The finished mural, located in the United States Capitol Building, served as propaganda for many Americans looking for a brighter future. Frontiersmen had to be willing to face the risks inherent in migration – but had their parents not faced similar risks in coming to America? They had to be willing to do the backbreaking work required to turn a wilderness into prosperous farms and towns – but had their ancestors not done that as well? They had to be willing to break with the familiar and comfortable, and face hardship – perhaps even death. The settlers have overcome hazardous terrain and death in order to reach the American West, bathed in a welcoming golden light.This vision of the frontier as a promised land persisted. The idealized depiction of settlers who have reached the promised land of the west is depicted in Emanuel Leutze’s mural study Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way. The philosophy describing the necessary expansion of the nation westward was called Manifest Destiny the belief that it was our duty to settle the continent, conquer and prosper.
Study for the Apotheosis of Washington in the Rotunda of the
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