Moving West In American Culture

Probably the most significant myth in American culture is that the west lives on in the American imagination. Clint Eastwood has ensured that the American people do not forget how the West was occupied in his western films. In most western movies we see a lonely man moving west, perhaps running away from the law, stopping at the only saloon in a very small town that perhaps has a barber shop, a bank, and a hotel where the prostitutes carry on with their business and on occasion, a gun fight out in the streets. During the last half of the 1800s, this may have been the case with the white settler. This was the American frontiersman who was responsible for developing the west. As he moved westward, he was faced with challenges such as dealing …show more content…
Standing in the way was the Native American tribes. According to the film by Burns (1996), in 1889 two women arrived in the west implementing the Dawes Act of 1887. They were to divide up the lands that Native Americans had occupied long before the white man settled in America. She informed the leaders of the tribes that the people and the government had decided to distribute the lands for individual ownership. One man stood up and said, “We do not want our land cut up in little pieces we have not told you to do it, we are content to be as we are” (Burns, 1996, section: The Outcome of Our Earnest Endeavors). They were told that there was nothing to argue about and that they had not choice that the law was written. Native American Sioux chief Sitting Bull and Geronimo of the Chiricahua Apache would put up a big fight, but would eventually be overran by the white settlers. When the land was finally distributed 30,000 acres were given out to the whites and only 1,500 acres to the Native Americans. All that was left for the Native American were his memories and paintings of what life used to be. Once such painting is one that depicts the Buffalo chase and Encampment Bear’s Heart that was drawn between 1875 and 1878. This was a representation of the hunting scenes, social and religious gatherings (National Museum, …show more content…
The frontier started out in the East coast and represented more of a European society, but as people continued to occupy the West over the years, the nation drew away from its early stages and began to become more American. The Industrial revolution had a major impact with the introduction of modern machinery that made production of goods much faster. The telegraph kept people in touch from coast to coast. Airplanes, trains and automobiles would soon carry people further out and at a faster pace. The white settler would stay and raise his family. The inspiration and dreams of the white settler would start a new life for