Could someone read over this essay and see if it sufficiently answers the prompt?
Prompt:
Describe what Manifest Destiny is. How does the provided picture (both on the board and linked to this assignment) show Manifest Destiny. Multiple (4+) examples should be used in the writing. Why might images like these have been used to spread the ideas of Manifest Destiny?
Here is my essay:
As the editors of History.com state, "Manifest Destiny, a phrase coined in 1845, expressed the philosophy that drove 19th-century U.S. territorial expansion. Manifest Destiny held that the United States was destined—by God, its advocates believed—to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent." Essentially, Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States was destined to expand as far as humanly possible westward across the North American continent.
The provided painting (American Progress by John Gast) clearly illustrates Manifest Destiny by portraying the process of westward expansion, which was fueled by the belief in Manifest Destiny. The woman drifting across the sky, known as Progress, is ushering the modernization, development, and advancement of the West (which in the painting, the west is represented as a mysterious and uncivilized place, especially when compared to the eastern side of the painting). As depicted in the picture, on the right side of the painting (representing the eastern United States), innovation is sweeping across the North American continent, following the direction Progress is flying (which is west). This innovation brought upon by Progress depicts examples of effects that westward expansion has on western settlers by believing in the idea of Manifest Destiny. Examples of the effects of the belief in Manifest Destiny on the western include the enhancements in transportation, such as the further development of trains and railroads and the ever-increasingly more common use of ships, the laying of telegraph wires (used for long-distance communication), the more diverse jobs (the painting shows a miner, a farmer, and a hunter), and the removal of Native American tribes.
Images such as the painting American Progress by John Gast as well as similar pictures might have been used to spread the ideas of Manifest Destiny by depicting what could come out of settlers expanding westward. By displaying the possibilities of what could come out of expanding and settling new land through images, it would inspire a "special breed" of people, the pioneers, to migrate westward to start a new life on the prairie.
Feedback is always welcome! I'm welcome to ANYTHING that would improve this essay (because it's a large portion of my grade lol)