Heather Cox Richardson Quotes
While the government underwrote the West more than any other region, the myth claimed that hardworking Western cowboys and settlers wanted nothing from the government but to be left alone to work out their own destiny.
Richardson, Heather Cox. How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America. Oxford University Press, 2020.
The Donner Party became stranded in heavy snow while crossing the mountains. Forty-two emigrants, including Donner, and two Indian guides died, however, the remaining forty-seven travelers survived.
Shabonee in a warning ride reminiscent of Paul Revere, warned many white settlers of an impending attack by unfriendly Indians. He also gave an eyewitness account of the Battle of Tippecanoe which propelled Harrison to the Presidency. The U. S. Navy named a ship in his honor in the 1940s. Several schools are named for him also.
This quotation illustrates the racist view of Native Americans that prevailed at the time. The Mexican government invited settlers and would give then the Indian lands. In addition to Mexicans who came to Texas, many Americans also went to Texas, changing their citizenship to Mexico. Later, they banded together and broke from Mexico and Joined the United States. The Indians lost most of their lands.
Heather Cox Richardson is an American historian and professor of history at Boston College, where she teaches courses on the American Civil War, the Reconstruction Era, the American West, and the Plains Indians. She previously taught history at MIT and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
