Frontiers

"The lust for land, the fear of contagious disease, and, one surmises, a desire for freedom from the burden of community impelled this dispersal which leaders like Winthrop regularly lamented.  But expressions of regret, however sincere, did little to concentrate the spread of people who would go on to show a seeming inexhaustible appetite for frontiers." -Jim Cullen in Dream of the Good Life (I): The Puritan Enterprise


     This passage from The American Dream reminded me a lot of the poem The History of America.  Although Cullen doesn't state the idea in such negative light, both authors make similar points about a seemingly common characteristic of Americans- a certain hunger for land and the idea of a frontier.  Cullen talks about how both the Puritans and the Pilgrims began to become more and more spread out after a short time in the New World.  Alicia Ostriker talks about an aggressive drive west that involves the railroad, "murdering the buffalo," and "driving the laggard regiments."  It reminds me of how Americans oftentimes mean well, but end up being too overkill and making stupid mistakes.  Manifest Destiny and the move west made a lot of sense to people in that it was their mission as Americans to bring and promote democracy as far as they could and also part of God's will that this be done.  This is still an important idea to us today.  The war in Iraq comes to mind as well.  Working toward the good of everyone is admirable and important, but as a country that is already seen as being egocentric, we need to be careful not to overstep our bounds or trample on others and do damaging things like Alicia Ostriker mentions.      

References:
The American Dream by Jim Cullen
The History of America by Alicia Ostriker