+
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: Billy the Kid: Perspectives on an Outlaw

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson relates to the westward movement in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Students analyze the role that gunfighters played in the settlement of the West and distinguish between their factual...
+
Primary
Digital Public Library of America

Dpla: Mormon Migration

For Students 9th - 10th
The sources in this set help place the Mormon migration in geographic, political, religious, and cultural contexts, including other westward movement motivated by Manifest Destiny.
+
Lesson Plan
National Gallery of Art

National Gallery of Art: Rolling on the River

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students will explore how westward expansion increased the number of jobs available in the nineteenth century, including being a flat boatman through a painting by George Caleb Bingham.
+
Article
California Digital Library

Loc: Chinese and Westward Expansion

For Students 9th - 10th
The Chinese in California, 1850-1925 illustrates nineteenth and early twentieth century Chinese immigration to California through about 8,000 images and pages of primary source materials. Included are photographs, original art, cartoons...
+
Website
Scholastic

Scholastic: Our America: Western Expansion

For Students 3rd - 8th
Reviews of children's literature, student activities, and interactive games from Scholastic that enrich a student's understanding and appreciation of western expansion before the Civil War.
+
Graphic
Digital Public Library of America

Dpla: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad

For Students 9th - 10th
This exhibition explores the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad and its impact on American westward expansion.
+
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Movement South and Westward

For Students 9th - 10th
Following Eli Whitney's invention in 1793 of the cotton gin -- a machine that separated raw cotton from seeds and other waste -- the cotton market boomed. Planters in the South bought land from small farmers who frequently moved farther...
+
Lesson Plan
Louisiana Department of Education

Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: English Language Arts, Grade 12: Undaunted Courage

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Students explore ideas prominent throughout westward expansion and American literature: myth versus reality. The texts present various perspectives of the West. Students consider the idealism and romance of the American spirit versus the...
+
eBook
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: The Seeds of Empirebuilding

For Students 9th - 10th
Essay on European-American westward expansion and the conflict new settlement created with Native Americans. Author describes the development of a hierarchical structure in which indigenous peoples were exploited and unprotected.
+
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Education: Art to Zoo What Can You Do With a Portrait?

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
This is the very first published issue of Art to Zoo. Unlike later issues, it features three separate topics instead of one larger theme. In this issue you can find information and resources for teaching westward expansion and its impact...
+
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Teachers: Infectious Disease

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Investigate the spread of infectious diseases from whites to Native Americans during the westward expansion of the 1800s, and compare cholera to Ebola and other infectious diseases.
+
Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: u.s. History: The Oregon Trail

For Students 9th - 10th
A glimpse at life on the Oregon Trail during 19th-century westward expansion. Written humorously with teen learners in mind, students can view original photographs and read excerpts from pioneer diaries for a sense of the arduous journey.
+
PPT
Tom Richey

Tom richey.net: The Trials of the Jeffersonians [Ppt]

For Students 9th - 10th
Presents key ideas for examining the impact of westward expansion on concepts of nationalism and democracy. Covers the Louisiana Purchase, conflict with native peoples, the War of 1812, and other events.
+
Activity
Library of Congress

Loc: Merica's Story: Oregon Territory

For Students 3rd - 8th
Read about the settling of Oregon country and how westward expansion prompted Congress to make it a territory.
+
Unknown Type
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Us History: 1865 1898: Quiz 1

For Students 9th - 10th
A five-question quiz mainly over westward expansion in the late 1800s.
+
Primary
Digital Public Library of America

Dpla: Full Steam Ahead: The Steam Engine and Transportation in the Nineteenth Century

For Students 9th - 10th
This primary source set uses illustrations, documents, and photographs to tell the story of how the steam engine transformed the railroad industry and played crucial roles in the Industrial Revolution and westward expansion.
+
Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1865 1898: Chinese Immigrants and Mexican Americans

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses the conflict with Mexican American and Chinese groups as white settlers pushed westward in the nineteenth century. Explains what brought so many Chinese immigrants to America and the roadblocks and discrimination that they had...
+
Lesson Plan
US Mint

U.s. Mint: Our Goal Pole [Pdf]

For Teachers K - 1st
In this four-part activity, students will demonstate knowledge of the sequencing of events by studying the westward journey, use terms that indicate the sequence of events and demonstrate an understanding of certain historical figures in...
+
Lesson Plan
US Mint

U.s. Mint: Which Came First? [Pdf]

For Teachers K - 1st
Introduce students to the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark's Expedition. Then, using the tails side of the Keelboat Nickel as a guide, make a timeline of the westward journey.
+
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: A Divided Nation

For Students 9th - 10th
This page from the American Revolution Project of the University of Groningen discusses how the 1850s were a time of conflicting ideas between North and South regarding the expansion of slavery. Scroll down to the third paragraph and...
+
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: The Last Frontier

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes the various forces and events that shaped the expansion of the western frontier in the mid- to late 1800s.
+
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: Gold in California

For Students 5th - 8th
The gold rush in California accelerated the western migration of thousands of young American men, who streamed into California to find riches. See who else arrived in California and find out what they did. In addition, there is a map...
+
Study Guide
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Ap Us History History Unit: Period 6: 1865 1898: Unit Test

For Students 9th - 10th
This unit practice test from Khan Academy covers Period 6: 1865-1898 in American History. Western expansion, the Gilded Age, and the "New South" are components of this unit test. This resource is designed as a review for the AP US...
+
Unknown Type
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Ap Us History Unit: Period 6: 1865 1898: Unit Test

For Students 9th - 10th
This practice exercise from Khan Academy covers Period 6: 1865-1898 in American History. The Gilded Age, Western expansion, and the "New South" are included in the practice. This resource is designed as a review for the AP US History Test.

Other popular searches