39. Manifest Destiny

Learning Target - SWBAT explain how the idea Manifest Destiny affected Americans who followed leaders of the movement.

How is this image meant to represent Manifest Destiny?

Chunk 1: Manifest DestinyManifest Destiny - belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.

Chunk 2: Oregon CountryWhich four COUNTRIES were claimingOregon?

Which modern day U.S. states

were in the Oregon country?

Chunk 3: Oregon FeverIn the early 1840s, “Oregon fever”, the strong desire to move to Oregon for a better life, swept through the Mississippi Valley. Thousands of settlers joined the migration. Most settlers formed wagon trains, small groups of travelers that journeyed together for safety.

Before the difficult 2,000-mile journey, these pioneers stuffed their canvas-covered wagons, called prairie schooners, with supplies. From a distance these wagons looked like schooners (ships) at sea. Gathering in Independence or other towns in Missouri, they followed the Oregon Trail across the Great Plains, along the Platte River, and through the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains. The journey took five or six months and could be very dangerous because of diseases, snakes, or Native American attacks.

Would you be a Pioneer and move 2,000 miles in a wagon? Why?

What would you bring with you if you had to go?

Chunk 3a: The Donner Party

Chunk 4: “Fifty-four Forty or Fight”If we all moved into the next classroom over

would we have the right to claim it for ourselves

if there were more people from our class there

than the other class?

Did the Pioneers have the right to claim the

Oregon country based on population? Why?

Chunk 5: The Republic of Texas

Chunk 6:

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Chunk 7: GOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!James Marshall was building a sawmill on the South Fork of the American River in California. He worked for John Sutter, who owned a vast tract of land about 35 miles from present-day Sacramento. On January 24, 1848, Marshall saw something shining in a ditch. “I reached my hand down and picked it up,” he wrote later. “It made my heart thump, for I was certain it was gold.” Looking around, he found other shiny pieces. Marshall rushed to show the glittering pieces to Sutter, who determined that they were gold. Sutter tried to keep the discovery a secret, but word soon leaked out. The great California Gold Rush was underway!

What would you do in this situation if you were James Marshall?

What would you do in this situation if you were John Sutter?

Chunk 8: Life in California

Who were the Forty-Niners?

Who profited the most from

the California Gold Rush?

What were vigilantes?

Chunk 9: The Mormons Settle UtahIn the middle 1800s, American pioneers headed into the new lands of the Mexican Cession. One of the largest groups to move west was the Mormons, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Mormons had been driven away from their settlements in New York and Illinois because their teachings and beliefs upset many people. The Mormons hoped to find refuge in Utah.

In 1847, Mormons led by Brigham Young settled in the desert in Utah, near the Great Salt Lake. About 15,000 Mormon men, women, and children moved there. In time, the settlement grew and prospered.

Why did Mormons settle Utah?

Exit Ticket:

How did the idea Manifest Destiny affect Americans who followed leaders of the movement?

Then, do your reflection.