Publisher's Synopsis
Are Americans entitled to a Manifest Destiny? This book explores 13 key issues of Western expansion from the early 1800s through the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Expert commentary and 73 primary documents represent a variety of views on each issue. Documents include presidential letters and speeches, first-person accounts and letters, newspaper and magazine opinion pieces, court decisions, and congressional debates. Voices range from those of presidents to ordinary people caught up in the events of the time.
Some of the major topics considered are:
Lewis and Clark's expedition
Indian and Mexican land claims
The effect of western expansion on slavery
Importing Chinese laborers to help build the transcontinental railroad
Government opposition to Mormons settling in the West
Texas annexation
The Homestead Act
The Sand Creek Massacre
The Battle of Little Big Horn
The creation of Yellowstone National Park
Wounded Knee 1890
A narrative overview of each event, an annotated bibliography following each event, and a timeline of key events make this volume an indispensable resource.
