THE US in the 19th

A. CONSTRUCTION OF A NATION

1. EXPANDING WESTWARDS:

MAPS AND CULTURAL REGIONS IN THE U.S.

The Old East: the space was encompassed by the 13 colonies.

Where was the “Midwest” located? territories acquired by the Northwest Ordinance (1787 – English cession of lands).= the region south of the Great Lakes, and north and west of the Ohio River.Also called: NorthWest, MidAmerica, Heartland.

The Great Plains

Vast zones of prairie and steppe (low vegetation).

Approximately 1,300,000 km2. They are about 500 miles large (800 km) - and 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long.

Were the home to American bison herds (troupeaux) until the mid 19th c.

The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state

After Texas's annexation, Mexico broke diplomatic relations with the United States.

While the former Republic of Texas could not enforce its border claims, the United States had the military strength and the political will to do so. President Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor south to the Rio Grande on January 13, 1846. A few months later Mexican troops routed an American cavalry patrol in the disputed area in the Thornton Affair starting the Mexican-American War. The first battles of the war were fought in Texas: the Siege of Fort Texas, Battle of Palo Alto and Battle of Resaca de la Palma. After these decisive victories, the United States invaded Mexican territory ending the fighting in Texas.

2. THE WESTWARD EXPANSION:

FROM ACTORS TO LEGISLATION.

The “Wild West was a political horizon, which both migrants and governments targeted...

Expeditions led by pastors (pastoral communities) and explorers paved the way...

Then the Appropriation Acts...

Expeditions were organized:

Today’s US territory was progressively discovered, by explorers and along trails…

Painting of hunter Daniel Boone passing through the Cumberland Gap (late 18th c).

It is an Appalachian pass between Virginia, Tenessee and Kentucky.

« Lewis & Clark on the Columbia River », Charles Marion Russell, 1863.

The Oregon Trail (1841-69) was initiated by new settlers who were followed by railway companies.

Gold rush.

Oregon Trail South Pass,

Wyoming.

In the years 1840-1859 some 52,000 emigrants trekked to Oregon… but nearly five times that number opted for California or Utah

The Homestead Act : (1862) A United States Federal law.

Every farmer settling to the west, in the Great Plains close to the Rockies, was granted a freehold plot of land of 160 acres (about 65 hectares) ; The candidate had to be at least 21 years of age, and to have built on the section, and lived in for 5 years, a house that was at least 12 by 14 feet (3.6 x 4.3 m) in size.

This law deeply shaped the American territory and farmed lands (squarred units). The family head could buy it for $1.25 per acre ($3/ha) after six months.

The Homestead Act helped create more than 372,000 farms.

3. THE WESTWARD EXPANSION: MYTHS AND CONCEPTS.

The “Wild West”, term that coins different meanings:

- unknown territories westwards = visions of ???

cf. movies : Unforgiven( C. Eastwood), Pale Rider, Wyatt Earp, ...

-space of the wilderness...

Examples? Sites?

The West, or the movement westwards:

The West is a typically American representation of the space: everything that dwells unknown (westwards) is part of the American goal. The West is the area of progress to be made.

This is a space to be conquered.

“We are all Pioneers . Pathfinders on the Trails of Old and New Frontiers”

A pionner spirit and a permanent construction beyond borders.

The Frontier Thesis is the conclusion of Frederick Jackson Turner that the wellsprings of American exceptionalism and vitality have always been the American frontier, the region between urbanized, civilized society and the untamed wilderness.

“Manifest Destiny”?

John Gast, American Progress, 1872.

Concept elaborated in the 19th c. Tended to interpret, rationalize or invent the movement of Expansion westwards.

A continental logic: expansion was “necessary” to reach a “coherent geographical unit, of continental extent” (Ch. Vevier, 1965).

“Manifest Destiny”? Most US historians only refer to this notion as a cultural concept, not as a historical one.

A dynamic vision of History.This territorial extent is the reflect of the interior force of the American population. Growing, immigrating, audacious, turned towards progress # Natives - Mexicans - etc.).

President Monroe: “The greater the expansion, the greater the advantage which the states will derive from it. Extent of territory (...) gives to a nation many of its characteristics. It marks the extent of its resources, of its population, of its physical force. It marks, in short, the difference between a great and a small power”.

Typically American messianism: from the Pilgrim Fathers to the subjugation of Natives, Expansion was the result of God’s will.

= a Destiny, a Providence for this single population, not determined by the race, but by religion and territorial gains.

Intelligent Design in Biology lessons = search for pieces of evidence of God’s action on History, on the daily life.

Protestantism and predestination.

« The whole continent of North America appears to be destined by Divine Providence to be peopled by one nation, speaking one language, professing one general system of religious and political principles, and accustomed to one general tenor of social usages and customs. For the common happiness of them all, for their peace and prosperity, I believe it is indispensable that they should be associated in one federal Union ».

1816 - Charles Robert Leslie painted John Quincy Adams, an early promoter of continentalism.

« Late in life he came to regret his role in helping U.S. slavery to expand, and became a leading opponent of the annexation of Texas ».

Progress of America, 1875, by Domenico Tojetti (1806-1892); Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA.