
Political

American Progress
by John Gast (1872)

Geography

People & the Government
 Location
 War
 Landforms
 Treaties
 Human Interaction
 Courts/Laws
 Movement
 Leaders
 Spatial Diffusion
 Citizen participation

Economic

People and Money/Trade
 Money/Labor Systems
 Trade
 Gender and Slaves
 Technology
 Agriculture/Industry
People & Land/Resources

Social

People & People
 Religion
 Education
 Lifestyle/Dress
 Social Classes –
Upper/Middle/Lower
 Gender Relations
 Language
Political
•U.S. as leading the way (progress) – Star of the Empire on
her forehead
•Possible conflict with natives based on body language
•Lady in white (goddess) – as leader
• Bear represents CA being
taken by the United States
Economic
•Trade (ships and trains)
•Industry in the city (North)
•Agriculture in the rural parts of the country (South)
•Technology: Railroads, telegraph lines, pony express,
Yankee clipper, plow, stagecoach
Geographic
• List some geographic features: Mississippi River, Rocky
Mountains, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Great Plains, East
(Civilization-Light-Good)/West (Wild-Dark-Bad), North
(Cities)/South (Agriculture)
• Resources: Wild animals (buffalo, bear, deer), Water in the
Northeast being used trade, land for farming, minerals (miners
moving west for gold), Climate (stormy in the west and sunny in the
east), Migration (west)
Social
• Bringing education west (the book
in her had says “School Book”)
• Primitive vs. Civilized cultures
• Gender relations – the east had a very
male dominated society
• Natives dancing in the back (culture)
Discussion Questions
1. Define "manifest destiny." What forces contributed to the
commitment to American expansion?
2. Did the artist John Gast portray Manifest Destiny is a
positive or negative light? Explain.
3. Do you think this portrayal shows the perspective of
settlers or Native Americans. Why?
4. Why did the United States go to war with Mexico?
5. How does President Polk justify an American declaration
of war against Mexico? Do you find his explanation
convincing?
6. Why did opponents oppose the war?
7. What were the political consequences of the Mexican
War?
Discussion Questions
1. Define "manifest destiny." What forces contributed to the
commitment to American expansion?
•
The long held belief that Americans had a God-given right to occupy the
entire North American continent
• Manifest Destiny – the belief that Americans were destined to go from
coast pushed Americans west
• Overcrowding in the east– the area east of the Appalachian Mountains
was becoming overcrowded and Americans were searching for more
land to settle. There were millions of acres west of the Mississippi that
could be used
2. Did the artist John Gast portray Manifest Destiny is a
positive or negative light? Explain.
3. Do you think this portrayal shows the perspective of
settlers or Native Americans. Why?
4. Why did the United States go to war with Mexico?
•
•
To help achieve their destiny of expanding to the Pacific Ocean
To obtain the western port of San Francisco for easier trade with eastern
Asia
•
http://www.historyonthenet.com/American_West/manifest_destiny.htm
5. How does President Polk justify an American declaration of
war against Mexico? Do you find his explanation convincing?
•
Polk claimed that Mexican troops fired on American troops in American territory
when they crossed the Nueces River in Texas.
6. Why did opponents oppose the war?
•
•
•
Some believed that the American democratic government could only succeed if the
country remained relatively small and close to the seat of government (Washington
D.C.)
Northern states and abolitionists were worried that the land gained in the war
would be admitted as slave states and upset the balance of power in the U.S.
Congress in regards to slavery
http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/prelude/md_an_ideal_or_a_justification.html
7. What were the political consequences of the Mexican War?
•
•
Mexico was forced to sell off the northern half of their country (which included the
port of San Francisco) for half of what the U.S. offered before the war ($15
million)
Mexico had to recognize the Rio Grande as the border between TX/U.S. and
Mexico
United States was ordained by God to spread across the continent is
called Manifest Destiny.
http://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/printable/section.asp?id=6

Political


Geography

People & the Government
 Location
 War
 Physical
 Treaties Courts/Laws
 Human Interaction
 Leaders
 Movement
 Citizen participation

 Spatial Diffusion
Economy

People and Money/Trade
 Money/Labor Systems
 Trade
 Gender and Slaves
 Technology
 Agriculture/Industry
People & Land/Resources

Social

People & People
 Religion
 Education
 Lifestyle/Dress
 Social Classes –
Upper/Middle/Lower
 Gender Relations
 Language