Curated OER
Imperialism Old and New
If your really want your history class to know everything about old and new imperialism, look no further. This 58-slide presentation depicts, describes, and explains everything from 19th Century expansion and the Congress of Berlin to...
Curated OER
National Expansion
Young scholars investigate the Manifest Denstiny. They explore how the idea was evident in 19th century American maps. Students brainstorm the relationships between maps and national expansion. They review a map from 1816 that called for...
Curated OER
Westward Expansion
Students locate California and New York on a map and explore available means of travel in the 19th century. Students explore the role of trade in pioneer America and simulate various barter transactions.
Curated OER
Childhood in Early 19th-Century America
Learners interpret and analyze primary source documents and compare and contrast childhood today with that of the past.
Curated OER
In the Footprints of Lewis and Clark: 19th Century Artists -- Depictions of Native Americans
Eighth graders read excerpts of "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose. As a class, they view slides of artwork from the time period of westward expansion and Native Americans, write their reactions and share them with the class. To...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The 1828 Campaign of Andrew Jackson: Expansion of the Voting Base
Students give examples to indicate how the franchise was extended and limited in the first half of the 19th century, and cite some differences in the newly enfranchised population that could affect the way they would vote.
Curated OER
The Free Trade Conundrum: Balancing Worker Wages and Consumer Prices Comparing the 19th and 21st Centuries
By examining free trade, protectionism, and analyzing 19th and 21st century arguments for and against the tariff, learners will be able to compare and contrast the 19th and 21st century. They will analyze text, answer discussion...
Curated OER
Riding a Stagecoach in the 19th Century
Students research the differences between traveling on a stagecoach and wagon trail in the 19th century. In this historical lesson, students discover the uses of stagecoaches and wagon trails in the 19th century, then decide which one...
Smithsonian Institution
Stamp Stories of Westward Expansion
What a fantastic project idea for discussing not only the history of America's expansion into the West, but for reviewing any major unit of history in your class. Pupils build stamp collections to visually represent themes of the unit,...
Anti-Defamation League
Analyzing Primary Source Documents to Understand U.S. Expansionism and 19th Century U.S.-Indian Relations
Historical events can be viewed from multiple perspectives. This simple truth is brought home in a lesson plan that examines primary source documents related to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Doctrine of Discovery and Manifest...
Curated OER
Manifest Destiny
Complete with maps, photographs, and historical documents, this presentation would be a great resource throughout a unit about mid-19th century America. Manifest Destiny, Texas Independence, the Oregon Trail, and the Mexican War are all...
Curated OER
Bison on the Plains
Fifth graders explore U.S. geography by reading assigned text about American Indians. In this migration lesson, 5th graders identify the differences between Native Americans and European settlers who traveled through middle America in...
Curated OER
The Western Migration Lesson Plan
Students examine the western migration in the United States in the early 19th century and identify the factors that caused the migration as well as how government adapted to meet the needs of an expanding country.
Curated OER
Kill the Indian to Save the Man: Reservations, Assimilation, and Native American Resistance and Persistence in the West
Students investigate the theory versus the reality of US government reservation policy in the mid to late 19th Century by watching a video. They design a time line that shows how the individual tribes surrendered to the reservation...
Curated OER
This Land is my Land-Westward Expansion During Reconstruction
Students analyze policies regarding Native American territories during Westward Expansion. In this Reconstruction lesson, students research primary and secondary sources pertaining to the transfer of Native American land. Students take...
Curated OER
Westward Expansion - Fur Trade
Students complete a unit of lessons to learn how products reach the market and study the history of the fur trade. In this history and trade lesson plan, students first learn about the technology that allowed products to reach market...
Curated OER
Cultural and Social Transformation since 1865
Students research the evolution of cultural and social issues in areas of Westward Expansion, Immigration, and Civil Rights. They practice writing clear details with supporting evidence and examples and evaluate ways of improving drafts...
Curated OER
Expansion and Reform: Applying the Declaration of Independence
Students conduct inquiries and research-acquiring, organizing, analyzing, interpreting, evaluating, and communicating facts, themes, and general principles operating in American history. They use the Declaration of Independence to...
Curated OER
The Brief American Pageant: Manifest Destiny and its Legacy
Frame your lecture about Manifest Destiny around these maps, which portray the extended boundaries of various American territories in the 19th century. Campaigns of the Mexican War, and a map of the Spanish Missions on the West Coast are...
Curated OER
A House Dividing: The Growing Crisis of Sectionalism in Antebellum America
High schoolers explore the debates over American slavery and the power of the American federal government for the first half of the 19th century and how the regional economies and political events produced a widening split between the...
Curated OER
Jeffersonianism at the Bar
Eleventh graders participate in a political roundtable discussion. In this Jeffersonianism instructional activity, 11th graders role play individuals from the 19th century and discuss issues of the Federalist period.
Curated OER
Germans and Irish in Augusta and Franklin Counties
Students examine 19th century newspapers, a last and testament, and census manuscripts to analyze the Irish and German immigrant communities in the 1850s and 1860s. They write a letter from the perspective of an Irish or German immigrant.
Curated OER
The Importance of Religion in Political Life in the 19th Century: Abraham Lincoln's Experience
Eleventh graders explore the importance of religion in community building in frontier America. They analyze the importance of religion in political life in the 19th century.
Curated OER
Boom and Bust in the Ozark Forests
Here is a hard-hitting, cross-curricular lesson on the effects that the deforestation of the Ozark forests in the 19th century had on the people, animals, and ecosystems of the area. The Dr. Seuss book The Lorax is used as a way of...