America was built on the foundations of independence, adventure, and patriotism. The people of the original thirteen colonies sought out more. They yearned for the once forbidden expanses past the Appalachians and west of the Mississippi when they were under the control of the tyrant British crown. The wilderness contained savagery and temptation, which threatened the authority of the community, but it represented a new beginning, which was mysterious but could flourish. Contrasting views of the wilderness established a civilization by removing the obstacles presented by the natural environment, the state of wilderness that originally characterized the young nation eventually became the source of national pride and identity for America. Manifest destiny was the dream of the citizens of this new country. It was America’s god given right to expand from sea to shining sea - as if it was parallel to their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Explores sought to make manifest destiny come true, but in the process, they found more: spacious skies, amber waves of grain, purple mountains, and the fruited plain. While the beauty of the frontier intrigued early settlers, nature became a tool to build society. This conflict characterizes the relationship Americans have with nature today. While at the conception of America, a passionate relationship with nature, which inspired and provided an escape from the corruption of society, today, Americans have a conflicted relationship with their surroundings because nature is seen as a resource rather than something sacred. On one side of the conflict, Americans have a passionate relationship with nature. Nature acts as a muse for artists of every medium. While studying nature, Jo... ... middle of paper ... ...estowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.” Emerson says that real nourishment/satisfaction in life comes to those who cultivate it themselves. He uses a simple situation working a plot of land to grow food for yourself and enjoying the pay off when you get to eat what you've grown to represent the bigger picture: anything worth having is worth working for yourself. Emerson's essay places great value on the individual's capacity to be self-sufficient, and he uses an example from nature to explain his viewpoint and to help his readers understand the value in being self-reliant. However, Americans wouldn’t know what to do with themselves if they couldn’t go to the grocery store and buy corn on the cob. While Emerson is referring to the ability to rely on oneself rather than other people, his idea can expand to having to rely on society as well.
America’s Manifest Destiny first surfaced around the 1840’s, when John O’Sullivan first titled the ideals that America had recently gained on claiming the West as their ‘Manifest Destiny.’ Americans wanted to settle in the West for multiple reasons, from the idea that God wanted them to settle all the way to the West co...
...sion Native Americans made a connection with the earth that was an ongoing affirmation to be close to nature. To witness the beauty of the land and all it had to offer them. Seattle’s address took a strong and powerful stance against the Americans, not only did he stand up for his people but he showed the wrong in the Americans. The essay and art work have affected the progress and solidity of the Native American culture in the past and the present. Each piece possess vitality, power and a drive to move forward, they also coincide on different levels where as to the message, that they bring forth understanding the environment and relationship between land, and man.” At night when the streets of your cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled and still love this beautiful land” (Seattle, 57).
In Mark Fiege’s book “The Republic of Nature,” the author embarks on an elaborate, yet eloquent quest to chronicle pivotal points in American history from an environmental perspective. This scholarly work composed by Fiege details the environmental perspective of American history by focusing on nine key moments showing how nature is very much entrenched in the fibers that manifested this great nation. The author sheds light on the forces that shape the lands of America and humanities desire to master and manipulate nature, while the human individual experience is dictated by the cycles that govern nature. The story of the human experience unfolds in Mark Fiege’s book through history’s actors and their challenges amongst an array of environmental possibilities, which led to nature being the deciding factor on how
There are many ways in which we can view the history of the American West. One view is the popular story of Cowboys and Indians. It is a grand story filled with adventure, excitement and gold. Another perspective is one of the Native Plains Indians and the rich histories that spanned thousands of years before white discovery and settlement. Elliot West’s book, Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers and the Rush to Colorado, offers a view into both of these worlds. West shows how the histories of both nations intertwine, relate and clash all while dealing with complex geological and environmental challenges. West argues that an understanding of the settling of the Great Plains must come from a deeper understanding, a more thorough knowledge of what came before the white settlers; “I came to believe that the dramatic, amusing, appalling, wondrous, despicable and heroic years of the mid-nineteenth century have to be seen to some degree in the context of the 120 centuries before them” .
Berry explains how art honors nature by depicting it and using it as a starting
Human interaction with the Rocky Mountain States has shifted tremendously since the beginning of recorded history. These changes can be broken down into three phases. The first phase would be the communal posture held by Native Americans. This period of time ran from the Spanish colonization in the 16th century until the era of the mountain man. With the establishment of the United States a new period of exploration for exploitation began. A dramatic shift in human interaction occurred as the economic interests of the mountain men and the United States overrode the communal interests of the Native Americans, indeed, it began to envelop them. The era of exploitation would flourish until the Progressive Movement. The first generation of leaders to see the footprint left by the over-harvest of natural resources would start the shift in policy to one of sustainability. This shift has continued at different rates of change all the way through the modern era.
The nature in which we live is truly beautiful and something to preserve and treasure. When the Europeans first came to North America, they were immediately in love with the views they encountered. They were interested in wanting to know more about the land, the animals that peeked around, and the people who called it home. Artists such as, John White had heard the tales of what Christopher Columbus had described during his time in North America, which led to them wanting to make their own discoveries (Pohl 140). Everyone had their own opinions and views of the world, but artists were able to capture the natural images and the feeling they had through their paintings (Pohl 140).
Americans throughout history have always felt that they were superior. The concept of “Manifest Destiny” has been the fuel to the fire of superiority. Manifest Destiny is the belief that it is American’s are the chosen ones and have the obvious right to conquer and own land between the eastern and western seaboards and that such expansion was inevitable. Manifest Destiny along with Christianity were two reasons that drove and encouraged both expansion within North Amer...
Miller makes clear the impact of wilderness on early American life. While the Old World mentality presented wilderness as mysterious and filled with demons, the new American nation viewed it differently. Rather than possessing a sense of fear, their belief in the divine mission to spread democracy and civilization inspired them to journey west. Accordingly, they did so with a sense of excitement and a thirst for discovery. As such, I wholeheartedly agree with Miller’s view that the early romantic images of the American landscape were expressions of a new cultural nationalism. According to Miller, these early countrymen viewed the new nation as “...a place apart, an unpeopled wilderness where history, born in nature rather than in corrupt institutions,
Occupying the centre of a vast array of paintings, postcards, books and plays, Niagara Falls has become a national icon. Since American independence, Niagara Falls has “assumed nationalistic meaning as the search for cultural/national symbols fixed on nature for America’s identity” (Irwin, xiv). Those select few who had the opportunity to view the falls in the eighteenth century pointed to its majestic beauty and transcendental nature as proof of America’s greatness. It was not until the construction of railroads in the middle of the nineteenth century however, that the majority of Americans were able to experience the falls first hand. At this time, the quest to find meaning in this natural wonder came to a climax. Niagara Falls became a battleground on which Americans sought to interpret the message they knew that Mother Nature had left for them to discover. As a result, Niagara Falls came to symbolize the importance of marriage, spirituality, and technological advancement in the construction of an American identity.
From the lone hiker on the Appalachian Trail to the environmental lobby groups in Washington D.C., nature evokes strong feelings in each and every one of us. We often struggle with and are ultimately shaped by our relationship with nature. The relationship we forge with nature reflects our fundamental beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. The works of timeless authors, including Henry David Thoreau and Annie Dillard, are centered around their relationship to nature.
In many works of literature, readers are able to explore the relationship and possession between Americans and land. Stephen Ambrose, John O’Sullivan, and John Gast all display accurate examples of this. The feelings between American settlers and has for undiscovered land are often unfolded in history.
The American frontier is comprised of the geography, history, and cultural expression of life in this revolution of American westward expansion that began with English colonial settlements in the early 17th century and ended with the adoption of the last mainland territories as states in the early 20th century. Immense attention is primarily targeted towards the western part of the United States during the 19th century, a period widely known as the Old West, or the Wild West. I wanted to know more about the Wild West, so I decided to interview a farmer by the name of David Smith. I asked, “David, why did you decide to move to the West?” he replied, “I need better land to grow my produce. The land and soil back in the East has been stripped of its resources and nutrients. My family, along with many others can no longer live in an area like that, so we left.” After knowing this, I then asked him how the East got to this state so quickly, he tells me that “The east is also very overpopulated, especially where I live, Boston, Massachusetts. As a farmer with a large family, I need more living space and space to grow my crops to support my gradually growing family as well.” I finally asked him if there were any other reasons why he decided to move to the West and he tells me, “I have also received many letters from friends and family who tell me that life in the frontier is much better than life back in the East, especially for a farmer like me.” I realized that with the many risks that these people take, there also come many rewards. By living in the West, you essentially began a new life there; with the free land to use for farming and housing as well. As well as the gold that they were promised to find in the west, along with the cre...
... middle of paper ... ... This conflict conveys the confrontation of wild American nature with the new-coming European civilization, people like the young hunter?had no qualms about doing harm to nature by thrusting civilization upon it? P. Miller, p. 207.
To understand the nature-society relationship means that humans must also understand the benefits as well as problems that arise within the formation of this relationship. Nature as an essence and natural limits are just two of the ways in which this relationship can be broken down in order to further get an understanding of the ways nature and society both shape one another. These concepts provide useful approaches in defining what nature is and how individuals perceive and treat