United States History Student Edition

07

INQUIRY ACTIVITY

FLORIDA BENCHMARKS

Analyzing Sources: Oregon, Texas, and Manifest Destiny ? COMPELLING QUESTION What are people willing to risk for new opportunities?

• SS.8.A.1.5 • SS.8.A.1.7 • SS.8.A.4.1 • SS.8.G.4.2

• SS.8.A.1.1 • SS.8.A.1.2 • SS.8.A.1.3 • SS.8.A.1.4

Plan Your Inquiry DEVELOPING QUESTIONS

Background Information During the time period from the Louisiana Purchase to the mid-1800s, the United States achieved what many Americans saw as its Manifest Destiny: to extend the boundaries of the country from coast to coast. Urged on by their leaders, Americans moved westward in great numbers. These migrants who journeyed west documented their travels. They wrote letters to family, kept diaries and journals, and published memoirs to share their experiences. Their stories contributed to a grand narrative of American growth and progress. The information they shared also helped the people who followed them make it through difficult situations. The primary sources in this lesson include letters, memoirs, journals, and a painting—all reflecting the perspectives of leaders and travelers, men and women, whites and Tejanos.

Think about the risks people take to gain new opportunities. Then read the Compelling Question for this lesson. What questions can you ask to help you answer this Compelling Question? Create a graphic organizer like the one below. Write these Supporting Questions in your graphic organizer.

What this source tells me about the risks people take for new opportunities

Questions the source leaves unanswered

Supporting Questions

Primary Source

A B C D

E F

G H

ANALYZING SOURCES Next, examine the primary sources in this lesson. Analyze each source by answering the questions that follow it. How does each source help you answer each Supporting Question you created? What questions do you still have? Write these in your graphic organizer.

After you analyze the sources, you will: • use the evidence from the sources • communicate your conclusions • take informed action

Sand Hills of the Platte Valley, depicting a wagon train heading west in Nebraska, was painted by W. H. Jackson around 1860.

MPI/Stringer/Archive Photos/Getty Images

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