John Gast's American Progress

In John Gast’s painting labeled “American Progress”, there are many dominant societal forces that could be depicted through his illustration. One well-known depiction that has been made after closely examining the painting is that the woman in the picture resembles an angel of some kind or even the prominent American symbol ‘Lady Liberty’. As she hovers in the air, she pulls a cable line that is connected with the posts beneath her which is connected to American society almost as stringing it behind her as she flies to new land in the west. This represents an “angel” spreading America’s Manifest Destiny one could say from the east to the west coast during this time period. Gorski uses the word “annexed” when describing what the United States did to Texas during this Civil War era in which he states that the U.S. “ ‘annexed’ the Republic of Texas,
In the left side of Gast's painting, the image portrays Native Indians being forced out by the Eastern settlers which is also another correlation of America’s Manifest Destiny during this time. Along with this Manifest Destiny concept were also many others brought by the settlers. With the majority of the newcomers claiming to be Christian, there came all different types denominations and interpretations of the Bible that were brought or instilled into the new land. On page 96 of “American Covenant” it writes “Public rhetoric took an apocalyptic turn as well. Preacher, poets, and politicians portrayed the war as a cosmic struggle between the forces of good and evil, invoking typologies from the books of Daniel and Revelation.39” (Gorski). With all the mixed rhetoric invoked into American society at this time, it only fed into the deeper divide that came upon the western