Manifest Destiny & the Image of Westward Expansion

      In short, Manifest Destiny was the belief that America and Americans had a "divine destiny" to settle the lands west of the Mississippi, to tame the Indian and claim the territory for a greater purpose. While there were deep religious, economic, and racial incentives behind westward expansion, we will not investigate this aspect directly. But let us turn our gaze to the images portrayed by pen and paint of this "Manifest Destiny."

John L. O'Sullivan

      The term "Manifest Destiny" was first used and coined by journalist John L. O'Sullivan in 1845 in the Annexation essay in the Democratic Review. In this essay O'Sullivan addressed the issue of the annexation of the Republic of Texas. This first essay attracted little attention. However, months later John O'Sullivan used the famous phrase once again in an essay in the New York Morning News. This essay was directed at the ongoing territorial disputes with Great Britain on Oregon. In this essay O'Sullivan stated, "And that claim is by the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us." It was this essay that spurned the notion of a divine mission of westward expansion.

      Manifest Destiny had a very religious background, suggesting that God himself had blessed the American
people and the American West, calling the American people to settle this divine land and cleanse the territory of the "heathen" Indians. Many of the Puritan ministers and leaders were instrumental in inspiring westward expansion and were some of the first to cross the Mississippi and fulfill their divine mission. Many writers idealized the Great West with stories of heroic explorers, epic battles with Native American, the beauty of the expansive landscape, and great tales of wild game. Likewise, artists answered the Manifest Destiny call with their art.

1848 "Boon's First View of Kentucky" By William Ranney

      The great landscape artists of America painted vast and epic landscapes, portraying the divine nature of the natural landscape. The depictions of nature in these paintings hint at the divinity of nature and the purity of the natural world. These artists also used subtle messages that spoke of environmentalist beliefs and the possible destruction that man may bring to the land. With the divine mission of expansion comes the responsibility to protect it. And though the artists and writers would set free images of the heroic and fantastic West as a playground filled with great opportunity and unfathomable beauty, the reality of the Great West was far from ideal. Travelers would often encounter hostile bandits and Indians, suffer from new diseases, and death was a common occurrence when on out on the trail. While the West was a place of grand beauty, it was also a home to great hardship.

      One of the most famous artistic representations of Manifest Destiny comes from artist John Gast in his 1872 piece American Progress. This piece depicts the idea of Manifest

1872 "American Progress" By John Gast

Destiny as an giant angelic woman leading the way westward with a school book in her arm and a star in her hair, more than a little reminiscient of the Stature of Liberty. The divine woman also carries in her arm a coil of power-lines, laying down the line in her wake followed by a railroad and railcar, symbolizing the right of man to civilize the wild land.

      Another painting that speaks of the Manifest Destiny mission is The Oregon Trail, by Albert Bierstadt. "In the year that marked the completion of the first continental railroad, Bierstadt presented a striking allegory of westward expansion. Drawing on his encounter with German immigrants on their way to Oregon, Bierstadt uses the cliffs, trees, and glowing orange-red sky to suggest the spiritual imperative of the move west. The cattle, oxen, and other livestock, along with the covered wagon, create a nostalgic mood. The teepees in the distance are reminders of the Native American presence, but the overall intent of the image is to suggest the centrality of the whites' pioneer experiences to the national character" (Baym C 8).

1869 "The Oregon Trail" By Albert Bierstadt

      While the Manifest Destiny writers wove tales of brave pioneers exploring the glorious wilderness, the artists of the time were inspiring Americans with their largescale landscape paintings and depictions of adventuring heroes. Both were instrumental in instilling in the American people a drive for westward expansion.