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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Trail of Tears

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate the terms of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. They research the implications of the Indian Removal Act for Native American people. Students demonstrate an understand the impact of Manifest Destiny had on Native...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Does This Belong to You?

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders examine legislation that has been passed to protect the rights and religion of Native Americans. In groups, they discuss their feelings on others taking artifacts from Native American sites and what they do if they find...
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PPT
Curated OER

Sunken Millions: The Way West

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Recover sunken treasure with this interactive PowerPoint! Break your class into two teams: the divers and the surfers. They'll work together to answer 20 multiple choice questions, reviewing major events that occurred during the 1800s....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students examine the three historical portraits Andrew Jackson, iam Pitt and Portrait of a Boy for symbolism. They research Andrew Jackson's involvement in the Cherokee Indians' Trail of Tears in North Carolina, and compose a portrait.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wartime and the Bill of Rights: The Korematsu Case (Lesson 2)

For Teachers 12th
Twelfth graders review how the government and Bill of Rights came into effect. Using primary source documents, they discuss if Japanese rights were violated when they were placed in internment camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. ...
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Primary
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian: National Museum of the American Indian: The Removal Act

For Students 9th - 10th
At first, the Trail of Tears only described the Cherokee removal of 1838. Later it included the removals of all southeastern Native nations. Take a close look at these primary sources from the Smithsonian which include a reproduction of...
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Primary
US National Archives

Our Documents: President Andrew Jackson's Message, 'On Indian Removal'

For Students 9th - 10th
Interactive image of the original document through which President Andrew Jackson called for "Indian Removal," in 1830. Includes transcription as well as background and overview of the text and results of the Indian Removal policy.
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Article
A&E Television

History.com: Native American History Timeline

For Students 9th - 10th
Before Christopher Columbus came to America, the expansive territory was inhabited by Native Americans. Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, as more explorers sought to colonize their land, Native Americans responded in various...
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Website
Digital History

Digital History: Indian Removal

For Students 9th - 10th
The Indian Removal policy was inhumane and without empathy for the Native Americans who were forced from their lands. Read about the attempts to enforce federal treaties and the final removal of three major tribes from the Southeast.
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Handout
Missouri State University

Delaware Town: Removal Era

For Students 9th - 10th
Discussion of the removal of American Indians living east of the Mississippi River beginning in the late 1700s. Initially, these removals were voluntary, resulting from treaty negotiations. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal...
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Primary
Mount Holyoke College

International Relations: Andrew Jackson's Case for the Removal of Indians

For Students 9th - 10th
Here, read the text to President Jackson's "First Annual Message to Congress, 8 December 1830," in which Jackson argues for the removal of Native Americans.
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Activity
Other

Cincinnati Arts Association: Native American Heritage [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
This study guide, originally designed to accompany an artist-in-the-schools outreach program, can be used to teach about hidden Native communities that populated the Ohio region after the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
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Interactive
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Cherokee Nation: Virtual Field Trip

For Students 9th - 10th
An in-depth look at the lives of the Cherokee Indians, from their first encounters with Europeans to events, such as the Gold Rush and the signing of the Indian Removal Act by Andrew Jackson, that led to their forced relocation to Indian...
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Lesson Plan
Ohio State University

Osu History Teaching Institute: Indian Removal

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson looks at the process whereby a policy of assimilation gave way to one of overt removal under President Jackson.
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Website
Other

Family Search: Creek Indians

For Students 9th - 10th
This website provides a fairly comprehensive look at the Creek Indians including a brief history, a timeline, birth and death records, references, and links to historical records. These records include: census data, and information from...
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Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1865 1898: Indian Wars and Battle of Little Bighorn

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses the series of events and conflicts in the Indian Wars that culminated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, or Custer's Last Stand. Includes questions for students at end.
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Lesson Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: Reading Like a Historian

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
During this 8-day unit, students will engage in collecting text evidence and then writing about their findings. They will answer the following question with credible, well-explained evidence: Why did Andrew Jackson and Elias Boudinot...
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Primary
US National Archives

Our Documents: A National Initiative on American History, Civics, and Service

For Students 9th - 10th
Our Documents is home to one hundred milestone documents that influenced that course of American history and American democracy. Includes full-page scans of each document, transcriptions, background information on their significance, and...
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Graphic
PBS

Pbs: Indian Territory

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from PBS provides a short description and map of "the Indian Territory set aside by the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the areas designated for each tribe."
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Website
Other

Eastern Band of Cherokee: History and Culture

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief history of the Cherokee tribe in the southwest United States, its culture, government, and religion. Find out about the Cherokee who were subject to the Indian Removal Act of 1830, and see how the Cherokee in North Carolina have...
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Website
University of Virginia

Miller Center at Uva: u.s. Presidents: Andrew Jackson: Domestic Affairs

For Students 9th - 10th
A comprehensive overview of the domestic issues facing Andrew Jackson in his presidency, from the "spoils system" to veto of the bank recharter to his Indian removal policy.
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Article
Other

American Indian Civics Project: 19th Century Indian Relations

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This article provides an overview of Indian relations within the United States during the 19th century.
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PPT
Northern Arizona University

Overview of Federal Indian Policy [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
Since the United States became a nation, federal Indian policy has seen many significant changes. Some of the shifts in policy may, at first glance, seem rather contradictory. However, when considering the underlying assumptions and when...
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Article
Other

History Today: Native Americans and the Federal Government

For Students 9th - 10th
Andrew Boxer traces the origins of a historical issue still as controversial and relevant today as in past centuries. At the start of the twentieth century there were approximately 250,000 Native Americans in the USA - just 0.3 per cent...