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Course, Subject

English Regents, Social Studies, English Language Arts (NYS P-12 Common Core), Literacy in History/Social Studies (NYS 5-12 Common Core)

Web-Based Resource

Access this resource at http://docsteach.org/activities/105

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Procedure

Rationale:

This activity can be used as a companion to another activity about the reasons for westward expansion. Begin this activity following it, or after teaching about the reasons for westward expansion immediately before, during, and right after the Civil War.

    Historical Era: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)

    Instructions: 

1. Begin by asking the class to hypothesize how the westward movement of Americans may have influenced the various groups of Native Americans living west of the Mississippi River. Refer to specific reasons for westward migration, such as: gold and mining opportunities, work opportunities in the cattle industry, the effects of the railroad (faster travel to the West and availability of supplies), the opportunity to own land under the Homestead Act, new inventions allowing settlers to adapt to life on the Plains, and the adventurous lure of the “Wild West.” Ask the class to speculate how the specific activities and occupations in which western settlers were engaged may have affected Native American lands, culture, religion, and politics. Ideas may be recorded for later reference.

2. Open the activity as a class. Choose a few documents to look at more closely. Ask if anyone can identify and explain any of the documents without further examination (for example, “Can you tell what kind of document any one is? How do you know?”). Ask for suggestions as to which documents are “earlier” and which are “later.” Students should be able to explain their presumptions. (To bolster students’ confidence and willingness to make informed guesses, remind them that at this point it is entirely appropriate to make a guess with loose evidence because they have not yet done any careful examination.)

3. Choose one of the documents with which to model document analysis. Then ask students to synthesize the information they have gathered and answer: “What is this document telling us about this time?” Remind students that they should replicate this close analysis of each document they open before they begin to move any of the documents. Ask students to sequence the documents as class, individually, or in small groups.

4. When students have placed all documents in the correct sequence, debrief with the full class. Ask the class to verbalize their answers to the concluding questions. Compare the responses to the debriefing questions/activities with the initially brainstormed list of issues that Native Americans may have faced. Ask students if these issues were resolved and how. Also ask students if they can decipher any official government policy toward Native Americans in the West?

5. Choose one documents on which to focus to ask students the following:

• How would you have felt in this situation?
• What do you think should have been done?

Description

In this activity, students will examine the impact of westward expansion and settlement on Native American groups following the Civil War. Students will explore a variety of documents to get a sense of the issues faced by Native Americans due to settlement and U.S. Government Indian policy.

Additional Resources

• Suggested Methods for Integrating Primary Sources into Classroom Instruction (PDF)
  
• Written Document Analysis Worksheet (PDF)

Source

The Impact of Westward Expansion on Native American Groups. DocsTeach initiative, http://docsteach.org/ accessed December 16, 2010.

Used with written permission from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), 3rd Learning has aligned this document with New York State Learning Standards at the Performance Indicator Level. NARA granted full permission and written approval for use of this content within NYLearns.org including text, images, and links.

Related Academic Standards

New York State

RI.11-12.8 Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses).

RI.11-12.9 Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (including The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features.

RH.9-10.3 Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.

RH.9-10.6 Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.

RH.9-10.7 Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.

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