture was destroyed and the United States’ reputation was tarnished during this time period. Growing discontent in the county continued to escalate throughout the twentieth century and our country wasn’t united and failed to share a national

The “discovery” of America was one that introduced a colonial discourse in Europe, which would shape the relationship between the Europeans of the Old World and the indigenous people of the New World. Exoticism, anxiety, and absurd speculation would fuel the European knowledge of the Americas during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The drawing titled America by Jan Van der Straet, is a classic example of how Europeans used outlandish notions about indigenous Americans to distance themselves from these natives and thus, establish European superiority. Ultimately, Jan van der Straet’s image supports and justifies European colonialism by depicting the indigenous people as savage, primordial and in need of the paternal guidance of the

(Del Castillo 4) Americans believed they “were the ‘pioneers of the continent,’ who would inevitably spread the benefits of democracy and freedom to the lesser peoples inhabiting the region”(Del Castillo 4).

The main protagonist of this painting is the goddess-like figure in the middle. She represents Lady Liberty, a figure who is a symbol of knowledge and enlightenment. According to George Crofutt, the commissioner for “American Progress”, she is carrying “a school book, testimonial of the National Enlightenment”, further proving that she is the symbol of enlightenment. With her, she drags a telephone wire, which Crofutt claims “will bind the nation.” By using the term “bind”, this statement has two completely different connotations. The one Crofutt intended for his use was that the nation would be unified and connected to one another. It symbolizes the new technological developments

During the end of the nineteenth century, the United States had formed policies which reduced land allotted to Native Americans. By enforcing these laws as well as Anglo-American ideals, the United States compromised indigenous people’s culture and ability to thrive in its society.

“My people are few. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain...There was a time when our people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long since passed away with the greatness of tribes that are now but a mournful memory.,” Chief Seattle Speech of 1854. The culture of the Native American people has been deteriorating ever since the Europeans arrived in the Americas. The impactful and immense loss of lifestyle that they faced is one that can never be recovered, what the United States has given them are generations of trauma and blatant suffering. However, the U.S. did not stop there, a multitude of cultures have been broken to help keep America pure. For instance, one of the most significant cultures that have been dismantled by the U.S. other than the Natives and their music were the languages and music of the African slaves. The apparent likeness of these two cultures in the ways in which their deconstruction impacted them is in more of an abundance, such as the dominating influence of the Christian religion and the gravely vital role of maintaining what little heritage they could through language. In contrast to this, the two groups had an opposing difference pertaining to how the Natives and slaves tried to compensate the immense loss of their culture through the generations.