The ABCs of Westward Expansion

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The ABCs of Westward Expansion

• Social Studies
• Miss Nelson

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5th Grade S.S. Indicators

• History
• Explain why European countries explored and
  colonized North America.
• Explain the impact of settlement,
  industrialization and transportation on the
  expansion of the U.S.
• People and Societies
• Compare reasons for immigration to North America
  with the reality immigrants experienced upon
  arrival.
• Explain how the characteristics of different
  physical environments affect human activities in
  N. America.
• Analyze the positive and negative consequences of
  human changes to the physical environment.

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A is for Americans.

• In the mid 1800s, America began to acquire land
  to the west of the Mississippi River. Americans
  believed they should have all of the land between
  the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Americans began
  traveling west in search of new lands and elbow
  room.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vtwFs9Vk6F0A

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B is for Buffalo Bill

• William Cody organized the Wild West Show in
  1883. The show provided entertainment to
  pioneers featuring cowboys doing tricks and
  skilled Native Americans. The Wild West Shows
  exaggerated frontier life.

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C is for California

• Thousands of men traveled to California in the
  California Gold Rush. Not many struck it rich,
  but they did return home with adventure stories.

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D is for Death

• Many people died traveling the Oregon Trail.
  Historians estimate that 10 of all pioneers, or
  30,000 people died on their journey. People died
  from accidents and illnesses like cholera and
  smallpox. Families had to bury the dead along
  the trail and continue on without their loved
  one.

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E is for Expedition

• In 1804, President Jefferson sent explorers
  Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the
  west. They set out toward the Pacific Ocean with
  Sacagawea, a Shoshone Indian who acted as a
  translator and guide. They were the first to
  journal about the west and record 1,000 varieties
  of plants and animals.

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F is for Family

• Pioneer families often had many children. They
  needed children to help with all of the chores.
  Even young children helped to collect wood for
  the fire and berries and nuts to eat.

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G is for Gold Rush

• Thousands of men rushed to California in 1849 in
  search for gold. They were nicknamed
  forty-niners. Miners worked hard with little
  success. Supplies were very expensive and many
  men went home broke.

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H is for Homestead Act

• In 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act to
  encourage people to settle the prairies. The law
  promised free land to people after they had
  farmed it for five years and built a house on it.

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I is for Immigrants

• Thousands of immigrants traveled west as the
  United States expanded. Chinese and Irish
  immigrants, in particular, were crucial in
  building the transcontinental railroad.

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J is for Jeans

• Levi Strauss designed sturdy pants for miners so
  that they could bend, dig, and squat easily. You
  may even own a pair blue jeans!

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K is for Klondike Gold Rush

• In addition to the California gold strike, many
  risked their lives in search of gold in Alaska.
  

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L is for Locomotive

• A locomotive is an engine on wheels used to pull
  railcars. Locomotives transported good, and
  eventually, people, across the United States.

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M is for Manifest Destiny

• Many Americans believed that America had the
  right to expand as much as possible it was the
  fate of the United States to stretch across the
  continent. This belief was at the expense of
  Native Americans.

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N is for Native American Removal

• As Americans traveled west, the U.S. government
  ordered troops to forcibly remove Native
  Americans from their homeland to new
  reservations.

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O is for Oregon Trail

• Families spent at least four months traveling
  the difficult western terrain on horseback and in
  Conestoga wagons.

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P is for Pony Express

• This was a famous mail route that ran from
  Missouri to California. It was a relay of brave
  riders that raced letters 2,000 miles in ten
  days. After just nineteen months in existence,
  the Pony Express was replaced with a new
  invention the telegraph.

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Q is for Queasy

• The food the pioneers ate may not have sat well
  with your stomach! Muddy river water or
  contaminated wells provided water while insects
  dropped into cooking pots and supplies like sugar
  and flour quickly became moldy along the way.
  Dry buffalo dung provided fuel in the empty
  prairie.

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R is for Religion

• Missionaries were some of the first to travel
  west. The Spanish set up missions to spread
  their Roman Catholic religion to the Native
  Americans in the southwest. Twenty-one Spanish
  missions were established in California during
  the 18th and 19th centuries.

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Santa Fe Trail

• The Santa Fe Trail was a road through the
  prairies and mountains from Missouri to Santa Fe.
  The trail linked the United States and Mexico.

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T is for Transcontinental Railroad

• After the Civil War, the Transcontinental
  Railroad was constructed by immigrants. This
  made traveling easier from coast to coast. The
  negative effects were resistance from American
  Indians and displacing buffalo.

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U is for United States

• In the 1840s eastern cities were becoming crowded
  with Europeans. Many Americans decided to
  explore the west. Those pioneers left their
  pioneering spirit- curiosity, hard work,
  determination, resourcefulness, and a love of
  freedom.

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V is for Voting

• Pioneer families traveled westward in a wagon
  train so that they could help one another. Early
  on, the men voted to elect leaders who helped
  maintain order and set the rules.

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W is for Westward Expansion

• Pioneers moved west in three waves
• From the 1770s to 1800s pioneers crossed the
  Appalachian Mountains and to the Ohio River
  Valley.
• During the 1840s-1860s, Pioneers traveled west to
  Oregon and California.
• In the 1860s, pioneers settled on the Great
  Plains.

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X is for Oxen

• Oxen were used to pull Conestoga wagons on the
  Oregon Trail. Oxen suffered through the desert
  as they only eat grass, though they were found to
  be stronger than mules.

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Y is for Yoke

• A yoke is wooden bar used to join the heads of
  two working animals. Pioneers yoked oxen
  together when they were harnessed to a wagon.

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Z is for Zebulon Pike

• Zebulon Pike explored the Louisiana Territory,
  Colorado, and New Mexico. Pikes Peak in Colorado
  was named after Pike.

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Pioneer Songs

• Oh Susanna
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vEzzPPu6crQE
• Home on the Range
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vYFVGwviAaWE
• Old Dan Tucker
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vS-GHbDFrwlU
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vgDi75H1pOAc

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Bibliography

• Going West by Carol Johmann
• Pioneer Life in the American West by Christy
  Steele
• Pioneers, A Library of Congress Book by Martin W.
  Sandler
• The Oregon Trail by R. Conrad Stein
• You Wouldnt Want to Be an American Pioneer by
  Jacqueline Morely
• You Wouldnt Want to Work on the Railroad by Ian
  Graham
• All pictures found on Google Images.