Westward Expansion:  Myth vs. Reality

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Assignment

After viewing both the Myth and Reality documents regarding Westward Expansion:

1. Write a short paragraph in which you summarize the “myth” surrounding westward expansion.

2. Write a short paragraph in which you summarize the “reality” surrounding westward expansion.

3. Why do you think the “myths” were emphasized rather than the reality?

Myth 

The following are pictures depicting Westward Expansion:

• Pioneers of the West, 1934, Helen Lundeberg
• Westward the Course of Empire Takes  Its Way, Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, 1861
• American Progress, John Gast, 1872
• John O'Sullivan Manifest Destiny, 1839

• Reality

The following pictures depict the West as it really was for the people living there:

• "The Trail of Tears", Robert Lindneux
• Map of the "Trail of Tears"
• Indians Attacking Butterfield’s Overland Dispatch Coach
• A War President, Harper’s Weekly, 1848
• Westward Expansion and Slavery – A Map
• William E. Channing, Letter to Henry Clay, 1937
• Charles Sumner, 1847
• David Wilmot, 1847