Oregon Trail Pioneers

Ladies and gentleman- I am here today to make an argument on whether or not I feel there should be a monument to pioneers on the Oregon trail. Over the past few days, I have grappled with several questions such as: are these people American heroes? Are they deserving of memorialization forever? Do their strengths, overcome their weaknesses? I searched for answers by reading many letters, journals, and the like, as well as striving to understand what affects the pioneers had on the west. I have studied writings from Andrew Jackson, the president who made it all possible. As you can imagine, after so much research, I became consumed by this topic, and I have come to an answer. I have found myself opposed to the building of a national monument to the pioneers.

The pioneers were mostly normal people who moved across the country in order to find prosperity. This idea of prosperity was spread through several pamphlets and letters, the equivalent of modern day commercials. These pamphlets advertised that the west specifically Oregon …show more content…
That the children of today will learn the importance of hard work to better yourself, and that by building a monument we honor the favorable things that the Pioneers did for America. While I believe that there are favorable things that came from westward expansion, the pioneers could have been just as heroic at home. They could have worked harder for prosperity, instead of taking someone else’s. They could have built a nice life for themselves, without going somewhere where a nice life was promised as free. So why should we build a monument to the pioneers? Why should we honor them, when there are thousands of other historical figures more deserving of recognition? I propose that we think of someone else to build a monument for instead. The faults and the misgivings of the pioneers are too many for them to be immortalized in stone. This cannot happen. Thank you all for