Westward Expansion Movement, On Manifest Destiny,

Both Americans’ relationship with the land and their desire to control things that cannot be possessed are prominent themes in all three literary pieces dealing with westward expansion. American Progress, by John Gast, “On Manifest Destiny, 1839,” by John O’Sullivan, and “Reporting to the President, September 23-December 31, 1806,” by Stephen Ambrose are all works regarding American expansion into the newly acquired western lands of the 19th century. Those “newly acquired lands” were a part of the Louisiana Purchase, a deal orchestrated by Thomas Jefferson in 1803 that gave America ownership of the vast western lands. All of the texts portray Westward Expansion after the Louisiana Purchase. American Progress is a painting that portrays the expansion in a positive light, and also shows how settlers made good use of the land despite the diverse geography and weather of the region. “Reporting to the President, September 23-December 31, 1806” is a …show more content…
Manifest Destiny is the belief that the United States was destined to control the whole of North America, from coast to coast. O’Sullivan writes that since America was the nation of the future, the land was there for the Americans to take. He writes that they can use the land to, “manifest to mankind the excellence of divine principles.” O’Sullivan’s idea is based on the future of the country, and the future is a very uncertain thing. Americans that believed in Manifest Destiny wanted to not only control the western lands, but also the future. This concept can be seen when O’Sullivan writes, “The far-reaching, the boundless future will be the era of American greatness.” Theye Americans looked to leave behind the past, and build on their mistakes to make a “great nation of futurity,” but the future cannot be possessed, no matter how much one would like to control