Facilitator s Guide Unit 7 Contested Territories Introduction This unit, Contested Territories, focuses on the impact of the acquisition of new territories by the United States, and how the forming of new states shaped the decades leading up to the Civil War. Learning Objectives In this session, teachers will explore factors driving territorial expansion; examine the impacts of this expansion on different groups and individuals; consider how territorial expansion contributed to increasing sectional tensions that culminated in the Civil War. Before You Begin Before the day of the Contested Territories workshop, familiarize yourself with the reading materials assigned to the participating teachers. Review this facilitator s guide. Be sure to prepare the correct number of overheads, handouts, maps, charts, and illustrations needed for each activity. Each teacher should read the text materials for Unit 7 before attending the workshop (estimated time: two hours). Activities during the workshop will draw heavily on the content in the text materials as well as the video. Participants should bring the unit text materials to the workshop session. Materials Needed This America s History in the Making facilitator s guide Text Materials for Unit 7: Contested Territories VHS tape and VCR, DVD and DVD player, or access to streaming video of America s History in the Making video for Unit 7: Contested Territories available at www.learner.org Overhead projector and colored pens Multiple copies of handouts (in the Appendix of this guide) Pens and paper for participating teachers and facilitator Chalkboard, blank transparencies, or overhead for reporting out Tape or pushpins for posting cards and maps
Overhead and Handout Instructions 1. Using Appendix A, Themes for Contested Territories, create an overhead transparency. 2. Using Appendix B, Historical Terms Visual Organizer, create an overhead transparency as well as one copy for each teacher. 3. Using Appendix C, Contested Territories Events Cards, cut the sheet into four cards. 4. Using Appendix D, Contested Territories Maps, make one copy of each map. 5. Using Appendix E, Excerpt From John Quincy Adams 1811 Letter to John Adams, make one copy for each participant. Facilitator s Note: You may want to prepare overheads of the reflection and discussion questions for teachers to reference during the workshop activities. Leading the Session As participating teachers arrive, have an overhead set up that lists the main themes of the unit for teachers to review (Appendix A). After you have completed any housekeeping announcements, ask one of the teachers to read the themes aloud. Explain that they will expand their understanding of these three themes through activities and video segments that build on the reading they did prior to the workshop session.
Warm-up and Activity 1 (30 minutes) This activity serves as an icebreaker for the group, while allowing teachers to consider how different people viewed the contested territories that were acquired and settled by the United States in this era. It also provides an opportunity to examine the implications of using different terms to describe this era. Warm-up Brainstorming (5 minutes) The terms we use to talk about the past often reflect overt biases or hidden perspectives. Begin by asking teachers to define the term Manifest Destiny as it was used in the nineteenth century. What assumptions were implied by this phrase? Whose perspective did it reflect? Whose did it ignore? Activity 1 Part 1 (10 minutes) Divide the teachers into pairs. Ask each pair to make a list of the different groups that were affected by U.S. territorial expansion during the first six decades of the nineteenth century, noting what actions each group took to support or challenge that expansion. After ten minutes, have all the pairs share their findings with the collective group. Part 2 (10 minutes) Distribute copies of the Historical Terms Visual Organizer (Appendix B) to each of the teachers, and place one on the overhead projector. Ask teachers to brainstorm a list of terms (other than Manifest Destiny) that could be used to describe changes in political control and habitation of what is now the western United States during the era from 1800 1860. Have them write the terms in column 1 of the Visual Organizer, and then record in columns 2 and 3 whose perspective each term reflects and whose it ignores. After teachers have filled out the Visual Organizer, have them share their answers, recording their findings on the overhead transparency. 3
Part 3 (5 minutes) Allow teachers to share their responses to the following reflection questions with the group. Reflection Questions 1. Were you able to identify any term for this era that incorporates all the different perspectives of white settlers, of Native Americans, of slaves, of slave owners, of Asian or Irish immigrants, etc.? 2. How can teachers help students understand how the perspective or bias implicit in such terms affects our ability to understand the past? Watch Video Segment 1: Historical Perspectives (approximately 10 minutes) 4
Activity 2 (50 minutes) Teachers should rely on material from the video and the readings to complete this activity. They should be encouraged to refer to the text materials as a resource. Activity Overview This activity allows teachers to review the impacts of events throughout this period on shaping landholding and habitation in what became the western United States. Part 1 (20 minutes) Divide teachers into four groups. Distribute the four Contested Territories Events Cards (Appendix C) among the groups. Have each group write a one-paragraph description of the events on each of their cards, including the dates of the events. Part 2 (5 minutes) Have teachers create a timeline by posting the cards and the descriptions they have written in chronological order along a blackboard or wall of the room. Part 3 (15 minutes) Divide up the Contested Territories Maps (Appendix D) and distribute them to the teachers. Ask the teachers to identify what event or events are reflected in each map, and to determine what period the map reflects. Then, have teachers place their maps in the appropriate location on the timeline. Part 4 (10 minutes) Have the teachers review the cards and maps along the completed timeline. Ask them to share their responses to the following reflection questions. Reflection Questions 1. Which of these events and geographical changes did you know about before beginning the reading for this unit? Which ones are newer to you? 2. How does this overview of this era change your understanding of American history? Watch Video Segment 2: Faces of America (approximately 10 minutes) 5
Activity 3 (30 minutes) Activity Overview The goal of this activity is to explore how different groups experienced life in the western United States. Part 1 (20 minutes) Distribute a copy of the Excerpt From John Quincy Adams s 1811 Letter to John Adams (Appendix E) to each of the participants. Divide the teachers into three groups. Have the first group brainstorm a response to Turner from the perspective of Black Hawk and his fellow Sauk. Have the second group brainstorm a response to Turner from the perspective of Vallejo and other Mexican Californios. Have the third group brainstorm a response to Turner from the perspective of Ah Tye and other Chinese immigrants in this era. Part 2 (10 minutes) Have each group read its brainstorming response to the other teachers. Have the collective group create a list or Venn diagram showing the similarities and the differences between the three responses. Watch Video Segment 3: Hands on History (approximately 5 minutes to the end of the tape) 6
Activity 4 (10 minutes) Activity Overview This activity serves as a conclusion to this session of the workshop. It will provide you with an opportunity to reflect on what you have learned. Part 1 (5 minutes) Control of the Presidio area of San Francisco featured in the Hands on History segment changed many times, from the Ohlone (an indigenous tribe) to Spain to the Mexican Republic to the Republic of California to the United States. Ask teachers to recall what other nations (including Native American tribes) were involved in the exchanges of territories covered in the print and video for this unit. Part 2 (5 minutes) Have the teachers share their responses to the following reflection questions. Reflection Questions 1. How does studying this period deepen your understanding of how international factors shaped the United States during the first six decades of the nineteenth century? 2. How does studying this period deepen your understanding of how U.S. territorial expansion increased sectional tensions about slavery? 7
APPENDICES Contested Territories A: Themes for Contested Territories overhead transparency B: Historical Terms Visual Organizer overhead transparency; make one copy for each participating teacher C: Contested Territories Events Cards cut the sheet into four cards D: Contested Territories Maps make one copy of each map E: Excerpt From John Quincy Adams 1811 Letter to John Adams one handout for each participating teacher 8
Appendix A: Themes for Contested Territories THEME 1 Over the first six decades of the nineteenth century, multiple political, social, and economic factors drove American territorial expansion. THEME 2 Expansion affected different groups of people in a variety of ways offering opportunities to some, and causing dispossession, loss, and conflict for many others. THEME 3 The struggle of incorporating new lands as states exacerbated existing sectionalist rivalries, leading to a series of political crises that culminated in the Civil War.
Appendix B: Historical Terms Visual Organizer TERM Whose perspective does this term reflect? Whose perspective does this term ignore? Manifest Destiny 10
Appendix C: Contested Territories Events Cards Invention of the Cotton Gin Forced Removal of the Cherokee and Other Eastern Tribes Across the Mississippi Land Act of 1820 Mexico Declares Independence From Spain Gold Discovered in California Texas Declares Independence Mormon Migration Compromise of 1850 Preemption Acts of 1830s and 1840s Kansas-Nebraska Act Mexican-American War Wilmot Proviso Homestead Act Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Louisiana Purchase United States Annexes Texas Missouri Compromise 11
Appendix D: Contested Territories Maps Map 1: Mexico in 1821 Item 3340 Gary B. Nash and others, eds., The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, 6th ed. (New York: Pearson Education, 2004), 444. corresponds with: Mexico Declares Independence From Spain Mexican-American War Map 2: United States Territorial Expansion by 1860 Item 3341 Gary B. Nash and others, eds., The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, 6th ed. (New York: Pearson Education, 2004), 447. corresponds with: Texas Declares Independence Mexican-American War Louisiana Purchase United States Annexes Texas Map 3: National Expansion and the Movement West to 1830 Item 3342 Gary B. Nash and others, eds., The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, 6th ed. (New York: Pearson Education, 2004), 363. corresponds with: Louisiana Purchase Forced Removal of the Cherokee and Other Eastern Tribes Across the Mississippi Mexico Declares Independence From Spain Land Act of 1820 Map 4: Expansion of the Cotton Belt and Slave Trading Routes, 1801-1860 Item 3343 Peter H. Wood and others, eds., Created Equal: A Social and Political History of the United States (New York: Pearson Education, 2003), 399. corresponds with: Invention of the Cotton Gin 12
Appendix D: Contested Territories Maps Map 5: The Mexican-American War Item 3357 Gary B. Nash and others, eds., The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, 6th ed. (New York: Pearson Education, 2004), 450. corresponds with: Texas Declares Independence Mexican-American War Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo United States Annexes Texas Map 6: Indian Removals: Southeast and Midwest Item 3344 Gary B. Nash and others, eds., The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, 6th ed. (New York: Pearson Education, 2004), 415. corresponds with: Forced Removal of the Cherokee and Other Eastern Tribes Across the Mississippi Map 7: Missouri Compromise of 1820 Item 3345 Gary B. Nash and others, eds., The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, 6th ed. (New York: Pearson Education, 2004), 325. corresponds with: Missouri Compromise Map 8: Bleeding Kansas Item 3356 Gary B. Nash and others, eds., The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, 6th ed. (New York: Pearson Education, 2004), 494. corresponds with: Kansas Nebraska Act Map 9: Overland Trails to the West Item 3555 Gary B. Nash and others, eds., The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, 6th ed. (New York: Pearson Education, 2004), 458. corresponds with: Gold Discovered in California Mormon Migration Preemption Acts of 1830s and 1840s 13
Map 1 Mexico in 1821 Nash et al., 444. 14
Map 2 United States Territorial Expansion by 1860 Nash et al., 447. 15
Map 3 National Expansion and the Movement West to 1830 Nash et al., 363. 16
Map 4 Expansion of the Cotton Belt and Slave Trading Routes, 1801 1860 Wood et al., 399. 17
Map 5 The Mexican-American War Nash et al., 450. 18
Map 6 Indian Removals: Southeast and Midwest Nash et al., 415. 19
Map 7 Missouri Compromise of 1820 Nash et al., 325. 20
Map 8 Bleeding Kansas Nash et al., 494. 21
Map 9 Overland Trails to the West Nash et al., 458. 22
Appendix E: Excerpt From John Quincy Adams s 1811 Letter to John Adams The whole continent of North America appears to be destined by Divine Providence to be peopled by one nation, speaking one language, professing one general system of religious and political principles, and accustomed to one general tenor of social usages and customs. For the common happiness of them all, for their peace and prosperity, I believe it is indispensable that they should be associated in one federal Union. Walter A. McDougall, Promised Land, Crusader State: The American Encounter with the World Since 1776 (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1997), 78. 23
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