Focus on this artwork and explore the On Westward Expansion.
This artwork is a common reference in conversation regarding the American sentiment of expansion in the 1800s. The depiction of Columbia leading settlers and bringing sunlight westward can be identified as a metaphor for expansion signifying positive new beginnings for early Americans. As sunlight and brightness are associated with God, the painting can serve as a metaphor for Americans considering expansion and exploration of the land beyond the states being a God-given right; Manifest Destiny was an often used justification for expansion. 
As the railroads were considered a key example of successes in Westward Expansion, Columbia bringing railways and telegraph lines with her to the new West symbolized the cultural advantages to the expansion. Additionally, Columbia is carrying with her a "School Book", which may be interpreted as her bringing education and knowledge with expansion. As most indigenous peoples were illiterate at the beginning of the expansion period, this can be seen as a further justification of expansion as indigenous people began to attend government or church-operated schools in the late 1800s to gain literacy. It is, however, more apt to consider the education of native children at the time to be a cruelty as they were forced to attend boarding schools where they were forbidden to speak their native language.
Columbia railroads Manifest Destiny expansion the American sentiment of expansion early telegraph