US HISTORY
Updated 7/21/2016 1:15 PM
UNIT 1 – WESTWARD EXPANSION THROUGH THE PROGRESSIVE ERA – (1865-1920) (12 DAYS)
1. Overview
In this unit, students explore how the United States responds to challenges of growth. This sets the stage for the unit to follow in which students look at
U.S. foreign policy through World War I.
U.S. History Claims
What are the causal relationships between events in U.S. history?
How have the United States’ interactions with other nations changed over time?
How has society been impacted by geography, historical events, politics, and the economy?
To what degree have the ideals of the United States’ founding documents come to fruition?
REMINDERS
CONTENT AND
CLAIMS
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Late Take-In Day (08/24/16)
Labor Day (09/05/16)
Historical Thinking Skills
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US.1.1 Produce clear and coherent writing for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences by:
 conducting short and sustained research
 evaluating conclusions from evidence (broad variety, primary and secondary sources)
 evaluating varied explanations for actions/events
 determining the meaning of words and phrases from historical texts
 analyzing historians’ points of view
US.1.2 Compare and/or contrast historical periods in terms of:
 differing political, social, religious, or economic contexts
 similar issues, actions, and trends
 both change and continuity
US.1.3 Propose and defend a specific point of view on a contemporary or historical issue and provide
supporting evidence to justify that position
US.1.4 Discriminate between types of propaganda and draw conclusions concerning their intent
US.1.5 Analyze historical periods using timelines, political cartoons, maps, graphs, debates, and other
historical sources
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US HISTORY
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Western Expansion
How did different ethnic and cultural groups interact as a result of western expansion?
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US.2.1 Evaluate the social, political, and economic antagonism that occurred between ethnic and cultural
groups as a result of westward expansion
How did expansion into the western frontier impact society, politics, and the economy?
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US.2.2 Describe the economic changes that came about on the western frontier as a result of the expansion
of the railroad, cattle kingdoms, and farming
US.2.3 Describe the causes of the political, social, and economic problems encountered by farmers on the
western frontier and critique the solutions developed by the Populist movement
Urbanization and Industrialization
What were the major policies and innovations that led to the growth of the economy and how did these economic
changes affect society?
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US.2.4 Examine the effect of the government’s laissez-faire policy, innovations in technology and
transportation, and changes in business organization that led to the growth of an industrial economy
US.2.6 Describe the challenges associated with immigration, urbanization, and rapid industrialization and
evaluate the government’s response
What were the causes and effects of mass immigration and how did the government respond?
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US.2.5 Illustrate the phases, geographic origins, and motivations behind mass immigration and explain how
these factors accelerated urbanization
US.2.6 Describe the challenges associated with immigration, urbanization, and rapid industrialization and
evaluate the government’s response
How and why did labor unions form and were they effective in improving working conditions?
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US.2.7 Examine the social, political, and economic struggles of a growing labor force that resulted in the
formation of labor unions and evaluate their attempts to improve working conditions
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US HISTORY
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Progressive Era
Were the Progressives successful in making government more responsive to the will of the people?
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EXAMPLES
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US.2.8 Identify the goals of Progressivism; describe the influence of the Muckrakers, political leaders, and
intellectuals; and evaluate the movement’s successes and failures
Chinese Exclusion Act
Exodusters
Battle of Little
Bighorn/Wounded Knee
Ghost Dance
Dispersal of the Plains Indians
Dawes Act
Assimilation
Nativism
Chinese & Japanese
Immigrants
European American-New &
Old Immigrants
Transcontinental Railroad
Push & Pull Factors for
Immigration
Ellis Island/Angel Island
Urbanization
Ghetto/Tenement
Jane Addams/Hull
House/Settlement
Houses/Social Gospel
Social Darwinism
Child Labor
Labor Unions
Knights of Labor/Terence
Powderly
AFL/Samuel Gompers
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Closing of the West/Open
Range/Barbed Wire
Homestead Act, Boom
Towns/Ghost Towns
The Grange
Populist Movement/People’s
Party
Free Silver/Bimetallism
William Jennings Bryan/Cross of
Gold Speech
Industrialization
Corporations/Consolidation/Mono
poly
Bessemer Process
Steam Drill
Robber Barons/Captains of
Industry
Pullman Strike
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Square Deal
Progressive Party/Bull Moose
Party
Political Leaders: Roosevelt, Taft,
& Wilson
Trustbuster
Muckrakers/Social Reformers
Thomas Nast/William “Boss”
Tweed/Tammany Hall, Upton
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Horizontal/Vertical Integration
Henry Ford-Assembly Line/Mass
Production/Model T
Andrew Carnegie/Steel, John D.
Rockefeller/Oil, Cornelius
VanderbiltSteamships/Railroads, JP
Morgan/Banking
Samuel Morse/Telegraph
Alexander Bell/Telephone
Thomas Edison v. Nickola Tesla
Laissez-Faire
Sherman Anti-Trust/Clayton
Anti-Trust
Primary/Initiative/Referendum/
Jacob Riis/Photographer/
Tenements
Women’s Suffrage
Susan B. Anthony/Elizabeth
Cady Stanton/Carrie Chapman
Catt/Alice Paul
Voting Reform: Direct Recall
Amendments: 6th/17th/18th/19th
Conservation
African American Leaders:
Booker T. WashingtonTuskegee/WEB DuBoisNAACP/George Washington
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US HISTORY
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IWW/Eugene Debs
Socialist Party
Great Railroad Strike
Homestead Strike
Haymarket Square Riot
Petroleum Refining
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Sinclair/The Jungle/Meat
Inspection Act/ Pure Food &
Drug Act, Ida Tarbell/History of
Standard Oil
Mother Jones/Labor Leader-IWW
Florence Kelley/Sweatshops/
Child Labor
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Carver-Crop RotationAgricultural Inventor/Ida B.
Wells-Anti-Lynching
Great Migration
Robert LaFollette/Wisconsin
Federal Reserve Act
UNIT 1 – WESTWARD EXPANSION THROUGH THE PROGRESSIVE ERA – (1865-1920) (12 DAYS)
2. Resources
LDOE SUGGESTED RESOURCES
Westward Expansion:
 Louisiana EAGLE Items for US History
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○ Transcontinental Railroad
Instructional tasks from the Stanford History Education Group
○ Manifest Destiny
The Split History of Westward Expansion, Nell Musolf
Westward Expansion: Encounters at a Cultural Crossroads, Library of Congress
A Century of Dishonor, Helen Hunt Jackson
Text from English III Guidebook Unit:
American Progress, John Gast (Art) and an explanation (Lesson 5)
Urbanization and Industrialization:
 The Industrial Revolution of the United States, Library of Congress
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Inside an American Factory: Films of the Westinghouse Works (1904), Library of Congress
The Industrial Revolution in America: A Primary Source History of America’s Transformation into an Industrial Society, Corona Brezina
The Great Migration: A Story in Paintings, Jacob Lawrence
The Industrial Revolution in American History, Anita Louise McCormick
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US HISTORY
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The Early Labor Movement, PBS
Child Labor in America, Juliet H. Mofford, ed.
Immigration: Challenges for New Americans, Library of Congress
Progressive Era:
 Instructional task from the Stanford History Education Group
○ Progressivism
ADDITIONAL SUPPORTING RESOURCES
Discovery Education Streaming:
 Video with blackline masters and teacher’s guide – Westward Expansion: A Glorious Story
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https://app.discoveryeducation.com/learn/videos/6F3CCFA3-ECA9-4A38-A218-29D1573D542C?hasLocalHost=false
Video – Urbanization: Changing the Landscape
https://app.discoveryeducation.com/learn/videos/162B7D88-AC53-48E7-A540-5B92A000259F?hasLocalHost=false
Video – American West & Labor Unions
https://app.discoveryeducation.com/learn/videos/19540818-C008-4872-B67F-2CEBA2366FA2?hasLocalHost=false
Video – Progressivism
https://app.discoveryeducation.com/learn/videos/6769BD4A-BBAF-468A-BE27-13926796D3A8?hasLocalHost=false
Plato Courseware:
 PLATO Course US History Semester A, v2.0, Unit 1
Misc:
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Gi lde r Le hr ma n , Lessons, Primary Sources, and more - Progressive Era to New Era
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/progressive-era-new-era-1900-1929
PBS Series: The West
Smithsonian: Westward Expansion
Best of History: Westward Expansion
Search Westward Expansion: TeachingHistory.org
History Channel’s Ellis Island
History Channel’s America: The Story of US-“Heartland,” “Cities”
History Channel’s The Men Who Built America
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US HISTORY
Updated 7/21/2016 1:15 PM
UNIT 1 – WESTWARD EXPANSION THROUGH THE PROGRESSIVE ERA – (1865-1920) (12 DAYS)
3. Activities for Understanding
SUGGESTIONS
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US.2.2 Students will create a map depicting westward expansion. They will draw the routes of specific railroads,
including the Transcontinental Railroad, and cattle trails. They will also label the cattle kingdoms, farming
communities, and mining boom towns. Students will show the relative location of major native groups like the
Lakota (Sioux). As an extension activity, students will analyze the reasons why items labeled on the map
expanded in certain areas and how/why potential conflicts erupted.
US.2.3 Students will work in groups of 2-4 to determine how the individual characters and settings of a text
relate to the Populist movement in the United States. Using illustrations from W. W. Denslow which appeared in
the original version of L. Frank Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz gathered from the Internet, the teacher will
explain that the story is an allegory for the Populist movement. Upon completion, students will defend their
analysis in a group discussion. As an extension activity, students will connect the symbols in the Wonderful
Wizard of Oz to the real life problems faced by farmers that inspired Baum.
US.2.4 Students will develop one or more flow charts showing the development of technology that solved a
problem(s) faced by the people of the late 19th century. Students will include the business leaders and inventors
involved in the process. The teacher may suggest a start and end point for each flow chart. (e.g. Candle
LightEdwin Drake’s Steam DrillPetroleum RefiningIntroduction of KeroseneJohn D. Rockefeller’s
Standard OilThomas Edison’s Light BulbJP Morgan Invests in Edison’s Direct CurrentNickola Tesla
Develops Alternating CurrentGeorge Westinghouse’s Invests in Tesla innovation) As an extension activity,
students will evaluate how the laissez-faire policy of the U.S. government created an atmosphere in which
innovation could flourish, but at the same time resulted in an image of the “Captains of Industry” as “Robber
Barons.”
US.2.6 Students will complete a chart on Immigration, Urbanization, and Industrialization. They will identify the
characteristics, problems, and government response of each. Students will fill in the chart using background
knowledge, textbooks, materials gathered from class, etc. Students will then select one problem that they believe
was critical to understanding the period and explain its relevance in a one-page paper.
Analysis Chart
US.2.8 Students will create a bubble map identifying the goals of the Progressive reformers. They will then
create a chart listing various Muckrakers, political leaders, and intellectuals down the side of the page. On the top
of the page, the headings will be “Reform Attempted” and “Success or Failure/Why.” Students will then select
two reformers (the most successful and the least successful) and compare and contrast the tactics used in
attempting their reform.
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