This virtual lecture explores westward expansion and its impact upon Native communities. Even though the phrase ‘manifest destiny’ was not used in print until 1845, the spirit of American expansionism that it referred to was very apparent long before the 1840s. Americans had been talking about pushing westward as if it was their manifest destiny ever since folks in Jamestown in the 1600s had started eyeing the land that Natives were settled on. University of Maryland historian Richard Bell will begin by tracking the story of Native expulsion and westward expansion from the Revolution era up through the 1850s, paying particular attention in the second half to the ways in which the West and Westward Expansion came to be romanticized in the American imagination.

Advance registration required; registration closes one half hour prior to lecture. The lecture will be recorded.