Events / Landmarks

The ascendance of Manifest Destiny galvanized the imagination of the nation behind 'national expansion' to the Pacific Ocean as a 'divine right' for Christian citizens of European descent.

        Like the book, Savages and Scoundrels, and the film being made of the same name, the purpose of this web site is to realign some of the major themes of the well-known 'narrative' we call The American Story.  Historians Bernard DeVoto and Howard Zinn have joined many others, including legal historians such as Charles Wilkinson, David Getches and Robert Williams, in calling for a thorough-going 'realignment' of plotlines in our national narrative. Neither this web site, the book, or the film, attempts to render a 'soup-to-nuts' overhaul of those themes.  That said, all three make bold strides toward the long process of correcting major flaws in our nation's widely accepted, but deeply flawed,  'story.'

         Each of the 'events and landmarks' we have highlighted on the History Wheel played an important role in shaping the turbulent and convulsive 'national expansion' that took place during the 'treaty-making era.'  Some of the legal ideas that played leading roles in shaping the century-long period of 'national expansion' have their origins in the Crusades of the Middle Ages.  Each event and/or landmark redirected our story down a new path, in a new and unexpected direction.  When combined, they shaped the plot of our national narrative and animate the extraordinary cast of characters that made it all happen.

          As you scan the 'events' on the History Wheel, note that some of these could have also been selected as 'flashpoints'. Alas, the line between the chicken and the egg is sometimes so fine that the judgment is best left to those with sensibilities more refined than ours - people like yourselves.