WILLIAM RANNEY - "BOONE'S FIRST VIEW OF KENTUCKY" ; 1849.

THUS DANIEL BOONE IN THIS VERSION IS POINTING OUT TOWARD THE LUSH

HILLS AND PLAINS OF THE FUTURE STATE OF KENTUCKY. AGAIN LIKE

MOSES HE POINTS OUT THE PROMISED LAND, BUT THE PAINTING'S CENTRAL

FOCUS IS ON JOSHUA--THE VIRILE YOUNG MAN WHO SYMBOLIZES THOSE

WHO WILL SETTLE THE LAND WHEN BOONE IS LONG GONE. HE HAD REMOVED

HIS HAT AS IF ON HOLY GROUND AND HOLDS HIS GUN LIKE A STANDARD

BEARER IN A PROCESSION. HIS CRUSADE WILL BE ONE OF PEACE.

RANNEY'S PICTURE--PAINTED AT THE END OF THE MEXICAN WAR--

REASSURES THE PUBLIC THAT WESTWARD EXPANSION WILL BE ACHIEVED

WITHOUT FURTHER CONFLICT.

Reference: Patricia Hills, "Picturing Progress in the Era of

Westward Expansion," THE WEST AS AMERICA: REINTERPRETING IMAGTES

OF THE FRONTIER, 1820-1920, Washington and London: Smithsonian

Institution Press, 1991, p. 111.