Summary
Students deconstruct a famous painting about Manifest Destiny. They read primary source documents from people who experienced westward expansion and its impact. Students create a Two-Voice poem using two of the narratives read.
Essential Question(s)
What experiences did people of different cultures have as the country expanded West? What was Manifest Destiny and nativism? How did these ideas impact westward expansion?
Snapshot
Engage
Students analyze a painting that depicts Manifest Destiny. Students draw conclusions about how different cultures experienced westward movement and expansion.
Explore
Students are introduced to the concept of nativism and read the Chinese Exclusion Act through a jigsaw activity. Students identify cultures who would have been excluded in this quest for new lands.
Explain
Students read narratives about people of different backgrounds and how they experienced the expansion of the West. Students create two-voice poems from two of the four narratives.
Extend
Students discuss how Manifest Destiny and nativism may have impacted our current ideas of U.S. nationalism.
Evaluate
The summaries from the Chinese Exclusion Act and the two-voice poetry may serve as assessments.
Materials
Student copies of "American Progress" painting and questions
Chinese Exclusion Act Reading primary source
Westward experiences primary source documents packet
Two-Voice Poetry Handout and rubric
Engage
Place students into groups of 3 or 4. Give each group a number—1, 2, 3, 4, 5. You will have groups who have the same number. Display the painting "American Progress." You will also provide a copy of the painting to each group.
Ask students to divide the painting mentally into four equal parts--the top left, the top right, the bottom left, the bottom right. Assign groups 1 through 4 one of the quadrants to examine and analyze. You may wish to draw imaginary lines on the picture to give students an idea of the extent of the section they will examine. Group 5 will concentrate on the figure in the center, the date of the painting, and the title of the painting. Have the following questions on the board for all groups to answer. They are also provided on the student handout.
Describe what is happening in your section of the painting.
What do each of the figures represent?
Some parts of the painting are dark and some are light. What does this "light" and "dark" imply?
What does the artist want you to notice, think, and feel?
What do you know about this time period?
Have all groups report their analysis.
Ask students what they think "Manifest Destiny" means. After several contributions, you may wish to share a definition of the term. Ask them how this painting, "American Progress," contributed to the idea of "Manifest Destiny." Would all the participants in the painting experience success in the West? Who would you predict would not? Students probably would say "Native Americans" because they would be killed, removed, etc.
Explore
Say to students that not all people who headed West seeking new land and new adventure had positive experiences. The U.S. government had the policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants and Native Americans. This practice is called "nativism." We will see an example of this in the law establishing the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Renumber group five only as a 1, 2, 3, or 4 group so that as much as possible, you have a balanced number of groups 1 through 4. Students are to move to a group of students who have the same number. You may wish to make sure the groups are not too large. Pass out the Chinese Exclusion Act reading to all students. Students will notice that this reading has already been divided into 4 parts.
They are to read their section silently or have one good reader read aloud their section to the others in their group. Then they are to summarize their section in their own words into a statement of fewer than 20 words. As they complete their summary, they are to write their statements down and bring it to you.
As students bring you the group statements, type their statements into the following website to create a word cloud.
Have student groups share their summaries and discuss what they thought their part meant. Once all have shared and discussed their part of the reading, display the word cloud to them and have them identify the main ideas of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Discuss how the American anti-sentiment toward Chinese immigrants who had come West while working for the railroads or headed to the gold fields, had grown. Chinese immigrants were making profit that Americans believed belong to them. For more information about the Chinese Immigration Act of 1882, refer to the online Encyclopedia Britannica website. Not all people could participate equally in this idea of "Manifest Destiny" because of nativism.
You also may wish students to read further information from their textbook regarding Westward expansion.
Explain
Explain to students that Westward expansion began around the early to mid- 1800s through the early 20th century. They will read some of the accounts and viewpoints from people experiencing the West. Students are regrouped into partners of 2 and receive narratives about various people's experiences and viewpoints of the West. The teacher has the option of choosing selections for the class or allowing students to select two accounts. The primary source packet contains 5 primary source documents for the convenience of the teacher:
Diary of a German immigrant traveling by Conestoga wagons to California, circa 1849
Mark Twain's viewpoint regarding how Chinese immigrants conduct themselves in the West, 1872
Letter to President Grover Cleveland asking for Apache removal from Arizona for white homesteader settlement and development, 1886
Massacre at Wounded Knee, one person's account of Indian uprising and the American troop response, 1890
A letter of experiences from a woman homesteader, 1913
Students will create "voices" who share their experience of the West from the various primary source documents. Explain to students how to create a two-voice poem using the handouts provided. Two-voice poems are meant to be an oral presentation. Included in the two-voice poetry packet is: an explanation of two-voice poetry, an example, a graphic organizer, and a writing rubric. Go over the packet prior to students beginning this assignment.
Ask students to select (or you can assign) 2 of the accounts to create their two-voice poem. "Voices" created from the documents could be: a Chinese immigrant, a German immigrant, an Apache, an American soldier/translator, the Governor of New Mexico, a woman homesteader.
Students present their poetry said aloud with both participants saying the "chorus" together.
Extend
Option 1: After all the previous activities of this lesson, ask student pairs or groups to revisit the definitions of Manifest Destiny and nativism. Ask students to compare these definitions with the more current definition of "nationalism."
Compare and contrast these definitions through a class discussion. We believed as Americans we had the right to the land and its prosperity all the way to the Pacific Coast but that dream was only for certain segments of the population and excluded from others (nativism). Does definition 5 below of nationalism seem similar to nativism? Do you think these early practices of nativism contribute to exclusion today? Are there examples of nationalism today that exclude certain segments of the population?
Option 2: Students write a short essay comparing two of the settlers of the American West from the primary source documents. For example, they compare the experiences of a Chinese immigrant with the woman homesteader.
Evaluate
The summaries from the Chinese Exclusion Act activity and the two-voice poetry will serve as assessments.
Resources
Eyewitness to History: the old West and Library of Congress, the American Memory Collection both offer historical narratives from this time period.
Gast, J. (1872). American Progress [image]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American_Progress_(1872)_by_John_Gast.jpg
K20 Center. (n.d.). EdWordle. Tech Tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/693
Wu, Y. (2022, November 22). Chinese Exclusion Act. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chinese-Exclusion-Act
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Nationalism. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved February 26, 2023, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nationalism
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