Manifest Destiny
Essential Question: Was Westward Expansion and positive
or negative experience for Americans?
Why do people move?
Is it good or bad to move?
Objective: SWBAT use the concept of Manifest Destiny to
explain the rationale of Federal policies towards the West.
“Our manifest destiny [is] to overspread and posses the
whole of the continent which Providence [God] has
given us for the development of the great experiment of
liberty and…self-government.”
John O’ Sullivan, United States Magazine and
Democratic Review. 1845
Warm-up
1) What do
you see
in this
picture?
2) What do
you
think it
means?
“American Progress” by John Gast, 1872
“Star of
Empire”
Carries a
schoolbook
…
Buffalo & Indians are
driven into obscurity…
Lady Liberty
…and
telegraph wire
“The tools of
progress”
…as settlers move
westward
Manifest Destiny Concept Map
Rate your current knowledge of the phrase
“Manifest Destiny.”
Listen to the word, repeat the word.
Definition:
Listen to the definition.
State a definition in your own words.
Share with a partner.
Record your definition on your paper.
Write an analogy for Manifest Destiny.
Manifest Destiny
Definition - the belief that America’s destiny was to stretch across
continent.
This suggested that expansion was not only good but inevitable.
Manifest Destiny became a gov’t policy under James K. Polk (11th
president)
American expansionists – favored U.S. territorial growth – see
Texas, New Mexico, and California as targets for American
expansion
They believed that the west was unoccupied even though
Native Americans and Mexican peoples lived there.
Rich in resources – water and old
Mexican government and economy weak after revolution and
not worthy of the land that the USA “needs.”
Manifest Destiny Reading
Before: Academic Vocabulary
During:
Mark your text as you read.
After:
Look at the Gast painting again.
Explain how the artist uses specific images
to convince people to move west.
Homework
Complete Manifest Destiny Reading activity.