Post # 3

The Significance of The Journey of Lewis and Clark
Readings

One Vast Winter Count: The Native American West before Lewis and Clark by Colin G. Calloway

The Journals of Lewis and Clark Edited by Bernard DeVoto

After reading The Journals of Lewis and Clark one is forced to wrestle with the question, what is the significance of this journey? What was this journey really about? There are a wide variety of interpretations of the true significance of this expedition and a number of different vantage points from which to view the journey. So what is the significance of this journey and what was its focus?

One needs to look no farther than Thomas Jefferson’s instructions to Meriwether Lewis to see one interpretation of what this journey was intended to be. Jefferson writes, “The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, and such principle stream of it, as, by it’s course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, may offer the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce.” (cited in DeVoto 482) We see the theme of the economic significance of the journey re-appear throughout Jefferson’s instructions. He goes on to encourage Lewis to make a favorable impression on the Native population for the purpose of future commerce. (cited in DeVoto 482, 484). Other themes such as mapping and scientific discovery are mentioned. However, the predominant focus that can be gleaned from Jefferson’s instructions is the need to assert American power amongst the native population and prepare the area for its commercial future as a part of the United States. This interpretation would seem to fit in well into the framework of those who would interpret the “West” as an area of commercial exploitation by the East.

However, even though this is clearly one of the primary focuses of the expedition, there are a number of other interpretations of the focus and significance of this journey. If one is looking at this journey through the lens of the majority of Americans today, I fear there may be a gross misinterpretation of the true significance of the journey. After watching “Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery”, produced for PBS by Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan, one is left with the impression that this journey was about two larger than life heroes, whose triumphant journey through the rough and unexplored wilderness, was the epitome of what it is to be an American. I want to be clear not to undermine the true heroism required and the very real accomplishment that this journey was. However, this interpretation seems to overshadow many of the truly significant aspects of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

For example, if one looks at the Lewis and Clark expedition through the eyes of the Native American, or the eyes of Colin Calloway, he or she would get a very different view of the significance of the journey. Calloway makes it very clear in his book that the history of the land that Lewis and Clark explored goes back far beyond 1803. He writes that, “Like their European predecessors, Lewis and Clark depended on Indians to point the way across the continent. Armed with the information Indian maps conveyed, they began the process of rethinking, renaming, and remaking the West. But the knowledge of the West was already there. It was extensive in scope and deep in history.” (Calloway 11) Calloway acknowledges that the move of the United States into the West had a transforming impact, but the history of the West did not begin with the footsteps of the two captains.

However, when one is looking at the Lewis and Clark expedition through the eyes of the Native Americans, he or she would find a variety of different views based upon tribe from which those eyes were gazing. For example, if one were looking through the eyes of the Mandan, they would see the expedition as possibly opening up the avenue for a new trade network. Or if one were looking through the eyes of the Blackfeet, they would see a new empire entering the West that was allying with its enemies for trade and was a new threat to them (cf DeVoto May 12 1806: p383, May 28 1806: p395, July 17 1806: p427, July 27 1806: p439).

So what are we to make of the significance of the Lewis and Clark expedition? First, it clearly was a great achievement to have survived such an expedition with only one fatality. Lewis and Clark added to the scientific and geographic understanding that the United States had of the west through their accomplishment. This can clearly not be ignored, but the historian cannot stop here. For the long-term significance we must look deeper. The expedition established the groundwork for a clear assertion of United States power in the west. Furthermore, it opened up a path and established relationships that would benefit commercial gains for the United States.

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Post #2
Turner, The Frontier, and the Significance of the West
Readings
The Frontier in American History by Frederick Jackson Turner
“Claims and Prospects” by Virginia Scharf et. Al
“Fighting Words: The Significance of the Frontier in American History” by William Deverall
“Constructed Province: History and the Making of the Last American West” David Emmons


In the field of western history, the debate over how exactly to view the “west” in a historical framework has obviously been hotly debated. The conflicting interpretive frameworks that define this field of study seem to play a particularly important role, as there seems to be a struggle to define the identity of the field and in turn defend its legitimacy and significance. As Turner wrote on the Significance of the Frontier in American History, western historians now seem to be in a debate over the significance of the west in American history. Furthermore, this significance largely rests upon the interpretive framework by which one defines and analyses the idea of the “west”.

When one is looking at analytical frameworks that define western history, he or she must of coarse, begin with Frederick Jackson Turner’s Frontier thesis. In his essay, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”, Turner establishes the view of the frontier which has largely defined western history for some time. In this essay, Turner argues that, “The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward, explain American development.” (Turner 1) Thus, for Turner, the West, as defined by the idea of the continually advancing frontier, not only defines Western history but American history as well. He sees the frontier as the “meeting point between savagery and civilization” where a “composite national identity” emerged through the common trials that all immigrants to the frontier faced. (Turner 3, 22). In Turner’s framework, it is the idea of the westward frontier that laid the foundation for American nationalism and political development (Turner 24). The problem then emerges as Turner attempts to close the frontier with the 1890 census. Where is the defining framework of American and more specifically Western history left following the close of the frontier?

This problem opens up the debate over the analytical framework that should define Western history. The recent class discussion makes the importance of this debate quite clear. After look at The American West by Robert Hine and John Faragher and The Legacy of Conquest by Patricia Limerick a broad variety of alternate interpretations of Western history have already been presented. Hine and Faragher’s approach of attempting to temper Turner’s thesis while maintaining the concept of the frontier contrasts greatly with Limerick’s attempt to define the West as a set region. This weeks additional readings provide further insights into a variety of historical viewpoints of the West.

In “Claims and Prospects of Western History: A Roundtable”, the reader is presented with a number of vantage points from which to view western history. For example, James Ronda argues that one should view the west both from the harsh reality of those who lived there, such as Guymon, and from the vantage point of those who found inspiration and idealism in the idea of the frontier, such as Jefferson(Scharf et.al 29). On the other hand, John Faragher argues that, “I am a western historian because it because it offered me a way of telling particular and local stories in a global perspective.” (Scharf et al. 33). David Gutierrez attempts to dispel the idea that the West can fall into a single hegemonic interpretation that neglects the histories of the various cultures it attempts to overshadow. (Scharf et.al 35). These varying interpretations demonstrate the varying lenses that historians try to look through when studying the history of the West.

In his article, “Fighting Words: The Significance of the American West in the History of the United States”, William Deverall confronts this issue specifically. He writes, “Competing visions of the western past assume different western significances. Newer versions of western history and understanding explicitly claim that the significance of particular, formerly unfamiliar western histories need now be scrutinized, even emphasized. Not the least of these concerns is the necessity of stretching Western American history beyond the raw limits of last century’s imperial westward expansion, a period that super narrative adores as much as it misinterprets. Similarly, much of the work challenging older notions expresses a wariness and exasperation over supposed western distinctiveness and exceptionalism, a tendency that invites marginalization on all sorts of political, cultural, and academic fronts.” (Deverall 189). Though I do not support all of the author’s arguments, this statement brings the question over the significance of western history into the forefront.

When analyzing the history of the West, I believe the historian must walk a fine line. You can clearly not throw out all of Turner’s thesis. The history of the frontier is a vital history that holds broader implication in American history. However, as the historical analysis of the west unfolds it does not have to be confined by the frontier or by the areas of frontier history that were defined by Turner. Historians should seek to study localized and regional issues in western history. However, to focus so narrowly on these regional issues without trying to tie western history into the broader framework of American history swings the pendulum of historical analysis too far in the opposite direction. Just as it would be wrong to assume that the expansion of the frontier and the west is the sole driving force behind the development of a homogeneous American outlook and the nation, it is also an error to assume that the history of the west has no broader implications in the history of the nation.

Post #1
The Legacy of the American West
Readings

The American West: A New Interpretive History by Robert V. Hine and John Mack Faragher
The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West by Patricia Nelson Limerick

In this weeks readings we were presented with two different interpretive frameworks for the history of the American West. Each reading revealed a unique lens through which one can study and analyze this field of United States History.

In The American West, Hine and Faragher view the concept of the American West as the concept of the frontier. They write, “The history of the frontier is a unifying American theme, for every part of the country was once a frontier, every region was once a West.” (Hine and Faragher 11) By looking at Western history through this lens, they necessarily begin their analysis with a study of the initial clash of Native Americans and European settlers in the New World. However, given their analytical framework, Hine and Faragher trace the history of the nation as the West on the fringe of the frontier. Thus, they include a study of Europeans gradual march west and the conflicts and interactions that that westward movement sparked. They go on to analyze how issues such as the fur trade, mining, roads, and urbanization impacted the history of the American West.

Patricia Nelson Limerick looks at the history of the American West through a very different lens in her study, The Legacy of Conquest. Limerick begins by taking a look at the myriad of different frameworks that have been used to analyze Western history. In particular, she analyzes the legacy of the Turner thesis as an analytical framework and attempts to present an alternative. Limerick downplays the idea of the frontier as the rallying point for historical analysis and instead focuses on the West as a defined area. She writes, “In rethinking Western history, we gain the freedom to think of the West as a place—as many complicated environments occupied by natives who considered their homelands to be the center, not the edge.” (Limerick 26) Furthermore, in addition to establishing the West as a distinct area of study, Limerick also argues that in this area, economic reality spawned many of the confrontations and continues to be a key aspect of understanding the history of the West.

With this interpretive framework, Limerick goes on to stress the conflict between groups such as European settlers, Native Americans, and Mexicans in the region of the American West. Furthermore, the author stresses the fact that the history of this conflict and the issues involved did not end with the closing of the frontier in 1890. Conflicts over land and land use between Native Americans and non-native settlers did not end in 1890, they continue today over issues such as casinos and fishing rights. The conflict on the borderland with Mexico did not end with the closing of the frontier, the line could not be drawn and we still live with a borderland in which we struggle with issues of immigration and control.

In final analysis, Limerick’s analytical framework is particularly challenging. She establishes the West as an area of study that is not limited by the closing of the frontier in 1890. She sets it apart as a distinct region of the nation and historical study that can bring out national themes such as the ideas of conquest, common ground, the fight for recognition and legitimacy, the struggle for cultural dominance, and the American belief in progress. In her framework, the West is a distinct area in which these historical themes and others continue to be fought over in the struggle for conquest and resistance.