Primary
Sources Speak:
Documenting Westward Expansion
Dr. Don
Roberts
Pittsburgh Middle Gifted Center
Overview
Rationale
Objectives
Strategies
Classroom
Activities
Annotated
Bibliography
Appendix A:
Introducing Primary Sources
Appendix B:
Searching for information
Appendix C:
Lewis and Clark
Appendix D:
The Cherokee Nation
Appendix E:
Narcissa Whitman
Appendix F:
Thomas Hart Benton
Appendix G:
Sarah Winnemucca
Appendix H: Standards
Overview
Eighth grade American history students study bits and pieces of the saga
of Americans moving westward as they followed the ever advancing frontier from
the Appalachians to the Mississippi and beyond to the Pacific coast. The purpose
of this curriculum unit is to allow for a more thoughtful assessment of the
people who followed those migratory paths as well as those who were already
living there. Too often, in my opinion, the study of American history either
organizes itself around presidential administrations or the politics and events
surrounding each of our wars. Too seldom is there a
recognition that ordinary people living ordinary lives may do
extraordinary things. The movement westward was, by any measure, a significant
event with wide ranging consequences. What happened, why it happened, and how it
happened are all preserved in the primary source documents of the participants.
Contemporary Americans studying national history in the eighth grade should be
given the opportunity to uncover the past as it was lived. This curriculum unit
will expose students to the voices of the actors in this drama whether they were
moving westward, or already there.
Five
primary sources have been selected to cover the period that begins with the
Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-1806 and concludes with the observations of a
Native American princess, Sarah
Winnemucca in 1883. The Journal of Lewis and Clark, is
particularly valuable because it records more than the flora and fauna in the
Louisiana Purchase Land. Lewis and
Clark’s journal entries detail their interactions with Native Americans and
offer a glimpse of what might have been if we had been committed to peaceful
relations with the Indians. These
early explorers were not there to expropriate land from the Native Americans.
The United States had recently paid Napoleon $15 million for the territory in
1803. We already considered it to
be ours, legally bought and paid for. President
Jefferson sent the Corps of Discovery into the vast territory to find out as
much as possible about the land purchased from Napoleon and the people who lived
there. Although there were certainly cultural misunderstandings, the explorers
were not threatening the Native Americans. Their journal entries do not show the
fear and outright antagonism of white settlers that would characterize many of
the later observations by westward moving pioneers.
An interesting comparison is
made when we contrast their observations with those of the Native Americans. A
Piute Indian princess, Sarah Winnemucca, witnessed first-hand the cultural clash
between Native Americans and white settlers. Many years later she wrote a
fascinating autobiography in English,
Life Among the Piutes, that focuses upon memories of her tribe’s
first encounter with whites and how relations subsequently soured. It seems
fitting that this primary source is the last of the five I have selected for
inclusion because it comes full circle from the first used in this curriculum.
In
between these two primary sources, there are three others. Chronologically, the
next primary source following the Lewis and Clark journal entries, is one
devoted to the topic of the forced removal of Indians to lands west of the
Mississippi River. Generally,
American history students know something about the Trail of Tears. What they
might not know is illustrated in a primary source, “ The Appeal of the
Cherokee Nation.” It was selected for this curriculum because it is a
logically reasoned document that presents the Cherokee arguments against the
forced removal from their tribal lands. Students perhaps will be surprised to
learn that the Cherokees were a prosperous tribe that undertook a legal defense
to protect themselves from land speculators and greedy land hungry Georgia
settlers.
The
next primary source is from a missionary. Narcissa
Whitman went west with her husband to the Oregon Country as a Christian
missionary in the early 1830’s and was massacred a few years later by the very
Indians she was there to convert. A representative sample from her diary and a
contemporary assessment of her by a fellow missionary are intriguing primary
sources. Students will read her words, interpret them, and then draw conclusions
based upon what she said, in her own words, rather than a secondary
interpretation offered in traditional textbooks. Then, they will have the
opportunity to react to the harsh assessment of Narcissa that was made by a contemporary missionary in the
Oregon Country.
The
xenophobic philosophy of many Americans who felt that God had ordained the white
race for the domination of the North American continent is expressed in the
words of Senator Thomas Hart Benson. His statement, “The Destiny of the
Race,” is a primary source that students today need to read to understand the
mind set of those Americans who pushed others aside to get their land.
Basically, these five primary sources cover the time period from 1804 until
1887. These 19th century primary
sources should make clear that extraordinary
changes occurred as our national size doubled and expanded westward.
Rationale
History students rely upon the information presented within their
textbooks. That is the way it has been, and, for the most part, will continue to
be. Change is in the air, however, and history students are now being exposed
more and more to the primary sources that form the basis for these texts. Many, in fact, are
readily accessible on the Internet. This curriculum unit fits into this general
trend because it will allow students to examine primary sources, unfiltered by
the authors of Social Studies books. There is a certain excitement to reading
the original words of people recording their daily lives in unique situations.
Students often need help in the interpretation of primary sources. The teacher
needs to assist the student in making sense of the often awkward, and sometimes
bizarre, spelling, punctuation, and
grammar. The teacher also should help the student understand the
historical time period in which the primary sources were created. The various
lessons and projects presented in this curriculum should accomplish this.
The
Core Curriculum Frameworks, used by Pittsburgh teachers as they create lessons,
are divided into nine broad areas of content standards. Two of those areas
(Communications and Citizenship) are directly tied to this curriculum,
“Primary Sources Speak: Documenting
Westward Expansion.” Since
students are to use Social Studies activities involving the five primary
sources, they will be doing research, interpretation, and application of
results. Many Citizenship Standards are addressed in those activities.
Several Communications Standards come into play when the students work
co-operatively to create group projects that involve writing and classroom
presentations. The last section of this curriculum unit contains a list of the
specific content standards within these two broad areas of standards that apply
to the work that students will do in this curriculum unit.
Participation
in the Pittsburgh Teachers Institute seminar, “A Restless People:
Americans on the Move, 1760-1900,” was a valuable personal experience.
I chose to become involved because it provided an opportunity for me to
me to grow as a history teacher. I
had not done research using primary sources for some time. This was my chance to
do it under the guidance of experts. Teachers need to do that from time to time.
It makes us not only more knowledgeable, but also more sensitive to the common
humanity of those we may casually discuss in class. The westward movement was a
phenomenal event. Those who moved westward and those who greeted them deserve to
have their story told accurately and with compassion. Primary sources should be
used in the classroom to get the story right. What the students learn through
these primary sources may contribute to a life long interest in history.
It
should be noted that I teach at the Pittsburgh Middle Gifted Center
which is a unique educational facility. I intend to adapt this curriculum
to use there, but wrote the curriculum unit so it can be used elsewhere as well.
For example, at the Middle Gifted Center, the students can not be given homework
assignments, and meet for one hour classes one day per week. Also, they choose
which classes they will take each semester. I will adapt this curriculum
to meet the requirements of my particular situation, but it was written
for the Social Studies and Language Arts teachers in all Pittsburgh Public
schools.
Objectives
Initially, the lessons and projects detailed in this curriculum unit were
created for eighth grade American history students. These middle school students
will gain experience in the interpretation of primary sources and learn more
about American history in the process. Communications and Language Arts teachers
also might profit from using this curriculum unit. Many of the activities
involving the interpretation of primary sources cut across subject lines.
In fact, I think that the lessons and projects could be taught as an
inter-disciplinary unit involving the Social Studies, Language Arts, and Visual
Arts teachers. Each of these subject areas is called upon when students
critically read a primary source, interpret it, and respond to it in creative
ways. The various lessons and projects that are integral to the unit call upon
specific Citizenship and Communication Standards. These Standards may be found in Appendix H
The
focus of this unit will be student activities involving the interpretation of
primary sources that relate to the continental expansion of the newly
independent United States to the Pacific coast. Lesson plans and student
projects will call upon students to work both independently and in groups. I
would like my students to look at these five primary sources to gain an
understanding of the life and times of those who either moved westward or who
approved of this territorial expansion by their countrymen. I also want the
students to think about the reaction of Native Americans and others who were
there first. I would like them to form opinions based upon historical facts
contained in selected primary sources. I want them to use their imaginations to
recreate the events that were pivotal in the lives of those who decided to move
westward.
The
movement westward began with the first English colonists who left the somewhat
settled eastern coastline to venture westward. Early European travelers in
America recorded their impressions of Americans during the early days of our
republic. Writing in the late eighteenth century,
Jean de Crevecoeur struggled to
comprehend what distinguished “This New Man, This American” from
contemporary Europeans. In his published book, Letters
from an American Farmer, he concluded that they had a restlessness of spirit
that marked them as distinctly different from their European cousins.
An early nineteenth-century French observer of American life, Alexis de
Tocqueville, recorded his similar impressions in Democracy
in America . He thought that the
migratory instincts of Americas at that time were unique. He was surprised to
note that, “in the United States a man builds a house in which to spend his
old age, and he sells it before the roof is on.” This quote itself may inspire
some comparative discussion about the migratory patterns of Americans today and
yesterday.
A
pivotal concept to help explain the seemingly irresistible urge to move ever
westward is capsulized in the phrase “Manifest Destiny.” While this term was
coined by the journalist, John O’Sullivan,
in 1845, the attitudes behind it may have been present from colonial
times onward. American history students need to understand the contemporary
popularity of the term and then decide if it is an accurate way to explain the
expansive nature of Americans who moved onto new territorial possession of the
United States throughout the 19th Century.
This
journalist’s explanatory statement in 1845, “Our manifest destiny is to
overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our
yearly multiplying millions” could form a debate topic in any American history
class. O’Sullivan ‘s jingoistic rhetoric appealed to many 19th
Century Americans who applauded his boldness, “Yes, more, more, more! ...till
our national destiny is fulfilled and... the whole boundless continent is
ours.” Do 21st Century American
students agree? Did our nation have
a right to take over lands because we had the power to do so?
Does “might make right”? What
would have happened if we had not? Would other nations such as Spain, France,
Great Britain or Mexico have moved in to take over these lands from the Native
Americans if we had not? These a
just a few critical thinking questions that flow from such a discussion.
Knowledge of American history gained from studying primary sources will
contribute to a greater understanding of the issues involved. The brief
“Manifest Destiny” quotation cited in this paragraph sets the stage for the
racist pronouncements of Senator Thomas Hart Benton (“The Destiny of the
Race”) that is used as one of the primary sources in this unit.
The
topic of growth is basic to the study of American history.
The dramatic rise in population and the expansion of industry in the 19th
and 20th centuries took place within a newly established nation that had
dramatically increased its continental boundaries. At first our official western
boundary was the Mississippi River (1783), then it crept westward to include the
Louisiana Purchase lands (1803), Texas (1846), the Oregon Country (1846), the
Mexican Cession lands (1848) and finally the Gadsden Purchase (1853).
Eighth grade students typically are directed to look at color coded maps
in United States history books to comprehend each territorial addition. Then,
when the United States Census announced that the continental frontier no longer
existed in 1890, that phase of territorial expansion was over. Yet, there is
much to think about when the westward movement is looked at through the eyes of
those living at the time. I want my student to try to better understand our
historic past by looking at primary sources.
Strategies
One of the major benefits of teaching middle school students is simply
that they can be more easily engaged in lessons and projects that spark their
interest. Older students are often reluctant to show outward enthusiasm for
anything related to formal learning. Most Middle Schoolers are just the
opposite. Many love to role play, make speeches, even sing (usually in a group;
there are limits). I hope to create lessons and projects where they have choices
to make about which primary source they will work on, and give them
opportunities to use their innate creativity to recreate events that illuminate
the basic information in the primary sources.
Teachers
using this curriculum may choose to use three introductory activities to
acquaint their students with primary sources. These activities were created to
fit a perceived need: students must
first understand the importance of primary sources. They need to know what
primary sources are, why they are valuable tools in historical research, and how
they may be used to increase our understanding of the past.
The
first introductory activity, “Primary sources and Me: Or, “How Will Anyone Know About Me When I Become Famous,”
was developed to encourage students
to be creative while exploring the primary sources that are constantly being
created in the daily lives of ordinary people. The second introductory activity,
“Sources: Primary and
Secondary,” gives a simple definition of these two types of sources and
directs students to take a fresh look at their Social Studies book.
Specifically, the second activity asks students to make a connection between
primary sources and the westward migration of Americans during the nineteenth
century. Again, students are encouraged to be creative while developing a mind
set that includes an understanding that Indians and westward moving settlers
both left primary sources behind that we may study. The third activity,
“Bulletin of the United States Census for 1890,” encourages students to use
a quote from a primary source to explore the national consequences of
first having millions of acres of frontier and unexplored lands, and then
not having them. These three introductory activities should help ease students
into their use of primary sources by making them appear to be what they are:
documents created in the daily lives of people that can be used to gain a
greater understanding of their part in the on-going story of humankind, in other
words, history.
The
proper placement of the unit within the eighth grade Social Studies curriculum
is crucial. Ideally, it should be introduced toward the end of the year
following the completion of the Civil War and Reconstruction. At that time of
the year the eighth grade history books take a final look at territorial
expansion, population growth, and industrial growth. Then, the course ends. In
other words, this curriculum unit will be a series of lessons and projects that
call upon the students to take some basic information
on territorial expansion they should be familiar with by that time of the
year and tie those isolated facts
together conceptually. Too often chunks of information remain isolated facts
when, in fact, they are pieces of a puzzle that is easily understood when looked
at as a whole. This unit will attempt to pull together information learned
earlier, and then draw conclusions based on an examination of primary sources.
Classroom
Activities
If the eighth grade curriculum is so crowded that it is not possible for
some teachers to fit another unit into their course of study at the end of the
year, those teachers might consider using the individual primary sources
throughout the year when they chronologically fit. While it may not be ideal, it
could still have value. A learning activity in
Appendix B, “Searching for Information in Primary Sources:
The Historian as a Detective,” was designed to be used with each of the primary sources that accompany this curriculum unit. It
is a generic list of questions that students may use to focus their attention on
the basic information sometimes buried in the awkward language of the period.
Like modern journalists, students in this activity are directed to ask the basic
“who, what, when, where, why, and how” questions. In other words, it
is recommended that this unit be used at the end of the year as a way to pull
together information on migration presented throughout the year, but that is not
the only way it can be used. Primary sources on the westward movement may be
presented as one day lessons throughout the year as a way to bolster the
information presented chronologically in the textbook. Remember, however, that
the activity in Appendix B should be used each time that students read a primary
source.
This
westward expansion probably looks like it was inevitable. Our thirteen eastern
seaboard colonies had room to grow in the west. This simple fact took on greater
significance when our national territory doubled with the addition of the
Louisiana Purchase in 1803. St.
Louis on the Mississippi River soon became a starting point for explorers and
then wagon trains of settlers. Two intrepid explorers, Lewis and Clark,
set out from there in 1804 to record just what we had purchased from
Napoleon.
The
first primary source in this curriculum unit contains some of their observations
recorded in The Journals of Lewis and Clark. Meriwether Lewis, a personal
friend and Virginia neighbor of President Thomas Jefferson, and a highly
respected explorer, William Clark were both selected by the President to explore
this vast region. They were to map the territory while trying to find an all
water route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. They also were to
carefully draw pictures of all the new plant and animal species they encountered
as well as to record their impressions of the native population in a journal.
Their words, frequently misspelled and punctuated, chronicle the cultural clash
that occurred when two very different worlds collided. Their individual journals
recorded their experiences between 1804 and 1806 as they followed the Missouri
River to its source, crossed the Rocky Mountains, descended the Columbia River
to the
Pacific
Ocean and then went back again to
St. Louis. In this curriculum unit an 1804 journal entry by William Clark
details some typical interaction between the Mandan Indians and the explorers.
An 1805 entry by Meriwether Lewis illustrates the non-threatening nature of the
relationship between the explorers and the Indians. Lewis and Clark were there
to document and map the territory. They were not there to drive the Indians off
the land. That would come later.
The
second primary source, “Appeal of the Cherokee Nation,” looks at our
internal migration from a different angle.
The white settlers willingly, and often eagerly, crossed the Mississippi
River, but some Indians were forcibly moved
across it by United States soldiers. The Cherokees were reluctant
migrants because their tribal lands in
Georgia were coveted by American citizens, and they were eventually forced to
leave in the Trail of Tears. They had been prosperous farmers on lands secured
by treaties with the Washington Administration. They actively opposed the white
land speculators, and mounted an appeal to the national government.
Unfortunately for them, the U.S. Congress and President Jackson were sympathetic
to the demands of the white settlers and an official Indian Removal Policy were
implemented in the 1830’s. The Cherokees went to court to stop the state of
Georgia, and the Supreme Court agreed with them in Worcester vs. Georgia. The
favorable court ruling was not
enforced by President Jackson, and they were forcibly removed to lands across
the Mississippi. The primary source, “Appeal of the Cherokee Nation,” should
prove particularly interesting to students who may have believed that the
Cherokee Indians were incapable of mounting their own legal defense.
The
third primary source, journal entries from Narcissa Whitman’s diary, is a peek
into the private thoughts of a missionary in the Oregon Country approximately
thirty years after Lewis and Clark’s traveled through the area. Her diary
entries reveal a great deal about the woman who wrote them, the wild country
where she lived, and the tragedy of this woman who would be deliberately
murdered in an Indian attack approximately ten years later. Students reading her
account of daily life in the Oregon Country will glimpse into the thought
processes of a missionary committed to winning souls to Christianity. They will
discover her attitude toward the Indians she chose to serve and probably
discover that her opinions are much different from their own. They also will
learn more about how the continental expanse was brought under American control,
and the reaction of the Native Americans to this process.
The
fourth primary source, “The Destiny of the Race,” is an article published in
the Congressional
Globe in 1846. The
author, Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, was a firm believer in Manifest
Destiny. He was born in North
Carolina in 1782 and then briefly educated at the University of North Carolina.
Later he practiced law and fought in the militia under Andrew Jackson. Still
later, he became a newspaper editor and land speculator. Senator Benton
remained loyal to Andrew Jackson and the Democratic party in his thirty years as
a Congressman from 1820 until 1850. This primary source clearly shows his racist attitude in
favor of the Caucasian race. His views fit into the arguments of those who
believed that God had selected the white Americans as special and then given
them a unique destiny. Senator Benton and others like him believed that they
were predestined for a special destiny as the inevitable masters of all
territory between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Students reading and
digesting this primary source will better understand that some Americans
honestly believed that no one should oppose them as their wagon trains rolled
forward across the continent.
The
fifth and final primary source contains some excerpts from Sarah Winnemucca’s
autobiography, Life among the Piutes: Their
Wrongs and Claims, edited by Mrs. Horace Mann.
Sarah
expressed herself very well in English, and her voice provides an alternative
view to the Manifest Destiny claims of many Americans of that time.
Students may be amazed to realize that this Indian princess was born into
the world of the Piute Indians, witnessed the advent of the explorers and the
pioneering settlers as a small child, lived during the conflict between the
United States government and her people, and then went on to write about it in
her autobiography. She truly had witnessed great change. Sarah, the daughter of
a Piute chief in what is now the state of Nevada, believed that she was born
sometime near 1844. She was not sure. While some of her contemporaries and later
anthropologists and historians would questioned her motives, others staunchly
defended her. The fact remains that she was an eye witness to the events
surrounding the conquest of the western lands by the settlers, U.S. Army, and
the United States government.
Teachers
using this curriculum unit may chose to include the five primary sources in a
“Primary Sources Speak” project. If
this approach is taken, the Social Studies class should be divided into groups
of five with the typical class having five groups. Each group would then be
given a set of the five primary sources: Lewis
and Clark journal entries; the “Appeal of the Cherokee Nation,” journal
entries written by Narcissa Whitman; Senator Benton’s “The Destiny of the
Race” article; and excerpts from Sarah Winnemucca’s autobiography, Life
Among the Piutes. Either the teacher could assign one document per student,
or the members of the groups would decide among themselves who would be
responsible for each document. It might be a good idea to have the teacher or
the students themselves select a team leader to help coordinate the work of the
group.
Please
note that the materials to be used by groups are collected together in the
appendix to this curriculum. Each primary source is followed by a special
worksheet that focuses upon that particular primary source. There also is a
lesson plan for teaching that primary source. The lesson plans are there for the
teacher who decides to teach the primary source documents throughout the year as
is chronologically appropriate. These lesson plans
also may be used by group members who are teaching primary sources to
their classmates.
The
first task would be for each group member individually to complete the
worksheet, “Searching for Information in Primary Sources: The Historian as
Detective.” They would use their individual primary sources to find answers
(who, what, when, where, why, and how) to basic questions. The team leader
should lead a discussion within the group where basic information about each
document is shared. Once this is done, each team member should use their
assigned primary source to complete their worksheet for their primary source. As
noted above these worksheets may be found in the appendix. Students must record
their answers and give a personal response to the document.
A
variation on this project approach to teaching the five primary sources would be
to use the groups of five students as specialists on one particular document.
The teacher could divide the class into these groups, give each group one of the
primary sources, one copy of the “Searching for Information in a Primary
Source” worksheet, and the specific worksheet that goes with their particular
primary source. They should also be given the lesson plan that goes with their
primary source document. In other words, each group would have all the teaching
materials in the appendix that support their primary source. Their project would
be to teach the assigned primary source to their classmates. They could use
library books and resources on the Internet to extend their knowledge of the
primary source. It is often maintained that a person who has to teach something
explores that subject from every angle. If it is true that you really learn a
subject best when you have to teach it, this would be a great way for students
to work together as a group to investigate a topic. Their individual strengths
would come into play as they planned, organized, researched, and then presented
the primary source to their classmates. The first thing they should do as a
group would be to complete the “Searching for information” worksheet. This
would make them aware of the basic information about their primary source. Then,
they should complete the worksheet on their primary source and consult the
lesson plan.
Regardless
of the approach taken in the investigation of the primary source (an an
individual task by a team member, or as a group effort focused upon one primary
source), there should be a creative way of presenting information to the class.
Students should be given a list of presentation options. They could create a
news broadcast (like 20/20 or 60 Minutes) on a topic such as “American
Territorial Growth: At What
Price?” A moderator could interview the historical personalities represented
in the primary sources such as Lewis and Clark, Narcissa Whitman, Thomas Hart
Benton, a Cherokee Indian, and Sarah Winnemucca. They could have the option of
creating a mural on large paper (36” wide and as long as practical) showing
major events and information gleaned from the primary sources. A time line
illustrating key events in the westward movement could be part of this. It could
focus upon the life of one person or several.
Students
might be interested in creating a newsletter on westward expansion that covered
the major events highlighted in the primary sources. In addition they could
create a series of political cartoons or story boards accompanied by an
editorial on specific topics covered in the primary sources. Students could do
research on the Internet to find out more about Indian tribes such as the
Mandans that befriended Lewis and Clark.. An article on the Mandans would be
interesting in the newsletter. A travel brochure encouraging people to join a
wagon train going west from St. Louis might capture the interest of students who
would have to employ propagandistic advertising techniques to highlight the
positives (adventure, economic opportunity and so on) and ignore the harsh
realities (danger, mostly).
The
students may have some ideas of their own about how they can present
information. For example, if they want to recreate the events in a dialogue
among actors in a play, why not? The
goals of this curriculum will have been met if students have gained experience
in using primary sources. If their knowledge of American territorial expansion
has gone from knowing isolated facts to having concepts about how and why it
happened as it did, the excursion into America’s past via primary sources was
a success.
Annotated Bibliography for Teachers
Canfield,
Gae Whitney, Sarah Winnemucca of the
Northern Paiutes (Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1983).
This
biography is a valuable companion to Sarah Winnemucca’s autobiography, Life
Among the Piutes. Together they paint a comprehensive picture of the Piute
Indian princess experiences with the Americans who came westward into Piute
lands.
Crevecoeur,
Michel Guillaume Jean de, Letters
from an American Farmer, Letter 3, “What Is an American,” quoted in America
Firsthand, V. 1, 3rd edition, by Robert D. Marcus and David Burner, 1995.
This
observant French traveler in the United States offers insights into the
character of early Americans.
Drury,
Clifford Merrill, ed., Where
Wagons Could Go: Narcissa Whitman
and Eliza Spalding, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997),
Originally pub. as First White Women Over the Rockies (Glendale, Calif.: A.H. Clark, 1963).
The
diaries and letters of these two women have not been altered editorially. The
spelling and punctuation are original. The editor adds background information.
Lewis,
Meriwether and William Clark, The Journals
of Lewis and Clark, ed. Bernard DeVoto, (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1953).
Their
journals with flawed spelling and grammar offer fresh insights into the initial
contact between the Native Americans and these intrepid explorers.
Sarah
Winnemucca Hopkins, Life Among the Piutes:
Their Wrongs and Claims, ed. by Mrs. Horace Mann (Boston: Cupples, Upham and
Company, 1883), 5-13, 20-21.
Sarah
Winnemucca calls upon personal experience to describe her life and that of her
tribesmen as she chronicles the cultural clash of the Piutes and the white
invaders.
Bandel,
Eugene, Frontier Life in the Army,
1854-1861, ed. by Ralph Bieber (Glendale, Calif.: The Arthur H. Clark
Company, Southwest Historical Series, 1932).
Eugene
Bandel was an educated German American who wrote insightful letters and journal
entries describing life in the U.S. Army in the Southwest. He often describes
interaction with the Native Americans in that region.
Boller,
Jr., Paul F. A More Perfect Union: Documents
in U. S. History, 2nd ed., Vol. 1: to 1877, “Appeal of the Cherokee
Nation” , pp. 135-137, “The Destiny of the Race,” pp. 139-142 (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988).
The
primary sources in this volume chronologically span the time period between
colonial Virginia and the completion of Reconstruction. A section called
“Counterpoint” contains statistical data. The “Appeal of the Cherokee
Nation” and “The Destiny of the Race” were used in this curriculum unit.
Graebner,
William and Leonard Richards, eds. The
American Record: Images of the Nation’s Past, vol. 1, 4th ed. (Boston:
McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2001), pp. 279-282.
Students
will find a fresh look at America’s past through images that are thought
provoking and insightful.
O’Sullivan,
John, “Manifest Destiny” 1845.
An
article in an eastern newspaper quoted in The
Essential America, by George B.
Tindall, David E. Shi, and Thomas Lee Pearcy (New York: W.W. Norton & Co,
2001), p. 212. Another portion quoted by Christopher Clark and Nancy A. Hewitt, Who Built America? vol.
1, (New York: Worth Publishers,
2000), pp. 524, 539.
O.Sullivan’s
article, “Manifest Destiny” is used to explain an American mind-set about
the exploration and conquest of western territory.
Frederick
Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the
Frontier in American History,” the first three chapters in his collected
essays, The Frontier in American History, 1920, reprinted by Holt,
Rinehart
& Winston, Inc., 1947.
Turner’s
thesis on the significance of the closing of the American frontier in 1890
profoundly influenced American historians in succeeding generations.
Davidson,
James West, et. al. Nation of
Nations: A Concise Narrative of the American Republic, vol. 1, 3rd ed.,
(Boston: McGraw-Hill higher
Education, 2002).
This
is a very readable narrative survey of American history until 1877. Chapter 14,
“Western Expansion and the Rise of the Slavery Issue” provides historical
insight particularly in the section, “Destinies: Manifest and Otherwise.
Kuzirian,
Eugene and Larry Madaras, Taking Sides:
Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History, vol. 1,
(Guilford, Conn.: The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc., 1987).
Issue
15, “Did the Frontier Determine the Course of American History?, pp. 266-287,
explores the controversy over Turner’s thesis regarding the significance of
the official closing of the American frontier.
Alexis
de Tocqueville, Democracy in America,
ed. by J.P. Mayer (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1969).
His
early 19th Century observations of the United States and her citizens may be
joined with those of Crevecoeur to
get a foreigners view of the unique character of early Americans. Both were
fascinated with the migratory patterns.
Selected List
of Web Sites on Westward Expansion: For Teachers, Students, and Classroom Use
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/nworder.htm.
http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/nword.html
http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/chronicle/northwest.html
http://memory.loc.gov//ammem/armapquery.html
The
above sites are on the Northwest Ordinance and lands in the Old Northwest. While
this area of land is not specifically covered in this curriculum unit, the
sources give historical background information to anyone studying the westward
movement.
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/inside/idx_cir.html
http://www.edgate.com/lewisandclark/mapping
of the west.html
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/into/index.html
The above sites have information on the Lewis and Clark expedition.
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/E/manifest/manif1.htm
http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/dialogues/prelude/manifest/manifestdestiny.html
The
above sites have information on Manifest Destiny. All of the sites may be surfed
to find documentary collections of primary sources.
Appendix
A
Primary
Sources and ME:
Or, “How Will Anyone Know About Me When I Become Famous?”
Name_____________________________Class
Period________Date______________________
Scenario:
Imagine that you become famous as an adult. Maybe, you will become
President of the United States, the discover of a cure for cancer, or a pop
music star, or ... . Future
generations will want to know about you, but many of the secondary sources
(articles in the Inquirer, etc. and tell-all books) may not be accurate.
Finally, a first rate writer and winner of the Pulitzer Prize decides to set the
record straight in an accurate biography of your life. The author needs to do
research using primary sources that record the real story of your life. To do
that, he/she needs public documents and private records.
Your
Task
Decide
what made you famous (what you did to become famous). Then, make a list of
primary sources that could help this biographer write an accurate story. These
sources could be public records of when and where you were born as well as your
parents’ names (a birth certificate), other public records or documents,
newspaper interviews, etc. List at least ten primary sources that would shed
some light on your life.
Complete this
statement:
I will become famous because I... ____________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Ten Primary
Sources:
1.________________________________________2.________________________________________3.________________________________________4.________________________________________5._______________________________________6.________________________________________7.________________________________________8.________________________________________9.________________________________________10._______________________________________
Final Question:
Even if
you don’t become famous, the primary sources that record some of the events of
your life could be of interest to historians of the 21st Century. Why?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sources:
Primary and Secondary
Name__________________________
Class Period_______Date_______
Students:
Anyone who reads a history book comes in contact with both primary and
secondary sources. In fact, the history book is a secondary source that contains
some primary sources.
When
you do research to find out what really happened in the past, you need to look
at primary sources so it is important to know what a primary source really is. A primary source is: a book, person or document supplying
first hand information. A secondary
source is: an interpretation of the original book, person or document by
someone trying to explain what it means.
A
Social Studies book explaining the history of the United States is a secondary
source, but the excerpts from diaries, letters, and newspapers written by real
people at the time are primary sources. The U.S. Constitution printed in the
Social Studies book is another primary source.
Question
# 1. Name at least three other
primary sources found in your Social Studies book.
A.______________________________________________________________________
B.______________________________________________________________________
C.______________________________________________________________________
Question
# 2. People moving westward across
the United States created primary sources that we can study.
List at least three primary sources that pioneers may have created that
we can study to find out what life was really like for them. Use your
imagination. For example, they may have filled out an application to join a
wagon train in which they agreed to pay a certain amount or money or agreed to
do certain kinds of jobs.
A.______________________________________________________________________
B.______________________________________________________________________
C.______________________________________________________________________
Question
# 3 As the Native Americans came in
contact with the advancing settlers, what kind of primary sources may have been
created by either themselves or the settlers? For example, Native American
chiefs may have signed peace treaties or...
A.______________________________________________________________________
B.______________________________________________________________________
C.______________________________________________________________________
Bulletin
of the United States Census for 1890
Name______________________________________Class
Period______Date_______________
Directions:
The frontier may be defined as land that forms the furthest extent of a
country’s settled or inhabited regions. Since the days when colonists first
arrived in North America, there was always land to be explored and settled to
the west. In the following quote from a primary source, the U. S. Census of
1890, the superintendent of that official U.S. Census said the frontier didn’t
exist anymore because all lands between the east and west coast had some
settlements. He announced that the westward movement of settlers had effectively
populated our national territory and that the American frontier in the
continental United States no longer existed. His exact words were:
“Up
to and including 1880 the country had a frontier of settlement, but at present
the unsettled area has been so broken into by isolated bodies of settlement that
there can hardly be said to be a frontier line. In the discussion of its extent,
the westward movement etc., it can not, therefore, any longer have a place in
the census reports.”
Source:
Superintendent of the Census for 1890, Bulletin quoted by Eugene
Kuziriand and Larry Madaras, editors, Taking Sides: Clashing Views on
Controversial Issues in America History,
vol. 1, 2nd ed. (Guilford,
Conn.:The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc., 1987), p.268.
Question
# 1:
With
a classmate brainstorm ideas of why the frontier and the unexplored lands beyond
were important to Americans from 1607 until 1890. Then, share these ideas with
the class.
A.______________________________________________________________________
B.______________________________________________________________________
C.______________________________________________________________________
D.______________________________________________________________________
E.______________________________________________________________________
F.______________________________________________________________________
Question
# 2:
What
would you find on the frontier that you wouldn’t find in the unexplored and/or
unsettled lands beyond the frontier? With a partner list at least three things.
A.______________________________________________________________________
B.______________________________________________________________________
C.______________________________________________________________________
Question
# 3:
In
spite of the very real dangers of traveling in unexplored lands, why did so many
Americans take the risk and join the westward migration? With a partner list at
least three reasons people had for moving to the frontier and then beyond the
frontier.
A.______________________________________________________________________
B.______________________________________________________________________
C.______________________________________________________________________
Question
# 4:
Do
you think the loss of the frontier and open land beyond was a good or bad thing
for Americans (yes or no)? Explain your answer.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Question
# 5:
What
other frontiers exist today that challenge people to move into and beyond? Try
to think of frontiers in things other than land.
A.______________________________________________________________________
B.______________________________________________________________________
C.______________________________________________________________________
Lesson Plan: Day One
Primary
Sources Speak: Documenting the
Westward Movement
Topic:
Introducing Primary Sources
Objectives:
SWBAT: Explain the difference between primary and secondary sources,
give
examples of both, and recognize
the connection between their lives and historical
records.
Materials:
Two worksheets (Primary Sources and ME..., Sources:
Primary and Secondary)
and their regular U.S. History textbook.
Procedure:
1.
Distribute the worksheet, Primary Sources and ME.
2.
Ask a student to read the scenario on this worksheet.
3.
Discuss the task description on this worksheet.
4.
Divide the students into groups of two.
Each student should brainstorm ideas for
completing the assigned task and then complete the worksheets.
5.
Share the answers that the students have written.
6.
Emphasize the final question to show that everyone creates primary
sources that
may be of interest and value to future historians.
7.
Distribute the worksheet, Sources: Primary
and Secondary.
8.
Discuss the definitions of primary and secondary sources given on the
worksheet.
9.
Ask students to use their regular history book to find primary sources
(Question # !).
10.
Ask students to individually answer questions # 2 and # 3. Then, share
their
answers in class.
Evaluation:
Teacher questioning to determine if concepts are understood. Students
should be
able to articulate the difference between primary and secondary sources
and give
examples of primary sources they will create within their lifetimes.
Lesson
Plan: Day Two
Primary
Sources Speak: Documenting the
Westward Movement
Topic:
Introducing Primary Sources
Objectives:
SWBAT: Define the term, frontier, and list at least three reasons
why the frontier
and unexplored lands were important to Americans prior to 1890. Describe
the
potential for conflict that existed between the Native Americans and the
settlers
who came to occupy their land.
Materials:
The worksheet, Bulletin of the United States Census for 1890, their
regular
U.S. History textbook, a desk sized blank U.S. map, and colored pencils..
Procedure:
1.
Distribute the worksheet, Bulletin of the United States Census for 1890
2.
Orally read and explain the directions.
3.
Divide the class into groups of two or three to brainstorm answers to the
five
questions
on the worksheet.
4.
Class discussion to share the results of the brainstormed answers.
5.
Distribute blank maps of the continental United States.
6.
Direct student to locate the frontier that existed at the following
locations: the
Appalachian, Mountains, the Mississippi River, and the Rocky Mountains.
7.
Use maps in the U.S. history book to draw the Oregon Trail, the
California Trail,
the
Santa Fe Trail, and the Chisholm Trail.
8.
Use maps in the U.S. history book to locate areas where major Indian
tribes lived
before the settlers arrived (Cherokee, Iroquois, Seminole, Sioux,
Comanche,
Blackfeet, Crow, etc.).
9.
Create a map legend to color code areas on the map where these tribes
lived.
10.
Discuss the potential conflicts that would arise when the wagon trains
moved
onto Indian lands.
Evaluation:
Student responses to the worksheet and
oral questions from the teacher.
Also, teacher evaluation of the student created maps depicting the
shifting frontier as well as the location of Indian tribes in the general area
of the major westward trails
Appendix
B
The Historian
as a Detective
Name___________________________Class
Period________Date________________________
Directions:
When you play the part of an historical researcher, you are really acting
as a
detective. Primary sources are full of information, but they may be
written in a
language that can be hard to understand. It helps if you are looking for
answers
to specific questions.
Find
answers to the questions below. Some are easy to find (like who is the primary
source about). Sometimes, though, it is about more than one person. It may be
bout a whole group of people (such as an Indian tribe, or a group of white settlers
moving west). Other questions aren’t as easy. They may ask for you to “read
between the lines” to discover the attitude or opinion of the person in the
document. Good luck to you as you begin to be an historical detective.
*
The Who, What When, Where, Why,
and How of Primary Sources