Title: US Imperialism in the late 19th Century
Topic: Spanish-American War
Grade: 9-12
Subject: US History
School:
Education Designs Lesson/ Unit Plan
Lesson
Summary:
Standard:
Concept:
Essential
questions
(2-5
questions)
(What you
want the
students to
know.)
This lesson provides an opportunity to examine and investigate with the
cause and effect of the sinking of the USS Maine and the Spanish American
War through the use of numerous primary and secondary documents.
Students work first collaboratively and then as a class group to construct a
timeline of events based on the documents.
US History
Era 6 - The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)
- Standard 4B
The student understands the roots and development of American
expansionism and the causes and outcomes of the Spanish-American War.
Era 7 – The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)
- Standard 2: The changing role of the United States in world affairs through
World War I
Using primary and secondary sources, construct a chronological timeline to
analyze cause and effect of the United States’ entry into the Spanish
American War,
1. Why did US foreign policy change to imperialism at the end of the 19th
Century?
2. How did “yellow journalism” affect the US’s entry into the SpanishAmerican War?
3. How did the US Congress react in order to encourage or control US
territorial expansionism?
4. How did the US’s victory in the Spanish-American War signal America’s
entry onto the world stage?
Elements
(What you
want the
students to
understan
d.)
Grade
Level
5-12
9-12
5-12
Launch
Activity
(Hook)
Therefore, the student is able to:
Trace the acquisition of new territories.
[Reconstruct patterns of historical succession and duration]
Describe how geopolitics, economic interests, racial ideology,
missionary zeal, nationalism, and domestic tensions combined to
create an expansionist foreign policy.
[Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
Evaluate the causes, objectives, character, and outcome of the
Spanish-American War. [Interrogate historical data]
Engage the students to explore prior knowledge of the Spanish American
War by having them identify people and events related to the war. The
group will use the Sinking of the Maine on which to base the Cause or Effect
timeline.
The teacher then provides a packet of primary source documents to student
groups. Students collaborate to place the documents in chronological order
either as a “cause” or “effect” of the Sinking of the Maine.
Once all groups have determined the likely timeline order, the class as a
whole constructs an overall timeline. The teacher can place a piece of tape
on the wall with the picture of the USS Maine in the center. One set of
photos is pre-prepared with a piece of tape on each photo to facilitate
building the timeline.
Each group in turn adds a picture (tapes it up) to build the overall
chronology. The class “votes” after each picture is added as to whether the
event is in the proper order.
The Teacher concludes the lesson by providing further information (refer to
the PowerPoint) of each document.
Knowledge & Skills
(People, Places, times
and vocabulary-what
the student should be
able to do. What skills
will they use?
William Randolph
Hearst
William McKinley
Alfred Thayer Mahan
Jose Marti
Theodore Roosevelt
Rough Riders
General Weyler
Joseph Pulitzer
Sinking of the Maine
Admiral Dewey/USS
Olympia
Yellow Journalism
American expansionism
Morgan Cameron Resolution
De Lome Letter
Annexation of Hawaii
Teller Amendment
Platt amendment
Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe
Doctrine
War in the Philippines
Skills
- Reconstruct patterns of historical succession and duration
- Analyze cause-and-effect relationships
- Interrogate historical data
- Assess the importance of the individual in history
Assessment Evidence: What evidence will show that students met the learning goal?
Traditional Assessment (Quizzes, Test, Selected Responses)
Multiple-choice test written in A, B, C, D choices with questions worded much like those used on
standardized tests.
Portfolio Assessment
Authentic Assessment (Performance Tasks, Rubrics, Projects, Dialogues, etc.,)
Students will write a short biography on one of the individuals involved in the events related to
the Spanish-American War.
The students will write a short essay outlining the causes of United States’ entry into the Spanish
American War
Student Self-Assessment
Differentiation Associated with this unit
- Assign a person or event associated with the Spanish American War to each student or in
pairs, to develop prior student knowledge of the event.
- Following the lesson, assign a person or event and have students conduct research on the
issue.
Resources and instructional tools:
Tape for the timeline
1st, 2nd, and 3rd order Primary and secondary sources:
Pictures/documents (in chronological order):
Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783
Jose Marti
William Randolph Hearst
Joseph Pulitzer
Annexation of Hawaii – Joint Resolution
Valeriano Weyler
Theodore Roosevelt
DeLome Letter
USS Maine wreck
NY Journal – 16 Feb 1898
USS Olympia
Rough Riders
Platt Amendment
Roosevelt Corollary
Internet resources:
•http://www.spanamwar.com
•http://www.ourdocuments.gov
•http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/
•http://www.historyofcuba.com/
•http://www.smplanet.com/imperialism/remember.html
•http://www.zpub.com/cpp/saw.html
•http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches
•http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/
•http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc
Textbook