[Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844] America is the country of the Future. From Washington,... through all its cities, states, and territories, it is a country of beginnings, of projects, of vast designs, and expectations. It has no past: all has onward and prospective look.... Gentlemen, there is a sublime and friendly Destiny by which the human race is guided. (97)

The West as America: Reinterpreting Images of the Frontier, 1820-1920 (1991)
William H. Truettner

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