Sources for America’s History: Printed Page 400
How do the decades following the Civil War compare to the 1840s as two periods of expansionism? Were the motivations similar or different?
Compare the history of white–American Indian relations during the 1870s to the point of view expressed by Thomas Hariot (Document 1-1) and the Reverend Father Louis Cellot (Document 2-6). How do these documents show continuity or change in attitudes toward Native Americans?
To what extent do the multiple perspectives in this chapter support or challenge the argument that railroads and western expansion represented positive developments in the history of the United States?
Compare the image of “the west” that emerges from these sources with earlier sources such as The Panoplist and Missionary Herald (Document 7-4) and Lansford Hastings’s Emigrant’s Guide (Document 13-1). Explain how these documents reveal a diversity of perspective about the region as a land of opportunity, a hazard to life and limb, or a bit of both depending on one’s experience.
Compare the artist’s perspective in Across the Continent with the point of view expressed by the artist depicting the Erie Canal (Document 8-1). What historical patterns of continuity and change are suggested by these two images?