Manifest Destiny

The time is the 1800s, the place is the new frontier, and the mood has turned to adventure.  It has been several decades since our country gained its independence, and during this time the size of our nation has tripled.   America was destined to stretch from sea to sea, and nothing could stop us.  As the Eastern portion of our country became more populated, your attention has turned westward.   Promises of riches, a new start, free land, and adventure are luring people to lands once only inhabited by Natives. 

Each expert group is expected to complete the following tasks:

1.         Develop a working definition of Manifest Destiny. Use these sites to help you:

http://humwww.ucsc.edu/gruesz/manifest.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_Destiny

http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/prelude/md_introduction.html

2.         Copy pictures from the following sites and explain in your own words what do they mean to you.

            http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/balboa/destiny/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_Destiny

3.         Copy U.S. Territorial Maps of 1775, 1790, & 1800.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MAP/terr_hp.html

4. Using the map provided of the United States, draw a red line around the 13 original states, plus Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Draw a green line around states admitted to the Union between 1800 and 1820 – Ohio, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida (territories admitted between 1800 – 1820). How close in size is the land encircled by red lines and that encircled by green and blue lines?

5. After reading "Manifest Destiny: White Man’s Dream, Red Man’s Nightmare" in the January 1984 issue of Cobblestone, answer the following questions.

a) What was the statement that Newman Horace Greeley made about moving west?

b) Why was the white man’s dream about going west, the red man’s nightmare?

c) What countries did America "win the west" from? And what territories had these countries claimed?

d) What was the Indian Removal Act of 1830?

e) What is an Indian reservation? And how many Indians today live on them?

Manifest Destiny Skit

Now you will join other groups to step into the shoes of others who lived during the time manifest destiny. You will create a skit about life during manifest destiny. You and your group can take on the role of a family and act how the family dealt with expansion, production, moving, education, Native Americans, jobs, expectations, goals, hopes, dreams etc, or you could take the perspective of Native Americans. Your possibilities are endless. Be creative and have fun with this assignment. This assignment is for you to understand what life was like during the manifest destiny and understand the hardships and excitement of the time. You will be given seven days to work on the skits. We will be talking about manifest destiny in class and you will be given a few days to research as well. Each skit must be 10-15 minutes in length. You will be evaluated on your group’s ability to show what life was like for a certain individual or group during this time, how well you work with your group, and your creativity and historical accuracy. The skit is worth 50 points.

6. Develop a summary of your expert group's position about Manifest Destiny.

Plantation owners,
owners of large estates in the South who depended for their labor on slaves

Expansionists
people who believed that it was the destiny of America to spread its borders to include the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans

Native Americans
descendants of people who reached the Americas thousands of years ago and who populated what is now the United States before the arrival of white Europeans

Pioneers
people who move and settle in parts of a country that have not been lived in before except by native peoples

Abolitionists,
people primarily from Northern states who strongly favor doing away with slavery

7. Give reasons why your group supports and/or opposes Manifest Destiny

Locate a visual aid to further support your position.

 

Through the above activity, students are working on Information Technology GE 5-6 1, GE 5-6 2, GE 5-6 3, GE 5-6 4, GE 5-6 5.

Information Technology Tasks Index Page

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This page last updated: 01/18/08 .