Manifest Destiny was concept that originally came about in the 1940's, it has been used historically to explain the American need to colonize and expand westward across the continent. As a concept that is extremely common in most basic level American history classes, this came to mind as we have been reading about settling the Adirondacks. The people who headed North to these areas were fighting against a lot of odds similar to the settlers going out west, but in both cases some prevailed. The Adirondacks doesn't have the same grand tale that the west does, no gold rush or cowboys, but it is still important to think about the immigrant experience in the Adirondacks. The way in which Godine describes this experience gives us a great view into their relationship with the land and their purpose for traveling all the way to the far reaches of upstate New York. These hopes led into what became the American Dream, the ever hopeful idea that the New World will provide what the Old World could not.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Beginning of the American Dream
Amy Godine does an excellent job through her essays portraying the immigrant community in a different light than what is commonly thought of. I spent, like many people I would assume, growing up with the idea of America being a "melting pot", where all ethnicities and groups come together. Godine's discussion of immigrants in the Adirondacks gives us a different perspective on the relationship between virtually the old and new immigrants. While reading I was angered by the discrimination against the newer immigrants, but the more Godine discussed the more I could see that maybe these more isolated communities with decent jobs and land availability were what they had been looking for.
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I too was surprised by Godine's description of the Adirondack's 'hidden history.' When I think of immigrant populations in early America, my mind inevitably turns to the melting pot of New York City, not to the Adirondack wilderness (which is Godine's point). I wonder if the more rigid segregation of ethnic groups in the park as compared to downsate was due more to the isolation of the Adirondacks and the smaller number of immigrants that came as a result, or because of the way in which the mining and logging industries seemed to enforce segregation by building separate houses for each ethnic group.
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