Understanding History and Society through Images, 1776-1914

Content Background

The movement of Americans westward has been connected to the American ethnography since its very beginnings. However, no era saw the monumental frenzied movement and sheer numbers of European Americans migrating westward quite like that of the early to late 19 ^th century. One of the first contemporary attempts to analyze this exceptional historical phenomenon was an article written in the Democratic Review by John L. O'Sullivan in 1845. O'Sullivan expressed the shared belief, a belief already acted upon, that it was the destiny of the United States to annex all the land to the west, until the entire continent, from east to west coast, was under the control of the United States. He stated that the nation should look towards "the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions". During the antebellum period, that period from 1776 to 1861, Americans gradually embraced the idea that the natural course for America's future, politically, socially, and culturally, was to move towards the west. This expectation was guided by a sense of entitlement that was preordained providentially, and ensured the proper spread of the democratic institutions of the nation into lands newly acquired. By the time O'Sullivan uttered the now iconic term "manifest destiny", the United States had quite literally spread itself from coast to coast. Following a process begun with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, continued with the Indian Removal Act of the 1830s the annexation of Texas in 1845, the acquisition of the Oregon Territory in 1846, and the Mexican Cession treaty that ended the Mexican American War in 1848, the expansionist tendencies created a contiguous land mass of enormous scale. And the dominant voices in American society knew just what to do with it. Many white Americans believed by this time that it was indeed their protestant obligation to see that these new regions of the nation be unencumbered by the inferior Indians, the Catholics, whose religion they distrusted, and the mixed race populations of the Southwest. Unacceptable as it is in today's world, the idea of racial supremacy was an important factor in the dogma of the time. Attitudes towards Native American people varied: while the Native Americans were forcibly driven from their lands, attempts were made by many European-American writers and artists to document the Native American culture that was endangered by the racist expansion of the United States. ¹

American cultural historian John Cawelti has isolated four distinct versions of the "frontier myth". The first is that these "new" frontiers connected back to a European enticement to the west from when the New World was the west: the attractive opportunity for gold and wealth (as in Jamestown). Another myth prevalent in this era was that of the opportunity to reform a corrupt society, popular during these years among those striving to shape the American principles of democracy. The frontier also represented a form of escape for Americans who felt the east was far too restrictive, too civilized. Finally, there was the fully embraced idea that expansion, conquest and settlement were the preferred ways that the nation could grow and prosper. These myths of the west would form the backdrop to the drama that would play out throughout the 19 ^th century, a drama that would ultimately find the expansionist United States triumphant and the Native American vanquished. These beliefs about the frontier need to be understood when attempting to study this period of American history. ²

Throughout this time, the arts would be the harbinger of the manifest destiny message, an ideology that would permeate the culture of the United States. It was in the early part of the century that a call went out to artists and literary practitioners: the newly independent, young nation required their own literary and cultural nationalism. The dominant artistic movement of the period, Romanticism, with roots in Great Britain, focused on indigenous traditions, folk customs, and a way to create a national past, a past that lay with the wilderness and the Indian. ³ This would include artists of paintings, sculpture and engravings, as well as writers of both novels and poetry. It was the visual artist who in particular created the images of the expansion experience for their audiences-images that a large illiterate citizenry might still enjoy. These artists would be guided by the eastern establishment who profoundly shaped the attitudes of the time and of the eastern businessmen and power players. These influential men, desirous of the proceeds to come from enhanced technology, transportation, and products needed by the settlers heading west in record numbers, would dictate the narrative that the artists would relay. The art of the nineteenth century was pivotal in designing and perpetuating several different narratives of the westward expansion events and experiences, especially with respect to the portrayal of the east's great nemesis, the Native American. ⁴

Interestingly, no major artist was a part of the migratory groups who moved west. In the 1840s, the paintings of the artists who were part of the American Arts Union, an organized effort to "animate the many hundreds of millions", did not illustrate westward expansion, they actively endorsed the concept by creating visuals that would excite and encourage. Artists such as William Ranney, Tompkins H. Matteson, William Sydney Mount, and Richard Caton Woodville consistently used subject matter that had deep appeal for expansionists. As Patricia Hills has stated, the paintings and other art to come out of this group were creating images of progress, in whatever theme it may invoke: pleasure, heroism, or the majesty of the western lands. The concept of "progress" was exemplified in each, whether based on the inclusion of specific landscapes, significant motifs and themes, and from the way in which specific characters in a work of art had a "privileged" role or stance in the work. ⁵

In this period, the early part of the nineteenth century, and primarily in the 1830s and 1840s, Americans began to see the Native American as a "noble savage", a term that had been in existence since the age of enlightenment. This idealized depiction of the Indian as a rational individual who lived beyond the bounds of civilization but was virtuous, symbolized the progress that might come if civilized man were left to be "free and untrammeled". ⁶ In Charles Bird King's portrait Young Omahow, War Eagle, Little Missouri, and Pawnees of 1822 (National Museum of American Art) we see Roman physiques, intelligent eyes, and an appearance of sensibility, qualities of a noble, yet primitive people, perhaps hearkening back to a fresh America. George Catlin, a painter who went west and painted primarily Native American culture and everyday life, demonstrated stereotypes in his paintings even though he believed that he was capturing the native for posterity. For Catlin and his audiences, it was the polarity that the images imbued that was interesting: through his paintings of Native American culture the Indian could be viewed as noble in nature, irredeemably corrupted or as being destroyed by contact with white society. In any case, it worked for setting up the preferable expansionist attitude. ⁷ His notion that a white audience would find these images noble sometimes backfired as many viewers found the lifestyle as portrayed to be "indolent". ⁸ A contemporary of Catlin's, Seth Eastman, was also successful portraying Native Americans at the business of living, as evidenced by his 1851 painting Lacrosse Playing Among the Sioux Indians (The Corcoran Gallery of Art). Again, although white viewers loved to view the art, in many ways satisfying their curiosity about the Native American, the racial differences were often what the public saw most clearly. ⁹

With Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act, which resulted in 60,000 Native Americans being forcibly removed from their eastern lands to the western area of Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma), came a conflict framework through which the artist could surround his work. These types of policies, fully endorsed by white easterners, would continue throughout the century as virtually no land was undesirable to Americans. Oddly enough, there are no works of art created during this time of peak Indian removal commemorating the specific movements of the Native Americans, such as in the Trail of Tears or other tragic events. However, the conflicts stemming from these policies would ultimately redefine the Indian as a villain and the soon to be engrained practice of Indian hating gained momentum. It is during this period that numerous works of art would show settlers in distress situations, fighting for their lives. Indian captivity was also a prominent subject, as in George Caleb Bingham's Captured by Indians in 1848 (St. Louis Art Museum) and John Mix Stanley's 1845 Osage Scalp Dance (National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian). The scenes of conflict in these as well as another popular painting subject, pioneer caravans under attack, always presumed innocence of the white characters. This is the case in Carl Wimar's The Attack on an Emigrant Train in 1856 (University of Michigan Museum of Art). In these types of paintings as well as another by Theodore Kaufman called Westward the Star of Empire in 1867 (St. Louis Mercantile Library Association), Native Americans are depicted as nothing less than wild beasts, demonic in nature. ¹⁰

Also in the 1840s and 1850s the art world would see a resurgence of depictions of Daniel Boone as a primary American symbol of westward expansion. Boone's pioneer qualities were seen as almost god-like to a nation that felt that the revolutionary values, such as independence, individuality, and sacrificial courage, had fallen along the wayside. ¹¹ These paintings by William Ranney, George Caleb Bingham, and Charles Deas visually legitimized the recent conquests of new territory in the west. ¹² Ranney's work, Daniel Boone's First View of Kentucky in 1849 is imbued with biblical symbolism, such as the commanding ridge on which Boone and his party stand, a literal pulpit, or summit of "visual conquest". Boone's dreamy gaze west allows for the viewer to place themselves in that glorious future that lay ahead with the conquest of the lands there. His stance, much like Moses pointing out the Promised Land, is that of a heroic figure with common origins. ¹³

The "doomed Indian" was another view of the Native American by white Americans that was put forth by a wide variety of artists. The notion of the Indian standing on the precipice of extinction was a common one mid-century, beginning in the 1840s. Romanticized and nostalgic, some artists ennobled the Indian while at the same time indicating that they would soon be gone, evoking emotions and a wistfulness for the wilderness that most were in actuality happy to see as part of the past. George Catlin's portrait of Wi-Jun-Jon (Pigeon's egg head) Going to and Returning from Washington (1832, Smithsonian American Art Museum) is a quintessential image of a noble yet doomed native. The portrait of an Assiniboin chief, shown in two different garbs, one facing east the other west, is an obvious commentary by Catlin. This battle between civilization and savagery would end badly for both Wi-Jun-Jon personally and for the Native American in general. This portrait is a great example of the precarious, paradoxical thinking of Americans during this time: the difficulty of maintaining a position between European civilization and Indian savagery. ¹⁴ Another exceptional example of art representing near Indian extinction is James Earle Fraser's End of the Trail (Gilcrease Museum of Art). This sculpture was created at the end of the century, circa 1894. It is a moving and evocative portrayal of a Native American man slumped over on horseback, completely drained of energy and will to live. The mood of the sculpture is readily felt by the onlooker: it is quite evident that it symbolizes the end of a race, a desired outcome perhaps by American citizens but a stereotype none the less that will continue to be prevalent throughout the twentieth century. ¹⁵

By the latter nineteenth century and very early twentieth centuries, artists were hearkening back to a romanticized, nostalgic view of the west, a view that went part and parcel with that of the "doomed Indian". Landscapes and narrative works were now offering a "promise of participation", inviting the viewer in, inviting them to the west. These paintings are rich with divine inspiration, characterized by gorgeous sunsets shining down upon the characters and the always stunning natural views. Indeed, works of art such as Emigrants Crossing the Plains by Albert Bierstadt in 1869 (Butler Institute of American Art) give clear pictorial evidence of manifest destiny come to fruition. This awe inspiring and sublime work encompasses all of the western landscapes such as forests, plains, and mountains, while utilizing symbolism of the presence of God, indicating that somehow all will proceed with little trouble. Thomas Moran's Shoshone Falls on the Snake River in 1900 (Gilcrease Museum of Art) is another of many of this style, hearkening back to a breathless and exuberant time of wide open spaces and opportunities for the revered frontiersman or white settler. These works are examples of how a painting can completely mythologize the frontier in a powerful, visual way. Other artists from this time chose to portray the Indian as that savage other, also a nostalgic look back. Charles M. Russell's The Attack on a Wagon Train in 1904 (Private Collection) and The Emigrants by Frederick Remington are good examples of this. ¹⁶

These works are indicative of a nation that has realized itself-"the west is the dream at the center of the national myth". ¹⁷ It is also worth noting that it is very apparent when viewing artworks of the west from this period that the socio-political racist and imperialistic themes so much a part of a nation busy acquiring overseas territories, are quite visible. In many of the works, the Native American is already absent or insignificant; in still others, shown as a savage or barbarian, the antithesis of the alleged inherent goodness that was the west and America itself. Throughout the nineteenth century the historical role and character of the Native American was repeatedly reworked to suit the needs of America's nation building pursuits. Nowhere is this borne out more clearly than in a careful study of art and artists of the time. ¹⁸

Ultimately, the progress of empire will succeed. The powerful technology of the expansionist whites had laid claim to the vast western lands, displacing the Native American over and over again along the way. One of the most iconic art works of manifest destiny, and one that allegorically depicts in detail the energy and success of the event, is John Gast's American Progress of 1872 (N and R Enterprises). This painting, commissioned by publicist George A. Crofutt for his travel guide, is visually stimulating and detailed. The central and ethereal female figure of the painting hovers and floats above a wide open landscape and is holding a school book and a telegraph wire, clearly symbols of technology and education, those entities that would ensure the success of the nation's expansion dreams. Behind her is the east, well lit and busy about the technological travel: the railroad, the stage coach, the prairie schooner, all heading west. Also heading west are the sturdy and rugged farmers and pioneers, all alit from the "Star of the Empire" above them. It is the western or left side of the painting that gives pause. The skies are dark and tumultuous, with the Native Americans looking back as they run further west, their buffalo as well. ¹⁹ The viewer understands that the white settlers are bringing to the west the enlightened progress that has ultimately guaranteed their superior place in the world. America's destiny is clear; and unstoppable.