PRIMARY SOURCE SET: WESTWARD EXPANSION

Primary Source 1: Rufus G. Sage, Scenes in the Rocky Mountains (Philadelphia: Carey and
Hart, 1846).

Rufus B. Sage was a white American fur trapper who visited New Mexico in the 1840s while it
was part of Mexico. He published his impressions of New Mexico in 1846 just as war was
breaking out between the U.S. and Mexico.

The mountains [in New Mexico] are rich in minerals in various kinds. Gold is found in
considerable quantities in their vicinity, and would doubtless yield a large profit to diggers, were
they possessed of the requisite enterprise and capital. At present, these valuable mines are almost
entirely neglected, the common Mexican people being too ignorant and poor to work them, and
the rich too lazy and fond of ease.

There are no people on the continent of America, whether civilized or uncivilized, with one or
two exceptions, more miserable in condition or despicable in morals than the mongrel race
inhabiting New Mexico. […]

Next to the squalid appearance of its inhabitants, the first thing that arrests the attention of the
traveler on entering a Mexican settlement, is the uninviting mud walls that form the rude hovels
which constitute the dwellings. These are one story high and built of adobes, with small
windows, generally without glass…. The interior presents an aspect quite as forbidding—the
floors are simply the naked ground, chairs and tables are articles rarely met with. […]

During the winter months, these filthy wretches are seen, day after day, basking at the sunny side
of their huts.

Education is entirely controlled by the Catholic priests, who make use of their utmost endeavors
to entangle the minds of their pupils in the meshes of superstition and bigotry. Superstition and
bigotry are universal—all, both young and old, being tied down to the disgusting formalities of a
religion that manifests itself in little else than senseless parade and unmeaning ceremony, while a
large majority can neither read nor write.

These priests are sadly deficient in intelligent and morals. Gambling, swearing, drinking,
Sabbath-breaking, and other vices, are their too frequent practice—under such instructors, who
can fail to foresee the spread of evil?

Property and life are alike unsafe, and a large proportion of the whole Mexican community are
little other than thieves and robbers. Profanity is their common language. In their honesty,
integrity, and good faith, as a general thing, no reliance should be placed. […]

To manage them successfully, they must be held in continual restraint, and kept in their place by
force, if necessary—else they will become haughty and insolent. As servants, they are excellent,
when properly trained, but are worse than useless if left to themselves.
Primary Source 2: John Gast, American Progress, 1872.

John Gast was a New York-based painter who created this painting for a series of western
guidebooks that promoted westward settlement. In the painting, Columbia (representing the
United States) marches west, supposedly bringing “progress” with her.