Westward The Star Of Empire Analysis

In the mid 1800’s the US was in a state of rapid expansion westward. There was territory that had not been developed in the western United States, and as the population grew in the United States, people wanted to move to where they could own land. The expansion of the railroads, including railroads that spanned the entire United States, helped accelerate this movement. However, there were also multiple Native American tribes that had territory out west. As the population expanded westward, the Native Americans were pushed further and further westward. Eventually the Native American tribes were largely relegated to specific reservations. This was partly due to racism that was present during that time in United States history. As these events
Created by Andrew Melrose in 1865, this piece takes the idea of Americans bringing the light with them west and turns it on it’s head. In this piece, it seems as though the sun is setting in the west, and the train and technology is bringing with it darkness. This can be construed as the Americans are not bringing with them the dawn of a new era, rather they are causing the sun to set on the era of the Native Americans. Going with the theme of light, the light of the train is most likely the star referred to in the title of this painting. While the frontiersmen probably thought this star was again bringing light west, in this piece it seems to be disrupting nature, in the form of deer running from the train. This theme of disrupting nature is displayed elsewhere in the painting. Toward the left of the painting, we see what appears either to be a cabin constructed by Americans. In the process of building this cabin, it appears the Americans cut down almost an entire forest. You can see the stumps of many, many trees strewn around the cabin, all the way up to the railroad tracks. The ethnocentricity of the settlers disrupted the natural order of things, to a point where it would have consequences the frontiersmen most likely did not