Date of Award
5-15-2015
Author's Department
American Cultural Studies
Additional Affiliations
Graduate Arts & Sciences
Degree Name
Doctor of Liberal Arts (DLA)
Degree Type
Thesis DLA
Abstract
This doctoral thesis shall examine how public policy changed with Westward Expansion during the late 19th century. Illustrations played a significant role in both educating readers to what was taking place out west, as well as bringing current events to the public eye in a timely fashion. Once newspapers received word of “Custer’s Massacre,” daily accounts were printed and pictures followed in Harper’s Weekly. Thus, public opinion rose to a peak following the battle, encouraging the federal government to move quickly to bring the Plains tribes under control and protect settlers moving west. Illustrations by Frederic Remington and others tended to show Indians in warfare mode. The impressions made by news accounts, fiction, and presentations such as the Buffalo Bill traveling troupe added to the public’s growing awareness of the West. The thesis contrasts the “hostiles” with George Catlin’s more researched books and pictures of tribes as a mature civilization in existence well before white Europeans arrived. Obstacles other than Indians, such as weather, barren landscapes, long distances, broken down wagons, and disease all made the movement hazardous. The sociological and civil rights impacts are the focal point of this study. The contrast between opposing points of view are brought out in visual form.
Language
English (en)
Advisor/Committee Chair
Randall Calvert
Advisor/Committee Chair's Department
Political Science
Second Committee Member
Iver Bernstein
Second Committee Member's Department
History
Third Committee Member
Douglas Dowd
Third Committee Member's Department
Art
Fourth Committee Member
Steven Fazzari
Fourth Committee Member's Department
Economics
Fifth Committee Member
David Konig
Fifth Committee Member's Department
History
Sixth Committee Member
Richard Mahoney
Seventh Committee Member
Gary Miller
Seventh Committee Member's Department
Political Science
Appendices A, B, and C
Schiele_ThesisAppendix_D_E.pdf (3626 kB)
Appendices D and E
Schiele_ThesisAppendix_F_I.pdf (111 kB)
Appendices F, G, H, and I
Recommended Citation
Schiele, James, "Westward Expansion — The Final Journey From Maine to California: An Illustrated Thesis" (2015). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 383.
http://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/383