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SECTION
䊴
Step-by-Step
Instruction
Wagon train to the West
WITNESS HISTORY
AUDIO
SECTION
A Pioneer Woman Heads West
On April 9, 1853, Amelia Stewart Knight left Iowa
with her family to join a wagon train headed for
Oregon. Her diary describes many of the hazards of
the five-month trek, from extreme heat or cold to
poisonous water. It also reports encounters—some
cordial and some tense—with Native Americans. In
one entry, Knight wrote:
Objectives
As you teach this section, keep students
focused on the following objectives to help
them answer the Section Focus Question and
master core content.
• Trace the settlement and development of
the Spanish borderlands.
• Explain the concept of Manifest Destiny.
• Describe the causes and challenges of
westward migration.
“After looking in vain for water, we were about to
give up as it was near night, when husband came
across a company of friendly Cayuse Indians about
to camp, who showed him where to find water, half
mile down a steep mountain, and we have all
camped together, with plenty of pine timber all
around us. . . . We bought a few potatoes from an
Indian, which will be a treat for our supper.
—Diary of Mrs. Amelia Stewart Knight, 1853
”
Prepare to Read
Background Knowledge
Migrating to the West
L3
Have students recall the efforts of the
United States to expand westward early
in the nation’s history. Ask them to
predict what forms expansion might be
taking by the 1830s and what the effects
on U.S. foreign relations might be.
Objectives
• Trace the settlement and development of the
Spanish borderlands.
• Explain the concept of Manifest Destiny.
Set a Purpose
L3
쐍 WITNESS HISTORY Read the selec-
tion aloud, or play the audio.
Witness History Audio CD,
A Pioneer Woman Heads
West
Ask For what were the Knights
looking? (water) How did the
Indians help them? (They showed
the Knights where to find water and
sold them potatoes.)
쐍 Focus Point out the Section Focus
Question and write it on the board.
Tell students to refer to this question as they read. (Answer appears
with Section 1 Assessment answers.)
• Describe the causes and challenges of
westward migration.
nomic opportunity had looked westward. By the 1840s, migrants
were crossing the Rocky Mountains to Oregon and California. In
time, these and other western lands would become part of the
United States, helping the nation grow in both wealth and power.
Section Focus Question: What were the causes of westward migration?
Settling the Spanish Borderlands
Terms and People
Junípero Serra
expansionist
Manifest Destiny
Santa Fe Trail
Why It Matters Since colonial times, Americans seeking eco-
Mountain Men
Oregon Trail
Brigham Young
Treaty of Fort Laramie
Reading Skill: Identify Main Ideas Outline
the main ideas relating to westward migration.
I. Settling the Spanish Borderlands
A. Spain Settles New Mexico
1. Colony is sparsely populated
2.
B.
II.
In 1830, what is now the U.S. Southwest was the Mexican North.
Like the former British colonies in the East, this region had a long
colonial history, one that dated back to the Spanish conquest of the
Americas.
Spain Settles New Mexico Founded in 1598, New Mexico was
the oldest colony along New Spain’s northwestern frontier. Yet,
by 1765, only about 9,600 Hispanics lived in New Mexico, half of
them in the two major towns of El Paso and Santa Fe. The rest lived
on farms and ranches scattered through the long Rio Grande valley.
One factor discouraging further settlement was the threat of war
with nomadic Native Americans in surrounding areas. Colonists
depended for protection on an alliance with local Pueblo Indians.
But disease steadily reduced the Pueblo population, from about
14,000 in 1700 to about 10,000 in 1765.
쐍 Preview Have students preview
the Section Objectives and the list of
Terms and People.
쐍 Reading Skill Have students use
쐍
the Reading Strategy: Identify Main
Ideas worksheet. Teaching Resources,
Use the information below and the following resource to teach students the high-use words
from this section. Teaching Resources, Vocabulary Builder, p. 10
p. 11
High-Use Word
Definition and Sample Sentence
manifest
adj. obvious; clear; plain
The fact that slavery was morally wrong was made manifest in a variety
of ways.
commence
v. to begin a project or enterprise
After the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, the
fighting commenced in earnest.
Using the Paragraph
Shrinking strategy (TE, p. T20),
have students read this section. As
they read, have students identify
main ideas about westward
migration. Reading and Note Taking
Study Guide
298
Manifest Destiny
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At the same time, the nomads of the Great Plains, known to the Spanish as
Apaches, were becoming more powerful. The Apaches lived by hunting vast
herds of buffalo. These hunts became easier after 1680 when the Apaches
acquired horses from the Spanish. On horseback, men could see farther, travel
faster, and kill their prey more quickly and in greater safety. At the same time,
the nomads began to acquire firearms from French traders. The Indians continued to hunt with bows and arrows, but they used guns to wage war.
Teach
Settling the Spanish
Borderlands
Warfare Threatens the Colony In 1800, a trader on the Great Plains remarked,
“This is a delightful country and, were it not for perpetual wars, the natives might
be the happiest people on earth.” The conflict stemmed largely from competition for
the buffalo herds. Well-armed groups, such as the Comanches of the Rocky Mountains and the Lakotas of the Mississippi Valley, spread at the expense of Apaches and
other long-time residents of the Great Plains.
The defeated Apaches fled west into New Mexico, where they raided Pueblo
and Spanish settlements, taking horses, sheep, cattle, and captives. Some
Apaches found a haven in the canyons of northwest New Mexico, where they
became known as Navajos. The Pueblos taught their Navajo neighbors how to
weave, make pottery, grow corn, and herd sheep. But most Apaches remained
nomadic hunters.
Raids on Spanish settlements became more frequent and destructive, for the
Apaches were now armed, mounted, and desperate. The Comanches began to
attack New Mexico as well. In 1777, a governor sadly reported that Indian raids
had reduced his colony “to the most deplorable state and greatest poverty.”
Spanish officials rescued New Mexico by building stronger frontier defenses
and using more flexible diplomacy with the nomads. By providing gifts and weapons, the new officials found it cheaper to form bonds
with some nomads than to fight them all. In general,
Spain paid Comanche and Navajo allies to attack the
Apaches. For the most part, the strategy worked.
Although most Apache groups remained defiant,
some accepted peace on Spain’s terms. And the alliance program did reduce raids on New Mexico. As
the colony became safer, its population grew and its
economy developed. By 1821, the Hispanic population had grown to about 40,000.
L3
Instruct
쐍 Introduce: Key Term Write the
name Junípero Serra on the board.
Tell students that Serra was a
Spanish priest who helped settle the
Spanish colony of California. Ask
students to predict the role that religion might play in this settlement.
쐍 Teach Discuss with students some
A Spanish Colonial Mission
Many of the oldest buildings in the
Southwest are Spanish missions, like
this one in Texas. Native Americans
were forced to live and work on the
mission grounds, where Spanish
priests taught them about Christianity.
Texas Attracts Few Settlers New Mexico’s growth
and improved security did not extend to Texas, its
sister colony to the east along the Gulf of Mexico. In
Texas, the nomads were more formidable and the colony remained weaker.
The Spanish had founded Texas as a buffer zone to
protect the valuable towns and mines of Mexico to
the south. Like New Mexico, Texas was a mixture of
ranches, missions, and military presidios. But Texas
stagnated because few settlers felt attracted to such
a distant and poor region subject to nomadic raiders.
In 1760, only about 1,200 colonists lived in Texas,
primarily in and around San Antonio. Ranchers
drove longhorn cattle southward for sale in Mexico.
of the conflicts and issues of the
West at this time. Ask What innovations brought by the Spanish
enabled Native Americans to
hunt and wage war more effectively? (horses and guns) How did
the Spanish slow the constant
warfare in New Mexico? (They
used diplomacy and gifts and paid
several Native American groups to
attack the warring Apaches.) Why
was the California colony successful for the Spanish when
Texas was not? (In California, the
Spanish converted many Native
Americans to Christianity and this,
along with the Native Americans’
lack of guns and horses, made the
area more peaceful, attracting more
settlers. Few people were attracted to
Texas because it was distant and poor
and subject to Native American raids.)
쐍 Analyzing the Visuals Refer stu-
dents to the photograph on this
page. Ask What role did religion
play in Spanish settlement?
(Sample response: The Spanish converted the Native Americans to Christianity, which gave them something
in common with the Spanish and
made them less apt to attack or rebel.)
Missions Thrive in California In the 1760s, the
Spanish extended their northern buffer zone to the
west by colonizing the California coast. They were
The Navajo Today Once a single people, the
Navajo and Apache migrated from present-day Canada to the present-day American Southwest between
800 and 1,100 years ago. There they developed into
separate groups, although they retained a similar language. Today, the Navajo Nation is the largest Native
American group, with a population of more than
250,000. The Nation’s epicenter is the 27,000-squaremile Diné Bikéyah, or Navajoland—the Navajo reservation located in parts of Utah, Arizona, and New
Mexico. In 1923, after the discovery of oil on Navajo
land and the subsequent pressure from oil companies
to sell it, the Navajo people, who call themselves the
Diné, established a formal system of government,
which took its current form in 1991. The modern government consists of a three-branch system similar to
the U.S. federal government. The legislature, called
the Navajo National Council, is made up of 88 delegates who represent 110 communities and meets to
discuss important issues and pass legislation in the
Navajo language.
Chapter 9 Section 1
299
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North America in 1820
쐍 Have students create Venn diaR
Oreg
Mis
souri R.
y
Mi
ssi
ss i
pp
iR
M
ito
NY
ry
IL
OH
IN
VA
oR
.
Co
lo
ra
d
a i
KY
NC
n
TN
Taos
Santa Fe
s
Arkansas Territory
Albuquerque
Spanish T
erritory
MS
El Paso
Tubac
Ri
o
Janos
LA
and
Carrizal
Conic Projection
200
400 mi
0
200
This 1832 painting depicts a Native
American buffalo hunt on the Great
Plains. Nomadic hunters depended for
survival on free movement across
northern Mexico and the western
U.S. territories.
AL
FL
San Antonio
e
0
SC
GA
Nacogdoches
Gr
120° W
rr
t
Pacif
ic
Ocean
Te
PA
Tucson
30° N
Map Skills In 1820,
an
.
n
San Fr
ancisc
o
San Jo
se
Monte
rey
San Ant
onio de
Padua
San Lu
is Obisp
o
Santa
Barbar
a
Sa
n Gabrie
Los Ang
l
eles
San Jua
n Capist
rano
San D
iego
hig
u
Great Sa
lt
L a ke
Mic
Unorganized Territory
o
As students fill in their outlines, circulate to make sure that they are including only main ideas, and not details.
For a completed version of the outline,
see Note Taking Transparencies, B-47.
k
Monitor Progress
ME
c
E
S
쐍 Have students begin to fill in the
Note Taking outline for the section
by recording main ideas related to
westward migration.
on C
ountr
(Occu
U.S. a pied jointly y
by
nd Gre
a t Br i ta
in )
N
o
grams to compare and contrast the
Spanish colonies in Texas and
California. Ask students to use their
Venn diagrams to write brief paragraphs about Spanish settlement in
North America.
For: Interactive map
Web Code: ncp-0902
British No
rth America (Canada)
Mississippi R.
Independent Practice
Laredo
Gulf of
Mexico
400 km
United States
Mission
Presidio
Town
Mission and presidio
Presidio and town
most of the land that is
now the American Southwest belonged to Spain.
Mexico won independence
the following year.
1. Locate: (a) Santa Fe,
(b) San Antonio,
(c) San Francisco,
(d) Oregon
2. Movement What
geographic and political obstacles did Americans moving westward
face in the 1820s?
3. Identify Alternatives What methods
might the United States
have used to gain
greater access to the
Pacific coast?
afraid of losing the region to Russian traders probing south
from Alaska. As in Texas, Spain had trouble attracting settlers
to California. Potential settlers were daunted by California’s
isolation from Mexico. The distance to market discouraged the
export of California’s livestock and grains. The limited economy depended on
royal money sent to supply and pay the soldiers.
Lacking colonists, the Spanish leaders sought to convert Indians to Christianity. Led by Father Junípero Serra, Franciscan priests set up a string of missions. The missions were more successful in California than in Texas or New
Mexico. Because the local Indians lacked guns and horses, California missions
suffered few raids. By the time of Father Serra’s death in 1784, California had
two agricultural towns (San Jose and Los Angeles), four presidios, and nine missions. In 1821, when Spanish rule ended, the system had grown to 20 missions
housing more than 18,000 Native American converts. The Native Americans
constructed buildings, dug irrigation ditches, erected fences, herded cattle, and
cultivated grain. But large numbers died of diseases, and the Spanish had to
round up more Indians to replace them.
How did conflict develop between Spanish settlers and Native
Americans in the Southwest?
Americans Look Westward
In 1821, a revolution toppled Spanish rule and established Mexico as an independent republic. The U.S. government officially recognized its fellow republic
to the south. But American expansionists, people who favored territorial
Answers
Map Skills
1. Review locations with students.
2. geographic: rivers, mountains, deserts; political: Native Americans, Mexican troops
3. Possible responses: more shipping lines
that went to California; the government
might have purchased land in a huge strip
across the Great Plains.
The Spanish brought horses and firearms, which exacerbated conflict
between Native Americans such as
Apaches and the Great Plains Indians.
This conflict broadened to include
bloody encounters between Native
Americans and Spanish colonists and
missionaries.
300
Manifest Destiny
L1 Special Needs Students
L2 Less Proficient Readers
To help students learn more about the Spanish holdings in North America during this period, have them
examine the map on this page. Explain that although
Spain claimed much of North America, the Spanish
had only a small population of settlers. The Spanish
built missions and presidios to help turn the indigenous people into loyal, hard-working, Christian subjects of Spain. This, it was hoped, would bring
success to the northern colonies. Tell students to
L2 English Language Learners
point out each major territory on the map and study
the map key. Then, ask Where are the most missions and presidios located on the map? (California) Why might the area located near Apache
lands have only presidios? (Students may suggest
that because the Apaches were well armed and
attacked settlers, military forts were the only safe
outposts in those areas.)
hsus_te_ch09_na_s01_s.fm Page 301 Monday, April 19, 2004 7:55 AM
growth, soon began to covet New Mexico, Texas, and California. Thinly settled
but rich in resources, the three provinces seemed ripe for American plucking.
Americans Look
Westward
Expansionists Seek Manifest Destiny Expansionists justified their views
by pointing to the weakness of the Mexican government and economy. They
argued that the Mexicans, whom many Americans regarded as inferior, did not
deserve to keep lands so badly needed for American settlement.
In 1845, journalist John L. O’Sullivan wrote an influential editorial in favor
of expansion. He wrote:
“The American claim is by the right of our manifest
destiny to overspread and possess the whole of the continent which Providence
has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and . . . selfgovernment entrusted to us.
—John L. O’Sullivan, New York Morning News, December 27, 1845
Instruct
쐍 Introduce: Key Term Write the
Vocabulary Builder
manifest –(MAN uh fehst) adj.
obvious; clear; plain
”
Expansionists were soon using the term Manifest Destiny to refer to the belief
that God wanted the United States to own all of North America. But O’Sullivan
envisioned liberty primarily for white men. Expansion would come at the
expense of Indians and Mexicans. And southern expansionists hoped to add
more slave states to strengthen their political position in Congress.
key term Manifest Destiny on the
board, and have students locate
the term (in bold) in the text and
discuss its definition. Ask a volunteer to read aloud the Primary
Source excerpt. Then, ask students
to read to find out how some Americans worked to fulfill the nation’s
Manifest Destiny.
쐍 Teach Display Color Transparency:
Americans Trade With Mexico Mexican independence spurred American
trade with northern Mexico. The Spanish had discouraged such contacts, but
Mexican officials welcomed them. Indeed, trade and migration promoted economic growth in the border provinces. Still, as the Spanish had feared, American traders and settlers would come to threaten the security of Mexico’s border.
Merchants from Missouri saw Mexican independence as an opportunity to
open trade across the Great Plains with Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico.
Welcomed by the Mexican officials, the traders launched a growing commerce
along what became known as the Santa Fe Trail. In exchange for American manufactured goods, the New Mexicans offered horses, mules, furs, and silver.
In the 1820s, mariners from the Northeast launched a
more ambitious route. Sailing around South America to
the California coast, they traded manufactured goods for
tallow and hides from California ranches. Like New
Mexico, California became economically dependent on
commerce with the Americans.
L3
Mountain Men
As this painting shows, Mountain
Men lived a solitary, rugged existence
as they hunted beaver in the Rocky
Mountains. In time, they undermined
their own way of life, killing beaver
faster than the beaver could reproduce. What dangers would Mountain
Men face? Why do you think they
were willing to face them?
Mountain Men Cross the Rockies Other traders ventured up the Missouri River and into the Rockies, seeking
valuable furs from the abundant beaver of the mountain
streams. The daring young American trappers who hunted
for beaver pelts in the Rockies were called Mountain Men.
Most worked for two large fur companies, which provided
their supplies.
Restless in pursuit of furs, the Mountain Men thoroughly
probed the Rockies, making important discoveries. They
blazed the best route through the mountains, via South
Pass in what is now Wyoming. Some Mountain Men then
pressed westward to the Great Salt Lake in the arid Great
Basin of Utah. In 1826, Jedediah Smith crossed the Great
Basin and the Sierra Nevada to reach California. In addition to trapping, he traded with the Mexican residents.
Smith’s trade and migration route became the California
Trail, linking the United States with the Pacific coast.
Traveling West. Using the ThinkWrite-Pair-Share technique (TE,
p. T23), discuss the expansionist
drive for westward expansion. Ask
What was Manifest Destiny, and
how did it encourage people to
settle the West? (It was the idea
that the United States had a Godgiven right to control most or all of
North America. It helped motivate
settlers to go west and justified U.S.
expansion.) How could trade with
the United States and American
migrants threaten Mexico’s
security? (Mexicans in New Mexico
and California were already becoming economically dependent on trade
with Americans, and migrants might
push into Mexican territory.) How
did the Mountain Men contribute to westward expansion?
(They forged routes across the Great
Plains and Rocky Mountains that
settlers would later follow.) Color
Transparencies A-33
Independent Practice
Refer students to the map “North
America in 1820,” and have them
access Web Code ncp-0902 to use the
Geography Interactive map. Then,
ask them to answer the map skills
questions in the text.
Monitor Progress
As students complete the map skills
questions, circulate to make sure that
they are interpreting the map correctly.
L4 Advanced Readers
L4 Gifted and Talented Students
Have students locate the complete text of John L.
O’Sullivan’s New York Morning News editorial about
Manifest Destiny in the library or on the Internet.
Then, have them take the role of a Whig or pacifist
newspaper editor and write their own editorial as a
rebuttal to O’Sullivan’s. Students’ editorials should
be written in a persuasive style and present a strong
point of view supported by logical reasoning and
facts. As an alternative, students might take the role
of a citizen of the time and write a letter to the editor
of the New York Morning News, challenging the
ideas in O’Sullivan’s editorial.
Answer
Caption Sample: accidents, hunger, thirst,
animal mauling, fire, drowning, Indian
attacks; because Mountain Men wanted to
make money, and perhaps they liked the solitude, independence, and adventure
Chapter 9 Section 1
301
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The Journey Westward
L3
Instruct
쐍 Introduce: Vocabulary Builder
Have students locate the vocabulary term commence in the margin
on the next page and read the definition. Ask students to offer uses of
this word with which they are familiar. Have students discuss why a
long journey, sometimes on horseback or in an open wagon, might
commence when the weather
turned warm.
Trails to the West
During the 1840s alone, nearly
20,000 Americans migrated to
California, Oregon, and Utah
along the major overland trails.
The trails also became trade
routes, carrying merchants and
goods in both directions.
쐍 Teach Discuss with students
aspects of the westward journey. Ask
Why did emigrants travel in
wagon trains? (for mutual aid and
security) What hardships did emigrants face on the journey? (hunger, exposure, disease, poison, Native
American attacks) Display Color
Transparency: Brigham Young and
the Mormons. Ask Why did Brigham
Young lead the Mormons west to
found New Zion? (People were hostile
to them in Illinois, and Young wanted
to settle where Mormons could live in
their own way.) Then, have students
predict what conflicts Native Americans and western settlers might face.
Oregon Trail Most emigrants on the Oregon
Trail were farmers, and their final destination
was the fertile land of the Willamette Valley.
They packed their family and everything they
could carry—from cast-iron stoves to the
family Bible—onto covered wagons.
Color Transparencies A-34
쐍 Analyzing the Visuals Have stu-
dents study the Focus on Geography
feature that begins on this page.
Have them trace the routes of the
California and Oregon trails. Ask
students to explain why the overland trails ran either north or south
instead of directly west. Then, have
students answer the Geography and
History questions.
Missionaries Reach Oregon A variant of this trail turned northwest at
South Pass to reach Oregon Country. In 1836, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman
followed this route, which became known as the Oregon Trail, to found an
Indian mission at Walla Walla.
The Whitman compound served as a magnet and way station for farm families bound farther west to the fertile Willamette Valley. In 1847, the Whitmans
were killed by Native Americans who blamed them for a deadly measles epidemic. But by then, the tide of migration to Oregon was unstoppable.
What role did the Mountain Men play in westward expansion?
The Journey Westward
In 1842, an official government expedition led by John C. Frémont set off
across the western country, following trails blazed by the Mountain Men and
the Whitmans. Although Frémont found little that was new, his vivid and romantic reports gave wider publicity to the fertility of the Far West. In the years that followed, the overland trails drew thousands of settlers west to California and Oregon.
Answer
They explored the West and established
major trails, which settlers followed. In
addition, stories of their exploits drew
people West.
302
Manifest Destiny
Jedediah Strong Smith Although Jedediah Smith’s
life was short, his colorful adventures as a Mountain
Man made him a legend. Born in 1799, in present-day
Bainbridge, New York, Smith learned to read, which
was unusual for that time, and spent his boyhood
hunting and trapping in the forests of the region.
However, inspired by Lewis and Clark, Smith yearned
to explore the wilderness of the West and in 1822, he
got his chance when he was hired as a hunter by
an expedition to the Rocky Mountains. On this trip,
Smith met Indians, hunted for furs, explored what is
now Montana and Wyoming, and worked his way up
to be one of the expedition leaders. Soon, he and
some partners established their own trading business.
Smith led many trading and trapping expeditions
throughout the Rockies. In 1826, he became the first
American to enter California from the east and in the
following year, he became the first American to come
out of California overland. After many adventures
and one deadly encounter with the Mohave Indians,
in which nearly all his men were killed, Smith
switched from the Rockies trade to the Santa Fe
trade. In 1831, while leading a group down the Santa
Fe Trail, Smith was killed by Comanche Indians.
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Independent Practice
Mormon Trail The final destination for Mormon
emigrants was the Great Salt Lake in present-day Utah.
Through extensive irrigation and farming, Mormon
settlers permanently altered their desert environment.
Western
Trail
Number of
Settlers
Where
To
When
California Trail
2,700
California
1842–1848
Mormon Trail
4,600
Utah
1847–1848
Oregon Trail
11,500
Oregon
1842–1848
SOURCE: CIA World Factbook Online
Donner Pass For emigrants, mountain
passes could be a gateway to their final
destination—or a snowy tomb. The
Donner Pass was named for a
party who got trapped in the
Sierra Nevadas in the winter of
1846–1847. Nearly half died of
starvation, and the survivors
resorted to eating their dead.
Geography and History
• How did the goals of travelers on
the Oregon and Mormon trails
differ? How were they similar?
• Do deserts and mountain passes
still present a hazard to travelers
today? Why or why not?
Wagon Trains Journey West Commencing in springtime at the western
edge of Missouri, the demanding journey covered nearly 2,000 miles and took
about five months to complete. Oxen pulled the emigrants’ wooden wagons covered with canvas. For security and mutual help, most emigrants traveled in
trains of from 10 to 100 wagons and from 50 to 1,000 people. Eager to get to the
fertile and humid Pacific, the emigrants bypassed the Great Plains, which they
considered little better than a desert, and the Great Basin, which truly was a
desert. They were also in a hurry to get across two cold and lofty mountain
chains, the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada.
Most of the emigrants were farm people from the Midwest. Men relished the
journey as an adventure, while many women more keenly felt the hardships
and anxieties. “What had possessed my husband, anyway, that he should have
thought of bringing us away out through this God-forsaken country?” wrote one
woman in her diary.
Indeed, the journey was a gamble that cost many their property and some
their lives. Emigrants faced hunger, exposure, disease, poisoned streams—or
worse. In 1846, the Donner Party got lost on the way to California. Trapped by
snow in the Sierra Nevada, the starving survivors resorted to cannibalism.
L1 Special Needs Students
L2 English Language Learners
To support comprehension of the information in the
Focus on Geography feature “Trails to the West,”
read aloud the introductory paragraph. Help students
locate the Oregon Trail on the map and have them
follow it along with you as you trace the route with
your finger. Have students use the key to find one
town and one fort. As a class, discuss each image
individually and have students offer their own ideas
about what that image shows and why it might have
Geography and History: Life on the
Westward Trail. Teaching Resources,
p. 15
쐍 Have students review the HISTORY
Westward Migration, 1840s
Supplies for Travelers Forts
along the overland trails provided
more than protection. They were
also homes to trading posts,
where wagon trains could
replenish their supplies. 쐍 Have students read and complete
MAKERS feature about Brigham
Young, as well the other information
on the Mormons in the surrounding
text, to make a flowchart that
sequences some of the main events
in Young’s life.
쐍 Have students use the two maps in
this section and a blank outline map
of the United States to chart a journey that they may have wanted to
take as migrants to the West.
Encourage students to label the trail
or trails they will take, communities
from which they will set out, areas
through which they will travel, and
their ultimate destination. Remind
students to indicate any major landforms along the way, and tell them
to include a map key to explain any
symbols.
Monitor Progress
As students complete their maps, circulate to make sure that they select
trails that would accurately connect
them to their destination.
Vocabulary Builder
commence –(kuh MEHNS) v. to
begin a project or an enterprise
L2 Less Proficient Readers
been included in the feature. Then, ask questions
about the information in the chart on westward
migration, such as “Which trail was traveled most?
Which was traveled least?” If necessary, provide students with the meanings of challenging words, such
as replenish and extensive. Finally, have students
complete Geography and History: The California
Trail. Teaching Resources, p. 14
Answers
Geography and History
• Most people on the Oregon Trail were
going west to farm; the Mormons were
going west to be free from persecution.
All went west to find new lives.
• Yes; people can still die in deserts, such as
Death Valley, be caught in snowstorms in
the Rocky Mountains, or be stopped on
their journey if mountain passes are
blocked by snow.
Chapter 9 Section 1
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Assess and Reteach
Assess Progress
Despite the dangers, the rewards of the journey
could be great. Most of those who persevered gained
bigger and better farms in Oregon or California than
they had owned in the East or Midwest. Between
1840 and 1860, about 260,000 Americans crossed the
continent to settle on the west coast.
Brigham Young 1801–1877
L3
쐍 Have students complete the Section
Assessment.
쐍 Administer the Section Quiz.
Teaching Resources, p. 18
쐍 To further assess student under-
standing, use Progress Monitoring
Transparencies, 55.
Reteach
If students need more instruction,
have them read the section summary.
Reading and Note Taking
Study Guide
L3
Adapted Reading and
Note Taking Study Guide
L1 L2
Spanish Reading and
Note Taking Study Guide
L2
Extend
L4
“This is the place!” Brigham Young
declared when he first spied the Great
Salt Lake in July 1847. It was the end
of a long journey that had begun
17 months earlier, when he led a
Mormon party out of Illinois in the
middle of a snowy, bitterly cold
winter. During his next 30 years
as president of the Mormon
Church, Young provided the
colony with tough,
inspiring leadership. He
also served eight years
as the first governor of
the Utah Territory.
Mormons Seek a Refuge One group of people preferred to settle along the way. These were the Mormons.
As you read in the last chapter, Mormon founder Joseph
Smith was killed in 1844 by a mob in Illinois.
Leadership passed to Brigham Young, a brilliant
organizer with a powerful will. Convinced that the
Mormons could not survive among hostile neighbors,
Young organized an exodus. In 1847, he led Mormons
across the Great Plains and the Rockies to establish
the colony of New Zion on the eastern shore of the
Great Salt Lake. Through hard work and cooperation,
the Mormons made the arid land bloom by diverting
water from mountain streams. By 1860, some 40,000
Mormons lived in the West.
Despite their achievements and their isolation, other Americans continued to
distrust the Mormons. During the 1850s, after the territory had passed from
Mexico to the United States, the government forced the Mormons to accept federal authority. New Zion became the federal territory of Utah.
Indians Face Restrictions So long as wagons kept moving west, Native
Americans usually left them alone. Still, the federal government sought to protect migrants by restricting the Plains Indians. The 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie
bound the Indians to territories away from the major trails. But the Indians
clung to their mobile way of life, pursuing buffalo across all artificial boundaries. As migration continued, the stage was set for future conflict.
To extend the section content, assign
students the Enrichment worksheet,
Create a Board Game: The Oregon Trail.
Teaching Resources, pp. 12–13
What difficulties and opportunities awaited migrants to
the West?
Answer
difficulties: hunger, thirst, exposure,
Native American attack, disease, poison;
opportunities: land or more land than
they had previously owned, freedom,
wealth
SECTION
11
Assessment
Comprehension
1. Terms and People Write a
sentence explaining how each of the
following was connected with
westward migration.
• Manifest Destiny
• Santa Fe Trail
• Mountain Men
• Oregon Trail
• Brigham Young
• Treaty of Fort Laramie
Section 1 Assessment
1. Sentences should reflect an understanding of how each term or person is connected to westward migration.
2. Sample responses: competition with
Spain, the idea of Manifest Destiny,
people’s need or desire for land, trade, a
wish to Christianize Native Americans,
the desire for freedom from persecution
3. Sample topic: Manifest Destiny; Sample
Sentence: Although many Americans
probably agreed that God wanted the
United States to conquer North America,
304
Manifest Destiny
Progress Monitoring Online
For: Self-test with vocabulary practice
Web Code: nca-0903
2.
Reading Skill:
Identify Main Idea Use your outline
to answer the Section Focus Question:
What were the causes of westward
migration?
Writing About History
3. Quick Write: Identify an Issue In
the news media, an editorial is a
statement supporting one view of a
current issue. Choose a topic from this
section as the subject for an editorial.
Write a sentence explaining why
people of the time might have held
differing views on that issue.
most Native Americans probably
thought that they should keep their
lands.
4. Native Americans could hunt better and
travel further; however, it led to conflict
over the buffalo. In conflicts with the
Spanish and Americans, these acquisitions put Native Americans on a more
equal footing than they had been
previously.
5. Expansionists and other American
nationalists would have agreed, as would
migrants and immigrants. Native Amer-
Critical Thinking
4. Recognize Effects What long-term
effects did the introduction of horses
and firearms have on Native Americans
in the West?
5. Recognize Viewpoints Who might
have agreed with the idea of Manifest
Destiny? Who might have disagreed?
6. Make Decisions If you were a poor
farmer in 1850, would you have chosen
to join a wagon train to the West? Why
or why not?
icans and Spain and Britain would not
have supported the policy.
6. Sample response: Yes; despite the risks,
going west offered opportunities to gain
land and improve the quality of life.
For additional assessment, have students access
Progress Monitoring Online at Web
Code nca-0903.