This article was written in 1830, during the administration of Andrew Jackson. It notes the nation’s progress in science, commerce, and individual self-improvement, and glorifies the triumph over, and exploitation of nature. The author also points to the promise of the “new world” when compared to the “old world” and claims that in America “the citizen of every clime, and the child of every creed, roams free and untrammeled at the wild winds of heaven.” It should be remembered, however, that by 1830, the successes of Southern industry, lauded by the author, were the product of the labor of over 2 million enslaved people. Furthermore, the Indian Removal act became law in 1830. By the end of the decade, 47,000 Native Americans would be displaced from the Eastern homelands to the West, either through treaty or through coercion.
Greenfield Gazette and Franklin Herald. “Improvement.” February 23, 1830. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l05-124/. Accessed on February 15, 2025.
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