MANIFEST DESTINY - Westward Expansion of the United States
Many Americans believed that the United States was destined to conquer the American continent and perhaps beyond. Other Americans protested these expansions as betrayals of American values. Debates over expansion, economics, diplomacy, and manifest destiny exposed some of the weaknesses of the American system. The chauvinism of policies like Native American removal, the Mexican War, and filibustering, existed alongside growing anxiety. Manifest destiny attempted to make a virtue of America’s lack of history and turn it into the very basis of nationhood. According to these Americans, the United States was the embodiment of the democratic ideal. Democracy had to be timeless, boundless, and portable. New methods of transportation and communication, the rapidity of the railroad and the telegraph, the rise of the international market economy, and the growth of the American frontier provided shared platforms to help Americans think across local identities and reaffirm a national character. These sources demonstrate the conflicts over antebellum American expansion.
from The American Yawp Reader. Painting by John Gast, American Progress 1872, Wikimedia.
What was Manifest Destiny?
"Manifest Destiny was the idea that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire continent of North America. The ideology of Manifest Destiny inspired a variety of measures designed to remove or destroy the native population."
From Kahn Academy The Smithsonian American Art Museum has excellent resources related to this topic for teachers |
|
The serendipitous journey to the development of this theme:
Before the pandemic, 21st Century Schools held professional development workshops in San Antonio twice per year - once in the Spring and again in December. Always held at a beautiful hotel on the famous San Antonio Riverwalk, the area was magnificent at both times of the year. Spring featured beautiful flowers and trees, while December was a fairyland of Christmas lights and river taxis of Santas singing Christmas carols!
One day I was searching for additional information about the Riverwalk and found this adorable mage of two little cowboys. This led me to begin researching possibilities for a unit on Cowboy Culture. Recently I was thinking that it may be difficult to get teachers inspired to take the time to focus on Cowboy Culture alone, so I began brainstorming connections. I determined that Cowboy Culture could be one facet of a unit based on Manifest Destiny - Westward Expansion of the United States. So this page is another starter brainstorm on that topic. Additionally, this month, November is Native American History month which also has huge connections to Manifest Destiny.
For additional ideas on taking a new approach for designing and implementing spectacular, high level curriculum, please refer to my article, Serendipity in Curriculum Design.
As I always say, do NOT begin the standards when planning a project-based unit. That is equivalent to donning a set of blinders - blinders are for horses, not explorers!
One day I was searching for additional information about the Riverwalk and found this adorable mage of two little cowboys. This led me to begin researching possibilities for a unit on Cowboy Culture. Recently I was thinking that it may be difficult to get teachers inspired to take the time to focus on Cowboy Culture alone, so I began brainstorming connections. I determined that Cowboy Culture could be one facet of a unit based on Manifest Destiny - Westward Expansion of the United States. So this page is another starter brainstorm on that topic. Additionally, this month, November is Native American History month which also has huge connections to Manifest Destiny.
For additional ideas on taking a new approach for designing and implementing spectacular, high level curriculum, please refer to my article, Serendipity in Curriculum Design.
As I always say, do NOT begin the standards when planning a project-based unit. That is equivalent to donning a set of blinders - blinders are for horses, not explorers!
Resources
Content Standards - United States History grades 5-12
Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
- Standard 1 - United States territorial expansion between 1801-1861, and how it affected relations with external powers and Native Americans.
- Standard 2 - How the industrial revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and the westward movement changed the lives of Americans and led toward regional tensions.
- Standard 3 - The extension, restriction, and reorganization of political democracy after 1800.
- Standard 4 - The sources and character of cultural religious, and social reform movements in the antebellum period.
Children's Literature
Manifest Destiny, compiled by Ms. Matthews for a Fourth Grade Unit on Westward Expansion
Manifest Destiny - free stories online.
The Dream of Manifest Destiny: Immigrants and the Westward Expansion (Spotlight on Immigration and Migration) Reading age 9-13
Manifest Destiny, compiled by Ms. Matthews for a Fourth Grade Unit on Westward Expansion
Manifest Destiny - free stories online.
The Dream of Manifest Destiny: Immigrants and the Westward Expansion (Spotlight on Immigration and Migration) Reading age 9-13