The Settling of the West

In her representation of the settling of the American West, Mildred Jacobs Chappell depicted European American settlers on foot, on horseback, and in covered wagons, as well as explorers and Native Americans. This peaceful and picturesque vision gives no indication of the conflict, violence, and grievous misdeeds, such as the Indian REmoval Act and Trail of Tears, that characterized the United State's westward expansion. In an inscription on the reverse, Chappell nostalgically wrote, "My only regret is that I could not have lived one hundred years earlier to experience those stirring times." She thus acknowledges her historical remove from the events depicted; indeed, earlier in the inscription she admits that her love for the Old West came from history and books, which at the time would have offered an idealized narrative. The stylized forms and orderly composition, in which white settlers take center stage, reinforce the simplified and romanticized narrative presented in the quilt.