American Progress
1872 (John Gast)
American Progress, John Gast (1872)
• Symbolizes the spirit of America’s westward
expansion
• What does Gast’s use of light and darkness symbolize
• Themes
• America’s far reaching future
• Freedom of trade and business
• America’s high destiny and
salvation for mankind
“Manifest Destiny”
December 27, 1845 –John O’Sullivan in the
New York Morning News
“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.”
Opposition to “Manifest Destiny”
January 3, 1846 - Whig Representative
Robert Winthrop ridiculed the concept
in Congress.
"I suppose the right of a
manifest destiny to spread
will not be admitted to exist
in any nation except the
universal Yankee nation".
Map of U.S. Expansion to 1853
Ceded by Britain, 1818
Canada
Oregon
Territory,
1846
Louisiana
Purchase,
1803
Mexican
Cession,
1848
Pacific
Ocean
Gadsden
Purchase,
1853
America, 1783
Atlantic
Ocean
Texas
Annexation,
1845
Adams-Onis
Treaty, 1821
Gulf of
Mexico
Louisiana Purchase 1803
• Land purchase made by Thomas
Jefferson that doubled the size of
the United States.
• The land was purchased from
France.
• Controversial decision by
Jefferson in terms of executive
power and the Constitution.
Adams-Onis Treaty
1821
•An agreement with Spain that resulted
in Spain selling all of Florida to the
United States.
Texas Annexation - 1845
• After Texas declared independence from
Mexico in 1836, they became The Lone Star
Republic.
• In 1844, Texas was annexed by the United
States due to settlement in this area.
• It became a state in 1845.
Map of U.S. Expansion to 1853
Ceded by Britain, 1818
Canada
Oregon
Territory,
1846
Louisiana
Purchase,
1803
Mexican
Cession,
1848
Pacific
Ocean
Gadsden
Purchase,
1853
America, 1783
Atlantic
Ocean
Texas
Annexation,
1845
Adams-Onis
Treaty, 1821
Gulf of
Mexico
Oregon territory
1846
• This area was first settled by mountain men
seeking profits from fur trade.
• Eventually Britain and the United States
decided to split this land at 49 degrees North
latitude.
Mexican cession
1848
• Land Mexico was forced to cede to the United
States following the Mexican War.
• The United States paid for this land that resulted in
the formation of new western states.
Gadsden Purchase
1853
•This purchase from Mexico allowed for
the completion of the transcontinental
railroad.
Mormon Trail
•A trail that
carried the
Mormon
religious
migration to the
Great Salt Lake
region.
Oregon Trail
•A 2,000 mile trail
that stretched
across the Great
Plains and brought
millions of people
to the west.
California trail
• A branch of the
Oregon Trail that
crossed the Sierra
Nevada mountains and
opened settlement in
California (the Bear
Flag Republic).
Santa Fe trail
•A major trade route
leading south that
started in
Independence, MO.
It appealed to profitseeking traders.