US History Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny Thematic Unit

This thematic unit for United States expansion and Manifest Destiny is designed around the overarching essential question, "Has U.S. expansion always been beneficial?" This unit seeks to focus students on one theme over the six-week unit to better understand how history has been shaped by the expansion of the United States. This unit begins by examining expansion events throughout U.S. history (Northwest Ordinance, Louisiana Territory, Mexican Cession, Oregon Country, Texas Annexation, Alaska, Hawaii, Panama Canal) before exploring how expansion impacted the spread of slavery west, the Mexican-Ameican War, and lastly the idea of Manifest Destiny and its impact on native Americans. At each step, students focus on the overarching theme.

This resource includes several files to help you implement this unit (or supplement it with what you already do).

Included in this download is:

1.) A teacher guide detailing the benefits of thematic instruction and how this unit is designed and organized. This file also includes a sample day-by-day breakdown of instruction to help you organize and pace this unit.

2.) A unit guide that breaks down the four major steps of this unit. It outlines the initial debut of the unit, highlighted by group conversation and a short assignment to get students thinking about expansion's advantages and dangers.

1. In Step 1, students focus on major expansion events throughout U.S. history. This activity focuses on expansion moments with the continental United States (land from the Revolution, the Northwest Ordinance, the Louisiana Territory, the Purchase of Florida, Texas annexation, the Mexican Cession, the Oregon Country, and the Gadsden Purchase) before studying expansion events that take place outside the continental United States (Seward's Folly, Hawaii, and involvement in the Panama Canal (US Expansion Activity included!)
2. In Step 2, students focus on the spread of slavery west and its impact on the Mexican-American War. Introduction slides are included to teach several compromises regarding slavery and its growth as the country grew, then the slides set up the causes of the Mexican-American War. Also included is a short slide assignment for students to recap the major figures, causes, and outcome of the war, as well as an interesting "Heroes Who Pushed Back" assignment where students conduct research on those who opposed and protested the war. (Mexican-American War primary source DBQ activity is included!)
3. In Step 3, students examine the belief system known as Manifest Destiny that drove expansion and its impact on native people. Included is a set of introduction slides for Manifest Destiny and a primary source analysis of John O'Sullivan. Several other included activities are a Chief Joseph primary source analysis and video links to a variety of other conflicts such as the Trail of Tears, the Pequot War, and the creation of Mount Rushmore. (Manifest Destiny for or against argument activity, a Wounded Knee Massacre inquiry activity are included!)
4. Lastly, students research US expansions and involvement in the world today, such as the Iraseli-Hamas conflict and US involvement in Ukraine.

3.) A set of introduction slides to introduce the unit and guide conversation.