The St. Louis Arch, the Gateway to the West, offering sweeping views of downtown St. Louis to the west and the bright lights of the strip clubs in East St. Louis to the east (makes you wonder why they ever went west). I'm sure you know about the arch, but did you know that it is really a part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial?

Remember our expansionist past? Manifest destiny and stealing land from Indians? Well if you don't remember, we have a national park dedicated to it! Hooray! Let's go inside!

Below the arch, along with a couple different gift shops, you'll find the Museum of Westward Expansion. Where you'll learn about the little gold medals they gave to Indians as they exploited them, there are also some animatronic statues like this one:

This is Red Cloud. Red Cloud explains that his people couldn't read the treaties offered to them and was lied to when they were explained to him. He went to Washington to ask the President to fix the problem. He didn't. But Red Cloud does call the President the "Great Chief," Indians are just so adorable!

Next you'll read a bunch of boring entries from Lewis and Clark's journals, "we saw some trees and a river," "it snowed," etc. You can also learn about the personal lives of the great explorers:
 

Alright! They dedicated a section to Clark as a slaveholder! Whataguy! You'll read that they don't actually know but maybe the slave was freed at some point. If that doesn't sound like a progressive American icon I don't know what does. Last but not least take awhile to reflect on how far manifest destiny has taken us…
 

Nestled behind an old timey stage coach is a picture of our farthest westward expansion to date! USA! USA! USA! God Bless America!
 

Of course no trip to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial would be complete without a trip to the Old Courthouse. Located just west of the arch, the Old Courthouse has pretty much nothing to do with westward expansion, but don't worry it still has a history steep in exploitation! This is the location of the Dred Scott case. Where slavery, which had been outlawed in western states by the Missouri Compromise, was effectively permitted in those states when it was ruled that property (slaves) could be taken anywhere and kept as property.

Thank you St. Louis for your progressive past, which also includes the bulldozing of most of the original Blues clubs in the city, here's to a future steep in exploitation as well.

- Brian B.