Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, wrote this letter in 1871 to R. L. Sanderson, a young correspondent who had requested career advice. Greeley, a great supporter of westward expansion, shared the national conviction that it was the manifest destiny of America to conquer and civilize the land between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.

Greeley wrote, “So many people ask me what they shall do; so few tell me what they can do. Yet this is the pivot wherein all must turn. I believe that each of us who has his place to make should go where men are wanted, and where employment is not bestowed as alms. Of course, I say to all who are in want of work, Go West!” He tempered his advice with specific recommendations regarding preparations for the journey asking, “Can you chop? Can you plow? Can you mow?” Greeley concluded, “Having mastered these, gather up your family, and Go West!”

A full transcript is available.