Westward Expansion In Henry Hathaway's How The West

America’s acquisition of the West took huge strides during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A major move in American history towards this innuendo was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, under Thomas Jefferson. It was a land deal between the United States and France, in which the United States acquired more than 800,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River. Another major factor was the result of the Mexican-American War in 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe. It was a peace treaty that granted the United States with the territories of present day Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and most importantly California. These large acquisitions, combined with the ideas of Manifest Destiny and a growing population led to desire of Westward Expansion.
Henry Hathaway’s, How the West was Won, is a historically significant classic American
However, the illusion of this setting was used for aesthetic and appeal purposes of the film. The concept of a lawless west as to an extent an adaptation by eastern writers to create a more invigorating topic about the newly expanded frontier of America. When comparing the the actual crime statistics, the popularly known gunfighting towns, such as Dodge City and Deadwood, were not as dangerous for the law abiding citizens as any other small western town or city. Most western towns were safer than big cities like Chicago and New York during the same time. Eugene Hollon, wrote that the western frontier “was far more civilized, more peaceful and safer place than American society today”. Even though the West is depicted as a place of chaos in many shows, movies and books, it was in many ways a place of order. During the 1800s, property and civil rights of the people inhabiting the west were protected. Private agencies provided the money for a ordered society in which conflicts were resolved. The film, departures from historical relevance and uses a more popular approach when describing the Wild