The Great Influence Of Westward Movement To American National Spirit

Westward Movement, also called Westward Development, is one of the most important events in American history. During this period, a lot of immigrants poured into the Western areas, to explore the wild land, to build the roads, to bring the advanced technology and many skills there. By developing the western areas, the America eventually becomes united and consolidated, and then build up its own political culture and national spirit. Westward Movement is one of the key periods in the way for the Americans to the modernization, which leaves the people abundant legacy in spirit and culture.National spirit is an ideology, the psychological consciousness, the ethical values and the pursuit in spirit. It is a fine tradition for a people living long time together and practicing together, which is the backbone for the people's survival and the motivation of people's inner heart, mirroring a people's value standard, psychological quality, perseverance, cultural pattern and the features. National spirit belongs to the whole nation, which is formed gradually in the process of development and becomes perfect, is the basic factor for the nation's development and the secret why the U.S. becomes so successful and glorious. Westward Movement is a special period in the American history, its unique conditions and surroundings form the unique national spirit. During the century, the American people struggled for the bad conditions and worked diligently, just holding the qualities of independence, freedom, equality, bravery, self-confidence, aggressiveness and practicalness, which develop to the American people's specific pioneering spirit, the symbol of "American national spirit". There are profound philosophy in the spirit, in which reflects the whole nation's belief, religion, and the value consciousness, shows the people's wisdom. The national spirit is the outcome of the development in history, the motivation in the whole nation's struggling for life.In this paper, after referring to a lot of books and articles both in Chinese and English by the authoritative scholars, I choose Westward Movement as the special period to study the formation of the American's national spirit, tracing back the source of the unique spirit theoretically. There are several qualities in the national spirit: individualism, pragmatism, democratic and equal consciousness, risk, innovation, creativity and diligence, which are the factors in the American national spirit.The paper is divided into four parts. In the first part, there is a brief introduction to the study of Westward Movement and the researching methods. The simple information of Westward Movement and its effect in history are stated in the second part. The main content is in the third part, in which the paper tells the formation of the American national spirit in Westward Movement, listing the main factors in the spirit and the main performances in the present situation. The last part is a summery. A revelation to keep our Chinese spirit and develop it is also in this part.