CHAPTER 5: ANTEBELLUM WEST, Uprooting and Upheaval, 1820-1860 Contents Introduction and Pre-Reading Questions: 1 Documents: 4 Document 1, John O’Sullivan Explains “Manifest Destiny” (Mt. Holyoke, 1839) 4 Document 2, Autobiography of John Ball from the Oregon Trail, 1832 (user.xmission.com, 1832) 6 Document 3, Stephen Austin Justifies Taking Up Arms Against Mexico (Digital History, 1836) 8 Document 4, General Zachary Taylor Describes the Mexican War (Digital History, 1847) 9 Document 5, Taylor Gives the Mexicans an Ultimatum re: Surrender (Digital History, 1847) 9 Document 6, Henry Simpson Tells Americans How They Can Get Rich in California’s Gold Mines (library.ca.gov, 1848) 10 Document 7, William Clayton Writes About the Mormon Migration to Utah (westvalley.edu, 1846) 11 Document 8, The Donner Party Write About Their Fateful Trip, 1847 (donnerpartydiary.com, 1847) 12 Document 9, Senator Stephen Douglas Argues for Popular Sovereignty re: the Kansas-Nebraska Territory (The Library of Congress, 1854) 14 Document 10, The Free Soil Ideology, 1848 (Digital History, 1848) 16 Post-Reading Exercises: 16 Works Cited 17

 

Introduction and Pre-Reading Questions: Americans had been pushing west since early colonial times, always in search of more land, better land, and, for some, more opportunity. That push for land led settlers from the coast into the interior, from the town into the backwoods. And this feeling that land could always be found west, this feeling that opportunity lay in the west, often convinced people to leave their surroundings and strike out in the wilderness. Though settlers had begun migrating to newer portions of the west in the 1820s, the 1840s and 1850s truly saw the most dramatic increase in western settlement, in westward expansion. One of the major factors in why more people were migrating westward was the spread of an idea called “Manifest Destiny,” an idea that would come to define the American spirit for decades to follow. Manifest Destiny explained to Americans that the United States was destined, by God, “to expand its boundaries over a vast area, an area that included, but was not necessarily restricted to, the continent of North America.”[footnoteRef:1] This idea embraced a spirit of nationalism that insisted it was Americans’ duty to bring that wonderful institution, democracy, to the farthest reaches possible. And by the 1840s, the idea of Manifest Destiny had spread like wildfire through the nation, as you’ll see in the first document by John O’Sullivan. [1: Alan Brinkley, The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People (McGraw Hill: New York, 1996), 326.]

Manifest Destiny led people to a number of regions in the west. In the early years of Manifest Destiny, people began traveling first to Texas and Oregon. Document 2 illustrates the excitement and resources that could be found on the Oregon Trail. In Texas, tens of thousands of Americans migrated to this Mexican territory in the 1820s and by the 1830s, these white settlers wanted Texas (and other Mexican territories, among them California) to become a part of the United States with all of its benefits and protections. The United States ultimately went to war with Mexico over this territory, which Documents 3-5 discuss. What positive attributes did these authors give to the West? What are some of the negative aspects you can see regarding westward expansion? Why do you think the United States felt justified in going to war over Mexican territory?

The Mexican-American War added a great deal of territory to the United States, which appeased the appetites of those people who supported the idea of Manifest Destiny. But when gold was found in California (Document 6) in 1848 causing California to apply for statehood, it became clear that the accumulation of new territory also meant that the issue of slavery was far from solved.

There were certainly people who came to the Far West before the 1848 gold rush, in search of a new and better life—people who just came on the wings of the belief in Manifest Destiny. One of these groups was the Mormons, a religious group that had formed in the early 19th century in upstate New York. The Mormons were heavily persecuted in upstate New York by other religious folks who believed the Book of Mormon to be heresy. As a result of these feelings of persecution, Joseph Smith and his followers headed west to set up Mormon settlements and, hopefully, escape danger. Document 7 discusses the Mormon migration that took place as Mormons moved from New York, to Missouri, Ohio, and ultimately Utah, in search of religious freedom.

One of the most infamous groups of Manifest Destiny-proponents was the Donner Party who migrated to California in 1846-1847. The story of the Donner Party is a tragic one (Document 8), and it had the effect of at least tempering the multitude of stories traveling east about how easy migration was and how wonderful it was. How do Documents 6-8 describe westward migration? What were the positives? The negatives? Do you think you would have migrated west given what you’ve read?

Westward expansions presented an exciting opportunity for Americans and many Americans took advantage of the opportunity and headed west. This westward expansion absorbed the massive population growth of the antebellum period and spread the American borders from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. But as people migrated west, their cultures and their ideologies migrated westward, as well. And former Northerners and Southerners soon found themselves as neighbors; and slavery once again became a hot-button issue, particularly whether or not slavery should be allowed to expand into the new territories of the west. Document 9 introduces the idea of popular sovereignty, which was introduced by Senator Stephen Douglas to “solve” the question of slaver yin the west, while Document 10 discusses a new political ideology known as the “Free Soil” ideology, which proposed slavery not be allowed to expand at all. What are the basic tenets of each ideology? Do they contradict one another? Do either provide a “solution” to the slavery question? Rapid expansion into the west, and the new ideologies that surfaced regarding slavery, would lead the nation closer and closer to civil war.

Documents:

 

Document 1, John O’Sullivan Explains “Manifest Destiny” (Mt. Holyoke, 1839)[footnoteRef:2] [2: Excerpted from “The Great Nation of Futurity,” The United States Democratic Review, Volume 6, Issue 23, pp. 426-430.]

 

The American people having derived their origin from many other nations, and the Declaration of National Independence being entirely based on the great principle of human equality, these facts demonstrate at once our disconnected position as regards any other nation; that we have, in reality, but little connection with the past history of any of them, and still less with all antiquity, its glories, or its crimes. On the contrary, our national birth was the beginning of a new history, the formation and progress of an untried political system, which separates us from the past and connects us with the future only; and so far as regards the entire development of the natural rights of man, in moral, political, and national life, we may confidently assume that our country is destined to be the great nation of futurity.

 

It is so destined, because the principle upon which a nation is organized fixes its destiny, and that of equality is perfect, is universal. It presides in all the operations of the physical world, and it is also the conscious law of the soul — the self-evident dictates of morality, which accurately defines the duty of man to man, and consequently man’s rights as man. Besides, the truthful annals of any nation furnish abundant evidence, that its happiness, its greatness, its duration, were always proportionate to the democratic equality in its system of government. . . .

 

What friend of human liberty, civilization, and refinement, can cast his view over the past history of the monarchies and aristocracies of antiquity, and not deplore that they ever existed? What philanthropist can contemplate the oppressions, the cruelties, and injustice inflicted by them on the masses of mankind, and not turn with moral horror from the retrospect?

 

America is destined for better deeds. It is our unparalleled glory that we have no reminiscences of battle fields, but in defence of humanity, of the oppressed of all nations, of the rights of conscience, the rights of personal enfranchisement. Our annals describe no scenes of horrid carnage, where men were led on by hundreds of thousands to slay one another, dupes and victims to emperors, kings, nobles, demons in the human form called heroes. We have had patriots to defend our homes, our liberties, but no aspirants to crowns or thrones; nor have the American people ever suffered themselves to be led on by wicked ambition to depopulate the land, to spread desolation far and wide, that a human being might be placed on a seat of supremacy.

 

We have no interest in the scenes of antiquity, only as lessons of avoidance of nearly all their examples. The expansive future is our arena, and for our history. We are entering on its untrodden space, with the truths of God in our minds, beneficent objects in our hearts, and with a clear conscience unsullied by the past. We are the nation of human progress, and who will, what can, set limits to our onward march? Providence is with us, and no earthly power can. We point to the everlasting truth on the first page of our national declaration, and we proclaim to the millions of other lands, that “the gates of hell” — the powers of aristocracy and monarchy — “shall not prevail against it.”

 

The far-reaching, the boundless future will be the era of American greatness. In its magnificent domain of space and time, the nation of many nations is destined to manifest to mankind the excellence of divine principles; to establish on earth the noblest temple ever dedicated to the worship of the Most High — the Sacred and the True. Its floor shall be a hemisphere — its roof the firmament of the star-studded heavens, and its congregation an Union of many Republics, comprising hundreds of happy millions, calling, owning no man master, but governed by God’s natural and moral law of equality, the law of brotherhood — of “peace and good will amongst men.”. . .

 

Yes, we are the nation of progress, of individual freedom, of universal enfranchisement. Equality of rights is the cynosure of our union of States, the grand exemplar of the correlative equality of individuals; and while truth sheds its effulgence, we cannot retrograde, without dissolving the one and subverting the other. We must onward to the fulfilment of our mission — to the entire development of the principle of our organization — freedom of conscience, freedom of person, freedom of trade and business pursuits, universality of freedom and equality. This is our high destiny, and in nature’s eternal, inevitable decree of cause and effect we must accomplish it. All this will be our future history, to establish on earth the moral dignity and salvation of man — the immutable truth and beneficence of God. For this blessed mission to the nations of the world, which are shut out from the life-giving light of truth, has America been chosen; and her high example shall smite unto death the tyranny of kings, hierarchs, and oligarchs, and carry the glad tidings of peace and good will where myriads now endure an existence scarcely more enviable than that of beasts of the field. Who, then, can doubt that our country is destined to be the great nation of futurity?

 

Document 2, Autobiography of John Ball from the Oregon Trail, 1832 (user.xmission.com, 1832)[footnoteRef:3] [3: John Ball, Autobiography of John Ball, Grand Rapids, Michigan: The Dean-Hicks Company, 1925.]

 

The first day after leaving the trappers, we traveled over a rough country of all sorts of rock, burnt and unburnt, and encamped in what is now called a canyon, between high basaltic rocks. We twelve thus for the first time alone it seemed a little lonely. And though not fearful, there was something like a deep curiosity as to the future, what might happen to us in that unknown land. Our aim was to get back on to the Lewis river and follow that to its junction with the Columbia. And I now presume we were on the headwaters of the Owyhee, the east boundary of Oregon. And the next day and for days we kept on the same or near. We pursued it till so shut in that we had to leave it by a side cut and get onto an extended plain above, a plain with little soil on the basaltic rock, and streams in the clefts or canyons. One day we traveled 30 miles and found water but once, and in the dry atmosphere our thirst became extreme. On approaching the canyon we could see the stream meandering along the narrow gorge 1,000 feet down, and on and on we traveled not knowing that we should survive even to reach it to quench our thirst. Finally before night we observed horse tracks and that they seemed to thicken at a certain point and lead down the precipitous bluff where it was partially broken down. So by a most difficult descent we reached the creek, dismounted and down its banks to quench our thirst. And our horses did not wait for an invitation, but followed in quick time. The bluffs were of the burnt rock, some places looking like an oven burned brick kiln, and others porous. And laying over the next day and going a short distance down the creek, we found Indians who had our future food, dried salmon. And getting out on the other side we traveled on and when we came again to the river we found it, though now quite a stream, decidedly warm, made so by hot springs gushing in from porous bluffs. Quite a stream came in of the temperature of 100 degrees.

 

Shoshone Indians

 

The creek finally comes out of the ravine into a better looking country, and here we met other Indians. They call themselves Shoshones and seemed very friendly and sold us their salmon for such of our goods as they seemed most to need– awls of iron to prick their deer skins for sewing into garments, and knives, for they hardly possessed an article of our manufacture. They used a sharp bone for an awl, one flattened for a chisel, stone knives and hatchets. Ourselves and all we had seemed to them great curiosities. For their country being poor in furs it had not been visited by traders.

 

In some ten or twelve days after leaving the trappers, we reached the mouth of the creek where it joins the Lewis river. And here we found a large encampment of Indians, being a favorable site for fishing. The first thing on arriving the chief, in their usual hospitable manner, sent us a fine salmon for our dinner, and would have deemed it an insult to be offered pay for it. We were strangers and his guests.

 

Indian Fishing

 

Their manner of fishing was ingenious. The stream was shallow and they built a fence across it near its mouth and then some distance above, leaving weirs at one side, so that the fish coming down or going up would come in, but would not find their way out. They had spears with a bone point with a socket that fitted onto a shaft, and a hole through the point by which a string tied it to the handle. At sunrise at a signal from the chief they rushed in from both sides, struck the salmon through with the spear, the point came off, and held by the string to the shaft, they towed them to shore and so soon had hundreds on land.

 

Near, up the Lewis river, were bluffs of basaltic rock thirty feet high and resting on the sandy shore, the pentagonal columns tumbling down into the river as the earth was washed away, showing that there had been melted overflow of rock, which then cooled and crystallized into rock and in this form in blocks, one above another.

 

Beavers

 

As we occasionally saw the fresh marks of beaver on the streams, we set our traps and occasionally caught some, preserved and packed along their skins, knowing that they would be acceptable to the Hudson Bay people in exchange for such things as we should need from them. And at times we had nothing else to eat but their meat, which having nothing else, we relished right well. About the beaver building houses, they only do it when the land along the streams, where they are, is low. For when there are high banks they burrow up and make their nests in the earth, but always have the mouths of their holes under the water, so even when the streams are frozen over they can come to the water under the ice. They subsist on the bark of small trees, but for winter’s use cut with their chisel teeth, small trees into blocks and store them in the mud at the mouths of their burrows or in the same, as the squirrel does with his acorns. And the muskrat too makes his nest of grass or rushes in the swamp, raising it above the water. The beaver is an intelligent and interesting animal and so are all others, birds and all, each in his way.

 

Reckless of Danger

 

In this part of our journey we twelve were often very reckless of danger. For the purpose of this trapping we would separate, for a night or for more. When in full camp our horses were always picketed near us and some two or more always awake as a guard. But when two or three were away for a night’s trapping, we slept with our horses’ long halters tied to a bush near us or sometimes in our hand. One night when thus encamped I had my old camlet cloak stolen from my saddle and our horses’ halters cut, but they, the horses, did not leave us, and we did not see by whom done. At another time we found the Indians about at night, for though generally friendly, they could not forego the attempt to steal away in a quiet manner, our horses, of which we had two to a man.

 

We traveled some days along or in the vicinity of the Lewis river after meeting Indians, and subsisting mostly on fresh or dried salmon bought or given us from them, and making short or long day’s journeys and laying over to catch the beaver. They are a night animal.

 

At one night’s encampment, we made the Indians understand that we were going to Walla Walla, the name of that place being the only word we had in common. All else was by signs, talk with the fingers. Inquiring the way, one of the Indians said that he had been to Walla Walla and made in the sand a map of the country. He said that such a mark meant the river and another the trail, that the road kept down the river three sleeps, always reckoning distances by day’s journeys, or in two if we whipped up; that then the river went into mountains, it does pass through a canyon and for a hundred or two miles, and the road left the river and up a creek, and then we should go so many days and come to a mountain, go over that and encamp, then over another and encamp, then a plain and in two days Walla Walla.

 

I felt confident I understood him, though this all by signs, and it proved just as he had said, and of great help to us. But as we traveled on we met with no more Indians from whom to buy our fish, and we met with no game that we could kill. And not taking the precaution to pack along much, we soon got short of food. And we hurried on making thirty miles one day, crossing a most beautiful fertile plain surrounded by mountains, the same I think is called the Big Pound. And came to the mountains, the Indian described, the Blue Mountains. And here we were in a bad plight, our horses, some of them at least, exhausted by hard travel, and ourselves the same, having been some days on short allowance and now nothing left. So for food we killed an old horse. But hungry as we were, this did not relish well. But I will show that horse, in good condition is good food, for I afterwards tested it…

 

Document 3, Stephen Austin Justifies Taking Up Arms Against Mexico (Digital History, 1836)[footnoteRef:4] [4: Stephen F. Austin letter, 1836.]

 

The revolutions and usurpations and violations of the constitutional rights of the people of Texas by the Mexican Govt. have compelled us to arm in self-defense–ours is a war of independence–our object is a total & everlasting separation from Mexico and to form a new and independent republic, or to become a part of these U.S.–we shall be satisfied with either….

 

We have an organized provisional govt. in operation, an army on the frontier and four armed schooners to protect our coasts.

 

Gen. Santana [sic] is however preparing to invade us in the Spring with all the forces he can collect. The main contest will probably take place in April & we shall then need all the aid we can procure in men and money. Col T.D. Owings late of the U.S. Army has engaged to train two regiments in Kentucky to be called the Kentucky legions and must see the privilege of old friendships so far as to elicit your aid in our cause–a move more just and holy one never existed in any country, and it is one which pertains to the interests of the people of the U.S. & especially the western country. Texas ought to be American. The tranquility of Louisiana requires it. The cause of liberty, of freedom of conscience, & of civilization, most correctly demand it. This state [Tennessee] & Alabama, & Mississippi have formed many companies who have marched and are preparing to march. I hope that Kentucky will not be behind them.

 

Document 4, General Zachary Taylor Describes the Mexican War (Digital History, 1847)[footnoteRef:5] [5: Zachary Taylor letter, 1847.]

 

I have not heard any of the particulars as regards…Scott’s taking possession of the City of Mexico. All we have heard relative to that affair is that he was in quiet possession of that piece & that the Mexican army had dispersed; I presume there will hardly be another battle; that Santa Anna had gone no one knew where, in the direction of the Pacific, & it was supposed he would leave this country; this is Mexican views & Mexican conjecture…. I presume atrocity of some kind or other will grow out of our taking the city & laying it under contribution [occupation], which the Mexicans say has been done, & should they acquiesce in considerable [loss] of territory, it will produce great strife in the streets, when atrocity is laid before that body for their action. The Wilmot Proviso will shake that body to its center… but I hope some compromise will be entered into between the two parties slavery & anti slavery which will have the effect of allying violent passions on both sides, which will have the effect of perpetuating…or shortening the Union….

 

It is to me a matter of perfect indifference whether I am even elected [as president] or not. I do not intend any party shall use me as a convenience; if drafted I intend to stand aloof, & let Whigs and Democrats [use] this matter in their own way…. Depend on it there will be great changes in the complexion of political affairs between now & the end of this next session of Congress; the Whigs as a party between ourselves I look upon as doomed…. I am gratified I took the position I did, which was not to be the exclusive candidate of any party; & if I am elected at all, it will be by a union of a portion of Whig Democrat and native votes. At any rate I am occupying a position & shall continue to do so. I hope that if not elected, I shall neither be mortified or disappointed.

 

Document 5, Taylor Gives the Mexicans an Ultimatum re: Surrender (Digital History, 1847)[footnoteRef:6] [6: Zachary Taylor, “Proclamation,” 1847.]

 

PROCLAMATION

 

The Chief General of the American Forces to the Inhabitants of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila.

 

When the American troops first crossed the frontier and entered the said districts, it was with the intention not to make war against the peaceful citizens of the country, but instead, with the aim of finding an honorable peace as quickly as possible….

 

The author [of this proclamation] was authorized by his government to make a levy or require tribute from the local communities in order to maintain his army. But disinclined to throw the heavy weight of the war on those who, with few exceptions, have manifested a neutral disposition, he has continued, from the beginning, to pay punctually and liberally for all the support that has been extracted in order to aid his troops.

 

He has made the greatest effort so that the war will not weigh heavily upon the citizens of those districts, and had hoped through these means to have enjoyed your confidence and assured your neutrality in the current dispute between his Government and that of Mexico. But with regret he is forced to say that his generosity has not been appreciated but has been met with acts of hostility.

 

Instead of continuing their business peacefully in their hearths, the citizens of the country have distributed arms in the roadways and encouraged ambushes [of U.S. forces]. Under the direction and with the support of the government, they have destroyed wagon trains and assassinated drivers in atrocious circumstances that are shameful to humanity.

 

The lives of those who have been so wickedly assassinated cannot be restored; but the author requires that the citizens of the country indemnify the losses caused by the destruction of the trains and the pillaging of their contents. Towards that end, an estimate will be made by the authorities of the entire loss. This loss must be made good in cash or in products of the country by the general community in the Districts of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, each judicial district paying its fair share. And it is hoped that the rich will pay their proper share.

 

The author calls on all good citizens to remain absolutely neutral and not give aid to the partisans who infest the country with the sole object of killing and robbing.

 

Document 6, Henry Simpson Tells Americans How They Can Get Rich in California’s Gold Mines (library.ca.gov, 1848)[footnoteRef:7] [7: Henry Simpson, “The Emigrant’s Guide to the Gold Mines” (New York: Joyce & Co., 1848).]

 

 

Document 7, William Clayton Writes About the Mormon Migration to Utah (westvalley.edu, 1846)[footnoteRef:8] [8: William Clayton, “Mob Violence Against Mormons,” 1846.]

 

T HURSDAY, 24th. Very cold all day. I did not feel so well. I have been told that Daniel H. Wells and William Cutler have arrived in camp and brought a report that there has been a battle fought in Nauvoo and some of the brethren killed.

 

FRIDAY, 25th. I learned today that the mob had made it known that they were coming to drive out the “Mormons.” The Governor sent an officer to raise volunteers to disperse the mob, but the mob learning this they came sooner than they had calculated. The brethren being apprised of the intentions of the mob prepared to meet them as well as their circumstances would permit. Some of the new citizens also made preparations to join the brethren. They made five cannon shot of an old steam boat shaft. They also filled some barrels with powder, old iron, etc., which were buried in the pass to the city which could be fired by slow match but this was of no avail as some traitors informed the mob of it, hence they did not come into the settled part of the city. On Saturday the 12 inst., the mob made their appearance being about twelve hundred in number. The brethren and some of the new citizens in the whole about one hundred and sixty went to give them battle, but many of the new citizens and some of the brethren when they saw the numbers of the mob fled and left about one hundred, nearly all brethren to fight the enemy. The mob had pieces of cannon. They met near Boscow’s store on Winchester street. The cannon of the mob fired a number of times into Barlow’s old barn expecting many of the brethren were concealed there but in this they were disappointed, the brethren chiefly lying down on the ground behind some shelter and fired in that position. They fought one hour and twenty minutes when the mob offered terms of compromise which were these, that all the “Mormons” should leave the city within five days leaving ten families to finish the unsettled business. The brethren consented to this inasmuch as they had been well informed that 1500 more were coming to join the mob and they had nothing to expect from the authorities of the state. Lyman Johnson, one of the twelve, headed a party of the mob from Keokuk, Iowa territory. Three of the brethren were killed, viz. William Anderson, his son, and Norris, a blacksmith. Three others wounded. The mob would not own to any of their party being killed but one person saw them put sixteen men into one wagon and handled them more like dead persons than wounded. The ground where they stood was pretty much covered with blood, so that there is no doubt they had many slain or wounded. They had 150 baggage wagons. Esquire Wells took command of the brethren and rode to and fro during the whole battle without receiving injury, although the balls whistled by him on every side. Amos Davis fought bravely. While running across a plowed field he stumbled and fell on his left arm which formed a triangle with his head. As he fell a cannon ball passed through the angle of his arm between that and his head. Hiram Kimball received a slight wound with a musket ball on the forehead. The mob fired sixty-two shots with the cannon and ten rounds with the muskets making 12,000 musket balls only killing three and wounding three. The brethren did not fire so much in proportion but did much more execution. Truly, the Lord fights the battles of his saints. The cannon of the brethren was not of much service, they would not carry more than a quarter of a mile whereas those of the mob would hold well a half a mile. They shot nine balls through a small smith shop, one through Wells’ barn and one at his house but the ball struck the ground in front of his house and glanced through the well curb. The mayor of Quincy watched the battle from the tower of the temple and owned that history never afforded a parallel. The brethren then began to get their families and effects over the river where they remain in a suffering and destitute condition until wagons and means are sent from the saints to their relief. On the Thursday following, the mob 1200 strong, entered the city. ‘Tis said from good authority that such is the distress and sufferings of the saints as actually to draw tears from this mob….

 

Document 8, The Donner Party Write About Their Fateful Trip, 1847 (donnerpartydiary.com, 1847)[footnoteRef:9] [9: William Fallon, Diary, April 1847.]

 

April 17th. Reached the Cabins between 12 and 1 o’clock. Expected to find some of the sufferers alive, Mrs. Donner and Kiesburg in particular. Entered the cabins and a horrible scene presented itself,–human bodies terribly mutiliated, legs, arms, and sculls scattered in every direction. One body, supposed to be that of Mrs. Eddy, lay near the entrance, the limbs severed off and a frightful gash in the scull. The flesh from the bones was nearly consumed and a painful stillness pervaded the place. The supposition was that all were dead, when a sudden shout revived our hopes, and we flew in the direction of the sound, three Indians were hitherto concealed, started from the ground and fled at our approach, leaving behind their bows and arrows. We delayed two hours in searching the cabins, during which we were obliged to witness sights from which we would have fain turned away, and which are too dreadful to put on record.–We next started for ‘Donner’s camp’ 8 miles distant over the mountains. After traveling about half way, we came upon a track in the snow, which excited our suspicion, and we determined to pursue it. It brought us to the camp of Jacob Donner, where it had evidently left that morning. There we found property of every description, books, calicoes, tea, coffee, shoes, percussion caps, household and kitchen furniture scattered in every direction, and mostly in the water. At the mouth of the tent stood a large iron kettle filled with human flesh cut up, it was the body of Geo. Donner, the head had been split open, and the brains extracted thereform, and to the appearance, he had not been long dead, and over three or four days at the most. Near by the kettle stood a chair, and thereupon three legs of a bullock that had been shot down in the early part of the winter, and snowed under before it could be dressed. The meat was found sound and good, and with the exception of a small piece out of the shoulder, wholly untouched. We gathered up some property and camped for the night…

 

April 19. This morning Foster, Rhodes, and J. Foster started with small packs for the first cabins intending from thence to follow the trail of the person that had left the morning previous. The other three remained behind to cache and secure the goods necessarily left there. Knowing the Donners had a considerable sum of money, we searched diligently but were unsuccessful. The party for the cabins were unable to keep the trail of the mysterious personage owing to the rapid melting of the snow, they therefore went direct for the cabins, and upon entering discovered Kiesburg lying down amidst the human bones and beside him a large pan full of fresh liver and lights. They asked him what had become of his companions, whether they were alive, and what had become of Mrs. Donner. He answered them by stating they were all dead; Mrs. Donner, he said, had in attempting to cross form one cabin to another, missed the trail, and slept out one night; that she came to his camp the next night very much fatigued, he made her a cup of coffee, placed her in bed and rolled her well in the blankets, but the next morning found her dead; he eat her body and found her flesh the best he had ever tasted! He further stated that he obtained from her body at least four pounds of fat! No traces of her person could be found, nor the body of Mrs. Murphy either.–When the last company left the camp, three weeks previous, Mrs Donner was in perfect health though unwilling to come out and leaver her husband there, and offrered $500 to any person or persons who could come out and bring them in, saying this in the presence of Kiesburg, and she had plenty of tea and coffee, we suspected that it was her sho had taken the piece from the shoulder of beef in the chair before mentioned. In the cabin with Kiesburg was found two kettles of human blood, in all supposed to be over one gallon Rhodes asked him where he had got the blood, he answered, “there is blood in dead bodies,”–they asked him numerous questions, but he appeared embarassed and equivocated a great deal, and in reply to their asking him where Mrs. Donner’s money was, he evinced confusion and answered, that he knew nothing about it.–that she must have cached it before she died–“I have’nt it” said he, “nor the money, nor the property of any person, living or dead!” They then examined his bundle and found silks and jewelry, which had been taken from the camp of the Donners, and amounting in value to about $200; on his person they discoverd a brace of pistols, recognized to be those of Geo. Donner, and while taking them from him discovered something concealed in his waistcoat, which on being opened was found to be $225 in gold.

Before leaving the settlements, the wife of Keysburg had told us that we would find but little money about him; the men therefore said to him that they knew he was lying to them, and hes was well aware of the place of concealment of the Donner’s money; he declared before heaven, he knew nothing concerning it, and that he had not the property of any one in his possession; they told him that to lie to them would effect nothing, that there were others back at the cabins, who unless informed of the spot where the treasure was hidden, would not hesitate to hang him upon the first tree. Their threats were of no avail, he still affirmed his ignorance and innocence, and Rhodes took him aside and talked to him kindly, telling him that if he would give the information desired, he should receive from their hands the best of treatment, and be in every way assisted, otherwise, the party back at Donners’ camp, would, upon his arrival and refusal to discover to them the place where he had deposited this money, immediately put him to death; it was all to no purpose, however, and they prepared to return to us, leaving him in charge of his packs, and assuring him of their determination to visit him in the morning, and he must make up his mind during the night. They then started back and joined us at Donner’s Camp…

 

Document 9, Senator Stephen Douglas Argues for Popular Sovereignty re: the Kansas-Nebraska Territory (The Library of Congress, 1854)[footnoteRef:10] [10: A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: US Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875. Congressional Globe, Senate, 33rd Congress, 1st Session, 1854.]

 

Document 10, The Free Soil Ideology, 1848 (Digital History, 1848)[footnoteRef:11] [11: Gerrit Smith, “The Free Soil Party,” 1848.]

 

I hardly need say, that I am deeply interested in the present movement against the extension of slavery; and that I infinitely prefer the election of the candidates, who are identified with it, to the election of the Whig and Democratic candidates. Gen. [Zachary] Taylor and Gen. [Lewis] Cass are proslavery candidates. Mr. Van Buren and Mr. Adams are antislavery candidates. The former are the shameless tools of the slave-power. The latter bravely resist it.

 

It is true, that, among all the persons, whom there was the least reason to believe the Buffalo Convention [of the Free Soil Party] would nominate for President, Mr. Van Buren was my preference. He was my preference, because I believed he would obtain a much larger vote than any of the others; and, that his nomination would go much farther than that of any of the others toward breaking up the great political parties, which, along with the ecclesiastical parties, are the chief shelters and props of slavery.

 

But it is not true that I shall vote for Mr. Van Buren. I can vote for no man for President of the United States, who is not an abolitionist; for no man, who votes for slaveholders, or for those, who do; for no man, whose understanding and heart would not prompt him to use the office, to the utmost, for the abolition of slavery. And, let me here confess, that I am not of the number of those, who believe, that the Federal Government has no higher power over slavery than to abolish it in the District of Columbia, and to abolish the inter-State traffic in human beings. On the contrary, I claim that this Government has power, under the Constitution, to abolish every part of American slavery, whether without, or within, the States; and that it is superlatively guilty against God and man for refusing thus to use it. The still higher ground do I take, that no man is fit for President of the United States, who does not scout the idea of the possibility of property in man, and who does not insist, that slavery is as utterly incapable of legalization, as is murder itself. Why is it not? Is it not as bad as murder? Is not, indeed, murder itself one of the elements in that matchless compound of enormous crimes?…There should be no surprise, that, from the day this Nation came into being until the present day, no white man has, in any one of the Southern States, been put to death, under the laws, for the murder of a slave.…

 

 

Post-Reading Exercises:

 

1. Pretend you are a journalist assigned to write a newspaper article on westward expansion. Write an article that either encourages or discourages Americans to move west. You should be sure to incorporate specific examples and quotes from the primary sources documents in this chapter.

 

2. Write a 1-2 page essay explaining how westward expansion contributed to the Civil War. You should be sure to incorporate specific examples and quotes from the primary sources documents in this chapter.

 

3. JOURNAL OPTION: For this chapter of OB, instead of answering Question 1 or 2, you may instead choose to turn in a 2-4 page typed document (double-spaced) with brief notes on each document in the chapter, as well as 5 questions about the chapter’s material. Please see the handout under Files titled “Journal Notes/Questions Guide” for more specific instructions on how to do this properly.

 

Works Cited Document 3: Digital History. (1836). Digital History. Retrieved July 9, 2012, from Stephen F. Austin, Gone to Texas: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/documents/documents_p2.cfm?doc=93 Document 4: Digital History. (1847). Digital History. Retrieved July 9, 2012, from Zachary Taylor, The Mexican War: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/documents/documents_p2.cfm?doc=112 Document 5: Digital History. (1847). Digital History. Retrieved July 9, 2012, from Zachary Taylor, Ultimatum to Mexico: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/documents/documents_p2.cfm?doc=114 Document 10: Digital History. (1848). Digital History. Retrieved July 9, 2012, from Gerrit Smith, The Free Soil Party: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/documents/documents_p2.cfm?doc=111 Document 8: donnerpartydiary.com. (1847, April). donnerpartydiary.com. Retrieved July 9, 2012, from Log Entries for April, 1847: http://www.donnerpartydiary.com/apr47.htm Document 6: library.ca.gov. (1848). library.ca.gov. Retrieved July 9, 2012, from Henry Simpson, Emigrant Guide: http://www.library.ca.gov/goldrush/images/emigrant_guide_cover.jpg Document 1: Mt. Holyoke. (1839). Mt. Holyoke. Retrieved July 9, 2012, from John L. O’Sullivan on Manifest Destiny: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/osulliva.htm Document 9: The Library of Congress. (1854). The Library of Congress. Retrieved July 9, 2012, from A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: US Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875, Douglas: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llcg&fileName=033/llcg033.db&recNum=276 Document 2: user.xmission.com. (1832). user.xmission.com. Retrieved July 9, 2012, from The Autobiography of John Ball, Across the Plains to Oregon: http://user.xmission.com/~drudy/mtman/html/jball.html Document 7: westvalley.edu. (1846). westvalley.edu. Retrieved July 9, 2012, from William Clayton, Mob Violence Against Mormons: http://instruct.westvalley.edu/kelly/History17a_on_campus/Readings/Mormons.htm

 

1

 

Barbara Ehrlich White, “The Bathers of 1887 and Renoir’s Anti-Impressionism,” The Art Bulletin, Vol. 55, No. 1 (March 1973), pp. 106-126.

1) What does the precision of technique in the three foreground bathers in the painting suggest? (p. 107)

2) According to White, why does the author dispute Vollard’s assertion that Renoir tried to duplicate a fresco technique during his “sour period”? (p. 107)

3) According to the author, how is Renoir’s Bathers “aesthetically incongruous”, with particular respect to the composition and brushstroke? What is its effect and result? (pp. 107-111)

4) What works of art from his own previous paintings of single nudes does Renoir’s Bathers recall? (p. 111)

5) According to White, how did the split among the Impressionist group affect Renoir? (pp. 113-114)

6) According to the author, how may have Renoir’s relationship with Aline and the birth of their son affect the Bathers? What proof does White offer? (p. 114)

7) How did Renoir attempt to seek progress and “irregularity” in his work during 1884-87? (p. 115)

8) According to White, influence from which contemporary writers in the literary and musical world prompted Renoir’s divergence from naturalism towards a new classicism? (p. 118)

9) How did the influence of tradition impact Renoir’s aesthetic shift during his “sour” period? (pp. 119-121)

10) According to the author, why was Renoir vulnerable to the popular taste of the wealthy class? Which artists did Renoir, essentially, look to in an attempt to “sell out”? How did Renoir try to improve his financial situation? How did his peers respond to this shift and what was the end result? (pp. 121-125)

Answer the following question (200-250 words): How are the concepts of nationalism and imperialism related to each other? Explain how this interrelation and nationalist pride and imperialist aspirations led to the outbreak of World War One?