Heading West in 19C America

 William Hahn (German-born American artist, 1829-1887) Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point

Heading West in 19C America

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson quietly purchased the territory of Louisiana from the French government for $15 million. The Louisiana Purchase stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to New Orleans, & it doubled the size of the United States. To Jefferson, westward expansion was the key to the nation’s moral health. He believed that a republic depended on an independent, virtuous citizenry for its survival, & that independence & virtue went hand in hand with land ownership, especially the ownership of small farms. “Those who labor in the earth,” he wrote, “are the chosen people of God.”

William Tylee Ranney (American artist, 1813-1857) Advice on the Prairie

Heading West in 19C America

William Hahn (German-born American artist, 1829-1887) Return from Glacier Point.  In The Return Trip from Glacier Point, an elegantly attired party of both men & women on horses & mules descends from a mountain. Two of the travelers are stopping in the shade to water the horses & themselves, while the rest of the party descends to the flat area. Built as a horse toll trail in 1872 by James McCauley, this scenic trail was initially known as the Four Mile Trail. 

Heading West in 19C America

William Hahn (German-born American artist, 1829-1887) Southern Pacific R.R. Station at Sacramento

Heading West in 19C America

Harvey Dunn (1884-1952) The Homesteader's Wife

The Homestead Act

Signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act encouraged Western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land. In exchange, homesteaders paid a small filing fee & were required to complete 5 years of continuous residence before receiving ownership of the land. After six months of residency, homesteaders also had the option of purchasing the land from the government for $1.25 per acre. The Homestead Act led to the distribution of 80 million acres of public land by 1900.  In 1976, the Homestead Act was repealed by the  Federal Land Policy & Management Act, which stated “public lands be retained in Federal ownership.” The act authorized the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to manage federal lands. Homesteading was still allowed for another decade in Alaska, until 1986.

See
Cross, Coy F. Go West, Young Man!: Horace Greeley's Vision for America. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995. 
Lee, Lawrence Bacon. Kansas and the Homestead Act, 1862-1905. New York: Arno Press, 1979. 
Ottoson, Howard W., ed. Land Use Policy and Problems in the United States. Edited by Howard W. Ottoson. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1963. 
Stephenson, George Malcolm. The Political History of the Public Lands From 1840 to 1862; From Preemption to Homestead. New York: Russell & Russell, 1967. 

Heading West in 19C America

Jennie Augusta Brownscombe (1850-1936)  Love's Young Dream

Jennie Augusta Brownscombe’s sentimental oil paintings celebrating rural family life & events from American history appealed to popular Victorian tastes in England & the United States. The artist was born in a log cabin in rural northeastern Pennsylvania to William Brownscombe, an English-born farmer, & Elvira Kennedy, a direct descendant of a Mayflower passenger. Thus, Brownscombe’s early life was reminiscent of one of her own paintings. When her father died in 1868, Brownscombe began supporting herself through teaching & creating book & magazine illustrations. Brownscombe also sold the rights to reproduce her watercolor & oil paintings as inexpensive prints, Christmas cards, & calendars. She distributed more than 100 artworks this way, spreading her images into homes nationally. Viewers loved her highly naturalistic style, which included picturesque details that helped them recognize the stories & emotions portrayed.  A prize-winning student at the Cooper Institute School of Design for Women & the National Academy of Design, Brownscombe became a founding member of the Art Students League & later served as faculty. In the 1880s & 1890s, Brownscombe studied art in France, spent winters in Rome, & exhibited in London, New York, Chicago, & Philadelphia. 
Bio from National Museum of Women in the Arts  
https://nmwa.org/explore/artist-profiles/jennie-augusta-brownscombe

19C Southern Emancipated Slave Woman by William Aiken Walker 1839-1921

Freed Female Slave by William Aiken Walker (American genre artist, 1839-1921 best known for depicting poor black emancipated slaves in the post-Reconstruction American South.) 

Heading West in 19C America

Francis William Edmonds (Amrican genre painter, 1806-1863)  The Speculator

Heading West in 19C America

Edward Lamson Henry (American genre artist, 1841–1919) In East Tennessee

19C Southern Emancipated Slave Woman by William Aiken Walker 1839-1921

Freed Female Slave by William Aiken Walker (American genre artist, 1839-1921 best known for depicting poor black emancipated slaves in the post-Reconstruction American South.) 

Heading West in 19C America

From Europe to the Atlantic coast of America & on to the Pacific coast during the 17C-19C, settlers moved West. 

Francis William Edmonds (Amrican genre painter, 1806-1863)  The New Bonnet

Heading West in 19C America

From Europe to the Atlantic coast of America & on to the Pacific coast during the 17C-19C, settlers moved West.

William Hahn (German-born American artist, 1829-1887) Trip to Galcier Point

Heading West in 19C America

Jennie Augusta Brownscombe (1850-1936) The Homecoming (1885)

Heading West in 19C America

James Taylor Harwood (American artist, 1860-1940) Richards' Camp, Holiday Park, Weber Canyon 1888

Heading West in 19C America

James Taylor Harwood (American artist, 1860-1940) All the World's a Stage, Liberty Park 1893