Category: Manifest Destiny

In the 1800’s thousands of European settlers moved west battling and conquering Native tribes as they continued emigrating west. The Europeans did try to propose and establish acts such as the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887 and also the establishment of the Dawes commission who which tried to convince the native tribes to agree to cede tribal title of Indian lands, and the Allotment Act of 1887. The Europeans wished for more land as they settled in various parts and instead of relying on violence to get more land they chose to negotiate with major native tribes which would mostly always end in the white’s favor as they would acquire more from the treaties and deals. Although the Europeans made it seem that the acts and negotiations were ‘fair’, the native tribes would actually have to move miles from their settlements and they would be given limited supplies by the Europeans for exchange in their land; if the treaties proposed by the Europeans were to be declined they would have to refer back to violence sometimes eliminating a full tribe.

In the movie ‘Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee’, recounts the story and history of native tribes who were being pushed onto reservations in the Midwest and Black Hills exchanges. The movie reports the obliteration of the Native American tribes in the late 1800s. The movie begins with the Europeans located in the Black Hills of the Dakotas, a land which belonged to the Sioux Native Americans. The Sioux asserted the land and their populace prospered because of the great assets such as natural resources in the territory. The whites wanted to conquer these lands and they did so by forcing the tribes to move to some other territory which they were unfamiliar with. The whites tried to convince the native tribes which they were drawing out that their relocation would help them as a nation which was a lie and only the whites benefited from the negotiations. Congressperson Henry Dawes concocts the arrangement to move the native tribes to a few locations, where they could gain knowledge of the culture of white individuals. Dawes utilizes a naturalized native named Charles, as confirmation of the accomplishment of their method of Americanizing natives. The Sioux, which were the tribe at that time, we’re compelled to acclimatize so as to ensure their lives and those of others.

Americans at that time believed that God chose them to take over all of North America and as they conquered tribes and expanded across the nation, they would spread this ideology to Natives and would often disrespect and offend their culture and divinities by telling them that no such gods existed or that the Natives weren’t provided the land by gods in which the natives believed them. Their expansion and spread of democracy were fueled by Manifest Destiny which dismissed different cultures and beliefs of those who were the natives. As we see in the movie an example of manifest destiny would be the Assimilation Laws which was a policy that was adopted by congress and it basically trained natives to adapt to white culture like at the part the teacher would keep insisting for Ohiyesa to choose a Christian name and until then he would be treated horribly. We could also look at the scene where Ohiyesa would take on the task where he would assign Christian names for many Native Americans. The whites would either end up attempting to Americanize the many native tribes or eliminating them if they weren’t on the same terms.

Manifest Destiny was a huge factor that played out during the late 19th century and was fueled by their expansion towards the west as they encountered several tribes and applied their laws and acts upon them. The film also demonstrated the results of the laws correlated to the natives which would almost end up as violence or scar the life of many young native children. The native tribes were tricked upon with false and unreasonable promises which lead to many tribe extinctions perpetrated by the whites who were full of greed and seeking to expand their nation as much as possible.

My father used to tell me all the time that he believed history was the easiest subject to learn because history never changes. I would always think this was in fact true, until reading the required readings for the week. History is very important when it comes to each and every person’s identity. History makes us as individuals who we are and who we believe to be. History can be changed depending on the individual. In the eyes of people with different cultures and backgrounds, American history can be very different in their perspective. The history of what it means to be American will always be defined differently, depending on who you ask. I believe to be an American means being free in every aspect of your life creating a sense of entitlement. I also believe being American means trying opening doors to changes and different cultures. Lastly, to be an American means to have sense pride in the United States.

In regards to Americans being free, that has been shown more than a few times throughout history. Americans have the freedom in their actions, speaking, decisions and many more. In having this much freedom, Americans can sometimes seem to gain a sense of entitlement. Using this entitlement to an advantage, in history Americans have decided where other countries lack. One example of this was also in Manifest Destiny with the puritans taking the land of the Indians due to the Indians being incapable to self rule.

An example of this is with Manifest Destiny. “Americans believed they had the God-given right, based on racial superiority to expand to the Pacific Ocean”. The entitlement can also be shown in the way immigrants are after entering the United States. Many immigrants work very hard to come to the United States in order to gain a better life and escape from the horrible things that happen in their countries. Immigrants have to work twice as hard to be respected by Americans

This leads me to how the hyphen is a way to marginalize specifically people of Mexican ancestor. Using the hyphen of Mexican- American marginalizes that specific group because that hyphen stamps them as not being fully American meaning they are less than American. In reality they have earned the title of American. One example was in article titles ‘El Paso Salt War: Mob Action or Political Struggle’, “The citizenship was an interesting one. The area formerly been Mexican Territory and many Mexican chose U.S. Citizenship to keep their home after the war”. They had earned the right because they chose to become citizen, but were not considered equal Americans. Living in America is apart of there history and putting a hyphen exemplifies they are less than American. One example would be in the required podcast for the week titled, ‘What Does Identity Mean for an Immigrant’, in which she discussed how she had hard her mother worked and how much she went through just to get to the United States to be treated as an outsider. She also stated “the feeling of belonging was a never ended saga, but she remembers feeling like a fraud or an imposter”. The freedoms that Americans take for granted because is guaranteed many immigrants appreciate and cherish them. Another example she also mentions in the podcast that her mother would dedicated extra funds no matter the cost to learning math and English.

In the Aspect of Americans trying to open up doors to make changes, I believe this to be true. America has always been the poster child for adopting to new changes and being fair and equal to all people no matter the culture or country. American has opened to many changes throughout history. In opening these door Americans can fall short of trying to make the best changes by mistreating immigrants. Americans can sometimes forget that we need other cultures and countries to help and do for us. Immigrations is a huge topic especially in todays news. America is made up of so many cultures ethnicities that makes the United whole. Americans need immigrants because they make America who we are. It is also true that American needs immigrants especially when we think of how we get certain resources and how immigrants helps. Many immigrants will come to the United States in search of a better life. The immigrants are willing to do jobs Americans do not want to do. Immigrants help America in tremendous ways whether it is decided to admit or not. Although America can sometimes fall short with immigration in different cases, for the most part immigration opens doors due to how there are many people in the United States who have come from all over the place to live and have actually prosper in the Untied States.

America has shown to shift in a more positive light with starting to allow immigration versus what other countries had done which leads me to the last point, to be an American means to have pride in the United States. This too has also been exemplified throughout history because Americans are proud of every accomplished the country has made. This is shown through every war America has had. Starting with the Alamo in San Antonio that expresses the patriarchy and nationalistic of what happened as the Mexican Fort. Manifest Destiny also showed the pride of Americans with the expansion. Another example of this would be in the reading title the War for Independence in which it is described that “Some historians see the Texas Revolution as a courageous act by freedom loving Americans against intolerant and undemocratic government of Mexico’.

In conclusion, I do believe that history can in fact change depending on perspective. I also believe to be an American means to have freedom, try to change and open doors and also to have pride in the United States. I also think the hyphen marginalizes Mexican ancestry because by hyphening, it in a sense shows that they are less than and not equal to Americans when in reality it should not be that way.

When reading chapter 12 of the American Yawp by Stanford University Press Edition, something that was interesting was how differently the beliefs were regarding the Manifest Destiny. I felt this way because some individuals thought that it was okay for them to expand to new lands while others believed that they shouldn’t expand through conquest. However while reading this, I also wondered why the majority of people believed in it being okay to expand into territories and if there were any other major consequences for doing so.

When reading about how individuals in the United States wanted to remove Indians living on the land to the west, it made me feel bad for the Indians as a result. This is because they were forced to abandon their communities and move to lands that were set aside for them. Another thing that was interesting to read about during this chapter was the conflict between Florida and Spain. However, it was also saddening for me to see how this conflict connected to the fact that once again Indian lands are being taken over.

Something that made me curious regarding the idea of removing Indians off of their land is why Andrew Jackson thought that this was the best idea. I felt this way because it made me wonder why Andrew Jackson decided this for the Indians when in the future they were forced to comply. After reading this topic, I thought that it is unfair for the Indians to have little say in the matter because when I read The Cherokee Removal: A Brief History with Documents by Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green, the many actions that the Cherokee took against the passing of the relocation of Indians had no impact on the matter.

One thing that saddened and angered me was how the state of Georgia acted and treated the Cherokee when they wanted to remove them from their lands. It was horrifying to read about how individuals ignored the ruling of the Supreme Court and further trespassed on the Cherokee land. This is because although steps were taken by the Cherokee, they were not useful as nothing changed in their favor. Another thing that was saddening to read was how Georgia set up the lottery system when they decided that the Cherokee weren’t being relocated off of their land quickly enough. I felt this way because in my opinion, Georgia forced the relocation to happen by speeding up the process when the land owned by Cherokee was offered to individuals who participated in the lottery.

One thing that surprised me was the interpretation regarding the Native Americans. It felt weird to me reading about how cruel the beliefs painted the Native Americans when in reality they were nothing like what was portrayed such as in two of the primary sources in the book. After reading both primary sources however, it was nice to see how the individuals fit into the society such as buying food from them or joining them for different events. It was also very surprising to me when reading about the Cherokee constitution. I felt this way when reading about the laws regarding their constitution since it is very similar to the constitution today. Although something that intrigued me when reading about the constitution was how laws concerning race were included. I didn’t expect for this to be included and it was a little upsetting for me how the Cherokee adopted and kept the policies that they learned from individuals in the United States when they were trying to civilize the Native Americans.

Question 9: (10/7/19):

John Gast’s 1872 painting “The Manifest Destiny” was used to entice Euro-American settlers to move westward in the Americas. What activities did the painting suggest settlers should pursue in these western lands? How were Native Americans portrayed and impacted by the Manifest Destiny.

John Gast’s 1872 painting titled “American Progress” is an allegory for Manifest Destiny and the modernization of the new westward expansion by the United States. A woman named Progress is the main image in the picture who is shown leading the settlers from the east and moving civilization westward. The woman is wearing a star on her head, resembling an angel and conveying the idea that American westward expansion is their duty given by God. The woman is leading the settlers and protecting them as they expand. In the painting, the east is shown in lightness and the west is a resemblance of darkness. As they move toward the west, they are showing that they will be bringing the light with them into the dark west. In the image, the light symbolizes the civilized east and the dark represents the non-civilized west. The depicted darkness of the west is conveying the idea that the west is uncivilized and a wild place that is in need of modern advancements. The east is shown as being the opposite of the west. The east is civilized, well-educated and advanced in technology. The main focus of the image is the women in the center of the painting who is a representation of bringing the light from the east and moving it westward with the settlers. The woman is holding a school textbook in her arms, showing that she will gain knowledge by settling in the west. She is also holding a piece of a telegraph in her hand, symbolizing that they are bringing technological advancements with them into the dark west. In the image, some of the things depicted such as railroads, telephone wires, log cabins, and fences represent modernization and advancement of the new west. All of these things suggest that settlers should pursue them in order to gain light and prosperity. As the women progresses toward the west, she is bringing the light with her. Many of them include developments that require wood to build which will further lead to the over-use of forest resources. The Native Americans in this photo are seen retreating away from the Settlers and the woman, Progress, and they are covered in the darkness which suggests badness and evil. John Gast portrayed the Native American way of life as outdated and suggested American settlers should conquer it. They were negatively impacted by the Manifest Destiny because as settlers were encouraged to expand west and build and conquer new lands, those lands were taken away from the Native Americans. The idea of Manifest Destiny was used to remove the Native Americans from their native homelands. The Americans believed that the Native Americans were not utilizing their land and ultimately leaving it to waste. The Native Americans were left stripped of their land, as the American settlers expanded westward and settled into their land. Overall, this image was created to portray the religious belief that the United States should expand from the east to the west because of the calling from God.

The Manifest Destiny had a significant impact on the country as a whole. It created America’s great expansion into the west and opened up so many opportunities for growth and advancements for the Americans. This civilized movement helped fuel western settlement and removed many Native Americans out of America. Manifest Destiny inspired American settlers to make the move to the west and explore new land. The west contained an abundance of land, as well as a fresh start and new markets. After the big westward expansion, the discovery of gold sparked, bringing even more people from the east into the west. Overall, Manifest Destiny was a huge success for the Americans. The movement brought an immense amount of money, a strengthened economy, new markets, resources and land. With all the positives and successes of Manifest Destiny came some negative outcomes as well. The act of moving westward and settling in the West caused American settlers to disregard the territorial rights of the Native Americans, which resulted in tensions, wars and a cultural divide (Murphy, 2014). This westward expansion by the Americans caused the Native Americans to be wiped away from their land. Manifest Destiny caused American settlers to feel greedy, powerful, prideful and strong. Although this movement was very successful for Americans, it caused much conflict with others and was followed by many wars.

Question #3: (10/21/19):

The knowledge to extract latex from the bark of a tree has been known for several thousand years. When and how did Maya figure out how to extract latex, why did they collect latex and what uses did they use it for? When did industrialized countries learn to use latex and what uses did, they have for it? Are the artificially produced latex products made today comparable in quality to what can be produced from latex collected from a tree?

Forests provide an abundance of diversity of what is known as non-timber forest products. Non-timer forest products are defined as any material or product that grows in the forest, is not timer or a whole tree, and historically was locally consumed or worn. Non-timer forest products are typically found in the bark of the tree and are used to make many products and goods that we use all the time. The key idea of non-timer forest products is that you need intact forests to be able to collect them. Without non-timer forest products, we would have no food, spics, leather coats, insect repellants, medicines, pain killers, car tires, chewing game, etc. The world would be a boring place without the products of non-timer forest products because they are an important part of globalization and diversity. Knowledge of natural latex from the Hevea tree was passed onto the ancient Mayans in 1600 BCE. Latex from bark was produced as a defensive mechanism against predatory insects, rubber production and to make chewing gum. The Mayans used latex to play the ball game, which was very significant in Maya culture and society. The ball game was a ritual sacrifice that was believed to coincide with important dates in the Maya calendar. The rubber from the trees were turned into balls that were used for their ancient ball games. If you won the ball game, you would lose your head since you were the most worth sacrifice to the gods. Industrialized countries learned to use latex in the 1770s. In industrialized England, they discovered that the first samples of rubber were extremely good for rubbing off pencil marks on paper. Today, erasers are still called rubbers in England. The Para rubber tree, originally from Brazil, now occupies many parts of southeast Asia and provides countries with latex that they use to make tires, belts and gaskets. Latex from trees is also used to make chewing gum. The artificially produced latex products made today are not comparable in quality to what can be produced from latex collected from a tree. The latex collected from a tree is natural, whereas the artificially latex cannot be practicably manufactured. Without natural latex, there would be nothing to make airplane tires with because we cannot duplicate natural rubber qualities.

Another important non-timer forest product is medicines and poisons. Quinine is a commonly known medicine that is produced from the bark of a tree and is most effective for curing symptoms of malaria. Also, insect repellent from tree bark was commonly worn on the face by women and child as a natural sunscreen, repellant and moisturizer. Spices such as cinnamon, are produced from the inner bark of several trees. Cinnamon is used for flavoring, perfume in soaps and as a stimulant in medicine. Cork is another good that is collected from the bark of oak trees. Cork’s main function is to protect the tree from hot desert winds. Cork is peeled away from the tree trunk every 9-10 years. The Romans used cork to insulate houses and beehives, as soles for sandals, as stoppers for bottles, cigarette tips and flooring. Even humans have eaten bark! Bark of pine trees were used as an emergency food in Finland during famine and during the civil war in 1918. To eat bark, they would soften the inner bark and then heat it over the fire. The bark then was smashed and separated by using flour and was often made into rye bread. The use of non-timer forest products is very important for human survival and well-being. Non-timer forest products allowed people to survive off of products from tree bark. If you were out in the wild and suffered from an injury, you could use natural medicine for pain and swelling by finding the inner bark of a birch tree to reduce the injury. Non-timer forest products are very important to our biodiversity and in creating many day-today products, without them life would be very boring and difficult.

Question #2: (10/28/19):

Making a pot of clam chowder is a good analogy for how difficult it is to construct a functioning ecosystem. What was the take home message of Dan telling you this story?

In order to make clam chowder, you need to know the ingredients, the order, preparation time and how all of the ingredients fit together to make a good product. The take home message of the clam chowder analogy was that all the parts and the order in which you connect them to each other are important in ecosystems. Just by knowing the parts isn’t good enough. You need to know how all the parts of the ecosystem fit together and knowledge of how they interact in order to construct a functioning ecosystem. This analogy is a way to visualize the interconnectivity needed in order to have a functioning ecosystem.

Forests are composed of structures and functions that are interconnected. Functions of forests are really important because they link or connect the structures. Big or small every part of the ecosystem is important to creating a functioning ecosystem. Small organisms such as bacteria, fungi and insects appear to be really small but are very important to forest ecosystems. Biodiversity is very important to humans and ecosystems because it is the ultimate interconnector. Species can link all other ecosystem components and create or maintain functions of ecosystems. Predator-prey, competition, mutualism and parasitism are all examples of species links to ecosystems. Predator-prey relationships are relationships where one partner benefits at the expense of the other. These relationships in ecosystems result in imbalances and can lead to population crashes, ecosystem degradation, human disease outbreaks and a shift to a different ecosystem type. Another species interaction is when partners may or not benefit, known as competition. Competition for resources can result in ecological changes in which one group of plant or animal species is replaced by another species due to the scarcity of resources. Population of animals change with changes in plant species. Mutualism is an interaction where both partners benefit. This type of specie interaction is the most common type of ecological interaction and is the most dominant in communities worldwide. The last specie interaction is parasitism. Parasitism is when the first partner benefits and the second partner doesn’t. If any of the connectivity in the ecosystem were to break down, the ecosystem would not be able to stay intact and function properly. Changes within or between ecosystems will change the entire harmony of the ecosystem. Every specie plays an important function in keeping the ecosystem intact. Interconnectivity in ecosystems are really important for the survival of species and to maintain ecosystem balance. If something is removed or imbalanced, that can result in damage and problem. Soil, sunlight, heat, water, plants, animals and all living organisms are a part of the ecosystem. Without one of these, the whole ecosystem will be disturbed and cause a severe imbalance.

Human behavior is a large reason why ecosystems are being disturbed and destroyed. By removing fish from the ocean, the whole food chain and ecosystem is disrupted. By humans disturbing wildlife, it causes many species to suffer from a lack of food. Also, deforestation is a huge problem that is causing many habitats to be destroyed. Humans are destroying forests and the home of many different species to use the land for other uses. Forests regulate our climate and water sources, causing deforestation to have many severe consequences on the ecosystem. This issue causes the loss of habitats for millions of species, causing groups of organisms to have to go extinct or relocate. We need to stop cutting down trees and need to educate people about the importance forests have on our ecosystem and environment (Aikaterini, 2017). That is why everyone should take a class about forests and society!

Question #4: (10/14/19):

If you want to live a healthy lifestyle, why would it help for you to know about the soils where your food is growing? Why is this statement correct – “The plant that you eat is only as good as the soil that it grew in”?

If soil isn’t healthy then the nutritious food cannot be grown on it because the produce steals all of the nutrients and the soil has nothing left. The unhealthy properties of the soil can affect the quality of the food being grown out of it because if soil has no nutrients than our food will have less nutrients. Also, when the soil isn’t healthy then they use fertilizer and pesticides which both contribute negatively to the environment and add the risk of chemicals on your food. When the food or plant is too processed it will lose additional nutrients.

Soil is so important to our ecosystem because our survival on earth needs soils to produce food. So how do we make soil? Soil is composed of dirt, organisms and organic matter. If the soil is not healthy, nutritious foods cannot be grown. We need to intensify our management of the soil in order to produce healthy, nutritious foods. Intensive agriculture is reliant on petroleum for fuel, fertilizer and as a synthetic pesticide. Organic matter is a very important ingredient in healthy soils. Organic matter holds soil particles together to resist erosion and it decomposes, releasing nutrients for plants. If organic matter is lost in soil, soil would lose water into water systems which can then affect fish and other aquatic organisms. Healthy soils are very important because we get most of our nutrients from soils. Humans are so reliant on soils, if we were to degrade a soil and turn it into dirt the civilization would collapse, and we would lose agricultural production. This would cause people to need to migrate to other location because they would not be able to feed the population. If there is no organisms and organic matter in soil, then the crops are very poor and lack nutritious benefits.

The foundation of life is ultimately soil. Soil provides nutrients, water, oxygen and support to roots. Soils provide us everything we need to survive and serve a very important purpose in our ecosystem. The health and quality of soils is an extremely important resource for human health and agriculture. Soil functions as a crucial nutrient source by taking in, storing and delivering water to plants. Soil is the foundation where all food-producing plants grow from (Honeyager, 2015). The health and quality of soil directly determines the health of people and animals as well. Soil is involved in food production, animal diversity and food quality. Nutrient-dense, high quality soils produce healthy plants. Healthy plants produce healthy foods. The health of soil plays a significant role in the health of humans. Humans should care about soil production because soil quality is linked to the quality of food we eat. It is all interconnected. The statement, “the plant that you eat is only as good as the soil that it grew in” is correct because the food and nutrients that we consume are derived from the soil. Soil stores water and delivers it to plants to make sure that plants are healthy and growing. Without soil, the ecosystem would severely suffer, and we would not be able to consume all the nutrients that we need to stay healthy.