Grades 9-12 Lesson Plan - Manifest Destiny on the Ground

Map 5 Main Page

Core Map: Charles Preuss, "Section VI" of Topographical map of the road from Missouri to Oregon...From the field notes and journal of Capt. J.C. Frémont and from sketches and notes made on the ground by his assistant Charles Preuss (Baltimore 1846). Newberry Library call number: Graff 3360, sheet 6. (Printable PDF version of the Core Map)

Resources related to Map 5.
Curator's Notes for Map 5.

Overview
Using the core map, their textbooks and other sources, students will explore the ideology of Manifest Destiny as experienced by those who traveled the Oregon Trail. Based on reading, research and discussion, students will first explore the issues and then they will imagine what it might have been like in a fictionalized journal of nineteen days traveling the trail.

Objectives
By the end of this lesson students are expected to:

1. identify the geographical features mentioned on the core map and find them on a modern map.
2. explain the map symbols used on the core map.
3. define Manifest Destiny.
4. describe life on the trail.
5. create a journal of how people experienced Manifest Destiny "on the ground."

Key Terms
Manifest Destiny, conquest, additional key terms are underlined on the HTML version of the transcriptions of Frémont's notes

Materials
computer image or overhead of the core map, a modern map of the western United States and of Idaho, Horn map, American History textbook or other secondary work that discusses westward expansion, journal entries (see Resources), small notebook for journal, HTML version of Frémonts's notes or overhead of date-by-date notes if a computer image of the core map is not used

Time
Two hours, plus reading and writing time.

Getting Started

1. Discuss with students the origin and maker of the core map (see curator's notes).

2. Have students identify the symbols Preuss has used for the following geographic features: the trail, bluffs, rivers, canyons, buttes, and camping places.

3. Eliciting as much information as possible from the students, identify the four points of the compass.

4. Have the students read aloud two or more of Frémont's notes (given on the core map) and have students identify the locations at which these notes were made by referring to the dates marked on the map. You may wish to select and print out the notes prior to class.

5. Confirm the students' answers by selecting "Frémont's Notes" from the menu and clicking on the highlighted dates to reveal the notes.

6. Discuss the purposes of and information given by the non-geographic features and aids on the map, including the latitude and longitude and the meteorological table.

7. Compare the area covered by the core map briefly (for purposes of orientation) with the same areas on the Horn map and on a modern United States map (see Resources).

8. Discuss what is not on the map.

Developing the Lesson

1. Based on the core map and reading, (in both large and small groups) discuss "Manifest Destiny" and the core map's role as both product of and enabler for conquest of the West. How, for example, does the map indicate the map-makers' belief that travelers had a right to use the trail?

2. Based on the above work and some more reading, discuss (again in both large and small groups) how travelers on the trail in the 1850s might have felt about their right to be there and about any Native American claim to the land.

3. Based on the work done above, the core map, and further research especially in travelers' descriptions of life on the trail (see Resources) the students are to construct a "journal" of "their" trip along the Oregon Trail sometime in the 1850s. The finished product (of about 750 words) should read like a portion of a larger journal that covers the trip from somewhere east of the Mississippi River to the Oregon Country. Each student should remain the gender he or she is, but can otherwise invent a persona. The point is to include references to historical events and conditions, to indicate how travelers might have felt about taking possession of the land, and to invent things that could have happened even though they did not. The journal should be organized by date and should refer to places on the map, although it is not necessary to use Fremont's camps. Attention should be paid to the mileage markings, and a reference to the Native Americans selling salmon at Fishing Falls should be included.

Evaluation
Use a scale from one to four (4=Excellent, 3=Well Done, 2=Satisfactory, 1=Unsatisfactory) for evaluating the journal.

For 4 points, the student has produced a well-organized and well written journal (based on the persona chosen) and has gone beyond the assignment; ie he or she has written a text richer in references than expected, and has been particularly imaginative.

For 3 points, the students has done all that was asked for in the assignment in a thorough manner. The story line is effective, maintains verisimilitude, and is supported by references to specific historical events and conditions (including those on the core map). The entries are clearly organized. The work is correct and neat, and exhibits only few if any anachronisms, spelling or grammatical errors.

For 2 points, the student has done most of what was asked for in the assignment in an acceptable manner. The journal entries exhibit only minor flaws, if any; for the most part maintain verisimilitude; include at least some references to specific historical events and conditions; and are organized well enough so that one is able to follow the "journey". The work is, for the most part, correct and neat, and may exhibit some anachronisms, spelling or grammatical errors.

For 1 point, the student produces work that does not do what the assignment asked, or that exhibits major errors, or that includes few or no references to specific historical events or conditions, or that is so disorganized as to make it difficult to follow, or that is full of errors is not satisfactory.

Extension
As a class, or in several smaller groups, students pool their "journal entries" and construct a play based on both the students' work and on the core map and other sources. The play should be a one-act and should include everyone in the group as an actor or actress. Performance could be done in class or with a larger audience. Making a video performance is also an option. You may want to suggest that students use an enlarged printout of the core map as a prop at some point in the play.