Go West, young man
Encyclopedia
"Go West, young man" is a popular saying in the United States
about Manifest Destiny
popularized by American
author Horace Greeley
.
Greeley favored westward expansion. He saw the fertile farmland of the west as an ideal place for people willing to work hard for the opportunity to succeed. The phrase came to symbolize the idea that agriculture could solve many of the nation's problems of poverty and unemployment characteristic of the big cities of the East. It is one of the most commonly quoted sayings from the nineteenth century and may have had some influence on the course of American history.
Some sources have claimed the phrase is derived from the following advice in Greeley's July 13, 1865 editorial in the New York Tribune
, but this text does not appear in that issue of the newspaper. The actual editorial instead encourages Civil War veterans to take advantage of the Homestead Act and colonize the public lands.
Josiah Bushnell Grinnell
claimed in his autobiography that Horace Greeley first addressed the advice to him in 1833, before sending him off to Illinois to report on the Illinois Agricultural State Fair. Grinnell reports the full conversation as:
Many people believe Horace Greeley did not coin this phrase at all, but merely popularized it. He may have borrowed it from John B. L. Soule who may have published it in an editorial of his own in an 1851 edition of the Terre Haute Express. However, the phrase does not occur in the 1851 edition of the Terre Haute Express, and the Soule theory may date no earlier than 1890.
Grinnell College historian Joseph Frazier Wall claims that Greeley himself denied providing that advice, and "[spent] the rest of this life vigorously protesting that he had never given this advice to Grinnell or anyone else...". In a footnote Wall states
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
about Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny was the 19th century American belief that the United States was destined to expand across the continent. It was used by Democrat-Republicans in the 1840s to justify the war with Mexico; the concept was denounced by Whigs, and fell into disuse after the mid-19th century.Advocates of...
popularized by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, a politician, and an outspoken opponent of slavery...
.
Greeley favored westward expansion. He saw the fertile farmland of the west as an ideal place for people willing to work hard for the opportunity to succeed. The phrase came to symbolize the idea that agriculture could solve many of the nation's problems of poverty and unemployment characteristic of the big cities of the East. It is one of the most commonly quoted sayings from the nineteenth century and may have had some influence on the course of American history.
Some sources have claimed the phrase is derived from the following advice in Greeley's July 13, 1865 editorial in the New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
, but this text does not appear in that issue of the newspaper. The actual editorial instead encourages Civil War veterans to take advantage of the Homestead Act and colonize the public lands.
Controversy
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations gives the full quotation as, "Go West, young man, and grow up with the country," from Hints toward Reforms (1850) by Horace Greeley. The phrase does not actually occur in that book, however.Josiah Bushnell Grinnell
Josiah Bushnell Grinnell
Josiah Bushnell Grinnell was a U.S. Congressman from Iowa's 4th congressional district, an ordained Congregational minister, founder of Grinnell, Iowa and benefactor of Grinnell College....
claimed in his autobiography that Horace Greeley first addressed the advice to him in 1833, before sending him off to Illinois to report on the Illinois Agricultural State Fair. Grinnell reports the full conversation as:
Many people believe Horace Greeley did not coin this phrase at all, but merely popularized it. He may have borrowed it from John B. L. Soule who may have published it in an editorial of his own in an 1851 edition of the Terre Haute Express. However, the phrase does not occur in the 1851 edition of the Terre Haute Express, and the Soule theory may date no earlier than 1890.
Grinnell College historian Joseph Frazier Wall claims that Greeley himself denied providing that advice, and "[spent] the rest of this life vigorously protesting that he had never given this advice to Grinnell or anyone else...". In a footnote Wall states