Manifest Destiny or Destruction
Visual Discovery Teacher’s Guide
Overview
This Visual Discovery introduces students to some events associated with the fulfillment of Manifest Destiny.
Students will view and discuss a series of seven slides that introduces them to the differing cultures and conflicts
that existed between settlers and Native Americans. Students respond to a series of critical thinking questions
about each slide, record, notes, and interact with the images.
Preview
Before beginning the lesson, have students listen to “Sweet Betsy from Pike.” After hearing the recording, have
students share their comments and feelings about the song. Share with the students the fact that although a
children’s song, “Sweet Betsy from Pike” is a song rich with history about the experiences for pioneers who
dared make the adventure west in the 1800’s. After discussing student feelings, reintroduce the song, and have
students listen to the song and follow along with the lyrics. At the end, have students answer the Discussion
questions in Slide 6 in Manifest Destiny or Destruction? Slide Presentation. (Note: the song has been
imbedded in to the slide and should start automatically in slides 3 and 4 of the Manifest Destiny or
Destruction? Visual Discovery Slide Presentation).
Before Class
Make photocopies of Slides 10 and 11 an excerpt from Letters from a Woman Homesteader, “ A busy, happy
summer.”
Procedures
1. Tell students that they will now see a series of slides that will introduce them to some events in the fulfillment
of Manifest Destiny. Students will be expected to view each slide carefully and be prepared to answer a series
of questions you will ask.
2. Introduce the lesson by showing students Image 1: The Culture of the Plains Indians, which shows a
photograph by John C. H. Grabill and the great hostile Lakota Sioux camp (Slide 7 of the Manifest Destiny or
Destruction? Visual Discovery Slide Presentation). Tell the students to examine the picture carefully, and
•Before you discuss the image, carefully select students who will be serious but comfortable acting in front of the
class. Briefly explain that after the image is discussed, you will ask volunteers to come forward, assume the
position and facial expression of one of four characters in the image, and answer from the perspective of the
character.
• Tell students that as you cover the information from the image they should be thinking about thoughts, feelings,
or sensations that each of the four characters would have been experiencing at the time of the photograph to be
able to perform the “Talking Statue” act-it-out.
•After you have discussed the image, have students performing the act-it-out assume their spots. Tell the
audience where the scene takes place. Assume the role of the “on-the scene reporter” and interview the
characters by asking their names, tribe affiliations, and their thoughts, feelings, or sensations at the time of the
photograph.
•Thank the actors and have the audience applaud a they return to their seats.
4. For image 7, perform the “Reading for Enrichment” an excerpt from Letters from a Woman Homesteader, “ A busy,
happy summer” after the image is discussed. In a read-out-loud, have students read the excerpt. After the reading,
perform the follow up questions found in Slide 9 of the Manifest Destiny or Destruction? Teacher’s Guide.
Processing Assignment
Have students make an acrostic poem using the word “Old West” that describes their personal perspective on the unit
theme question found in Slide 2 of the Manifest Destiny or Destruction? Visual Discovery Slide Presentation. An acrostic
is a poem, where the first letter of every sentence is the is a letter from the theme word(s). The sentences work together
to develop a poem that may or may not rhyme, but delivers a powerful way for students to process information related to a
class topic.
Have students decide if the closing of the West meant the fulfillment of our “Destiny” or the destruction of a legacy. Have
students include three or more illustrations related to context, and use five or more colors.
Image 1: The Culture of the Plains
Indians
What do you see here? Where was this picture taken?
How would you describe this area? About how many
settlements do you see?
Photographed in this image by John C. H. Grabill, you see Villa of Brule the great hostile Lakota Sioux camp
on River Brule near Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Image illustrates a Lakota tipi camp in background in 1891;
horses at a White Clay Creek watering hole in foreground.
Life on the Plains for Native Americans meant living in the Great Plains—grasslands in west-central portion of the U.S.,
where tribes were nomadic hunting and gathering. Horses and guns lead most Plains tribes to nomadic life by mid1700s. Trespassing others’ hunting lands caused war. Buffalo provided many basic needs: hides used for teepees,
clothes, blankets; meat used for jerky, pemmican.
Family Life for the Plains Indians meant forming family groups with ties to other bands that spoke the same language.
Having roles meant men were hunters and warriors; women butchered meat, prepared hides.
Natives believed in powerful spirits that control natural world. Men or women could become shamans. Children
learned through myths, stories, games, example.
Communal life meant leaders ruled by counsel.
Cultures clashed as beliefs over land use conflicted. Native Americans thought land could not be owned; whereas
settlers wanted to own land. Settlers thought natives forfeited land because did not improve it, and also considered
land unsettled as ripe for migrants to go west to claim it. The lure of gold in 1858 drew tens of thousands to Colorado,
where tiny frontier towns set up mining camps and filthy ramshackle dwellings for fortune seekers of different cultures
and races.
Image 2: Settlers Move West to
Farm
What do you see here? What seems to be happening in
this image? Why are the buffalo running? How does this
image represent irony? Who might the buffalo
represent? Train?
In this image you see Frank Leslie drawing from his Illustrated Newspaper, June, 1871. When the railroad
pushed westward through the plains, buffalo were often shot for sport as the trains passed by, carcasses left
to rot upon the prairie.
Railroads opened the West. Between 1850–1871, huge land grants were given to railroads for laying track in the West.
In the 1860s, the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads began constructing the nation’s first transcontinental
railway. The Central Pacific headed east from California and the Union Pacific headed west from Nebraska. They built
right past one another ant eventually met in Promontory Point, Utah. By the 1880s, 5 transcontinental railroads were
completed in the U.S.
Railroads sold land to farmers, and attracted many European immigrants. Railroad, state agents, and speculators
profited. In the end, only 10% of land went to families.
The government further supported settlement with the 1862 Homestead Act, which offered 160 acres free to any head
of household. Between 1862–1900, up to 600,000 families settled out West. Settlers include the Exodusters, or
Southern African-American settlers in Kansas.
Image 3: Government Restricts
Native Americans
What do you see here? What information does the map
show? Why were Native Americans being moved
around? Who was responsible for this mass migration?
About how much land did Native Americans loose by
1894? Retain?
This image represents lands lost by Native Americans to the U.S. government from 1850-1990. Indian tribes
both retreated and were removed from major areas of United States settlement in moves throughout the
decades of the 19th century. By the Civil War, the most numerous tribes were west of the Mississippi River.
Railroads influenced government policy. In 1834, government designated Great Plains as one huge reservation. In the
1850s, treaties defined specific boundaries for each tribe.
The Bozeman Trail crossed Sioux hunting grounds in the Bighorn Mountains. Sioux Chief, Red Cloud unsuccessfully
asked for an end to settlements along the trail. In December 1866, Crazy Horse ambushed federal troops at Lodge
Trail Ridge killing 80 soldiers in what came to be know as the Fetterman Massacre. Skirmishes continued until the
government agreed to close the trail with the Treaty of Fort Laramie. The Sioux were moved to a reservation in
Missouri. Sitting Bull, leader of Hunkpapa Sioux, did not sign the treaty.
Image 4: Bloody Battles Continue
What do you see here? Why are these people be
dancing? Does the dance look threatening? Why?
Why not? How might these people be feeling?
In this image you see an account of the Ghost Dance in the late 1800’s . The Ghost Dance was a religious
movement incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. The traditional ritual used in the
Ghost Dance has been used by many Native Americans since prehistoric times, but was first performed in
accordance with Jack Wilson's teachings among the Nevada Paiute in 1889. At the core of the movement was
Wilson’s prophecy of a peaceful end to white American expansion .
One of the most tragic events occurred in 1864 in what came to be know as the Massacre at Sand Creek. Troops killed
over 150 Cheyenne, Arapaho at the Sand Creek winter camp.
Since 1868, the Kiowa and Comanche had engaged in 6 years of raiding that finally led to the Red River War in 1874–
1875. The U. S. Army crushes resistance on Plains by herding friendly tribes onto reservations and killing all others.
In 1876, Sitting Bull had vision of war at a sun dance.
Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Gall crushed Colonel George A. Custer’s troops at the Little Big Horn River in what came to
be known as Custer’s Last Stand. By late 1876, Sioux were defeated. Some take refuge in Canada. With his people
starving; Sitting Bull surrendered 1881.
The Sioux continued to suffer from poverty and disease. In response as they began practicing a ritual called the Ghost
Dance, a ritual to regain lost lands. The ritual spread among 25,000 Sioux on Dakota reservation. The ritual alarmed
military leaders. In December 1890, they ordered the arrest of Sitting Bull. Sitting Bull is killed when police try to arrest
him. The Seventh Cavalry took about 350 Sioux to Wounded Knee Creek. The following morning as troops tried to
disarm the Sioux, the cavalry opened fire when a shot rang out and killed 300 unarmed Native Americans. The battle
ended the Indian wars, and the Sioux dream of regaining old life.
Image 5: Demand for Beef Grows
What do you see here? Who are these men and what
are they doing? How would you describe their type of
work? Who might they work for?
In this image, you see cowhands roping a calf at the legendary 15,500 acre King Ranch (established in 1853) in
Rincon de Santa Gertrudis, Texas.
After Civil War demand for meat increased in rapidly growing cities. American settlers learned to manage large herds
from Mexican vaqueros. They adopted the way of life, clothing, and vocabulary. The Texas longhorns was the sturdy,
short-tempered breed of choice originally brought over brought by the Spanish. Although cowboys were not in demand
until railroads reached the Great Plains, cattlemen established cow towns, or shipping yards where trails and rail lines
met. Trails like the Chisholm Trail became the major cattle route from San Antonio to Kansas.
A cowboy’s life was not the sort of seen in Hollywood. A day’s work consisted of 10–14 hours on ranch; 14 or more on
trail. Cowboys were expert riders and ropers alert for the many dangers that could have harmed or upset the cattle.
Cowboys were in the saddle dawn to dusk, slept on ground, and bathed in rivers. Between 1866–1885, there were in
excess of 55,000 cowboys on plains. 25% were African American and 12% were Mexican.
A cowboy’s job consisted of many things. But more importantly was the spring roundup where longhorns were found in
the open range, herded into corrals, separated, and marked with own ranch’s brand. The cattle were then herded for
the long drive to the shipping yard, which could last about 3 months.
As ranching became big business, the cattle frontier met its end as overgrazing and bad weather from 1883 to 1887
destroyed whole herds. The wide open range ended with barbed wire, turning the open range into separate ranches.
Image 6: The Government Supports
Assimilation
What do you see here? Who are these kids? How
old are they? Describe their mood. What might have
these boys been feeling at the time of this
photograph?
In this photograph by J.N. Choate, you see a group of boys dressed in cadet uniforms at the Carlisle Indian
Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1880. Founded in 1879 by Captain Richard Henry Pratt, the first
off-reservation boarding school became a model for schools attempting forcibly assimilate Native American
children from 140 tribes into the majority culture of the United States.
In 1881, writer Helen Hunt Jackson exposed the government’s many broken promises in A Century of Dishonor. At the
same time many sympathizers supported Assimilation, where natives were forced to give up their way of life and join
white culture.
In 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act to “Americanize” natives and break up reservations. The law promised to
give land to individual Native Americans, and sell remainder of land to settlers. Proceed were to be given to Natives for
farm implements. In the end, Native Americans received only 1/3 of land and no money.
Perhaps the most significant blow to Naïve Americans was the destruction of buffalo as tourists and fur traders shot for
sport with the full support of General Phillip Sheridan, who knew that the decimation meant the destruction of the Native
American’s main source for food, clothing, shelter, and fuel. In 1800, 65 million buffalo roamed the plains. In 1890
fewer than 1,000 buffalo remained on the Plains.
After you have finished reviewing all of the material and students have finished writing their notes, ask for 4
volunteers to step into character and Act-it-Out using “Talking Statues to demonstrate what these boys may
have been thinking during their stay at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
Image 7: Settlers Meet the
Challenges of the Plains
What do you see here? Describe the scene? Where
was this photo taken? Why would women choose this
type of lifestyle? How might they be feeling?
In this photograph by K.D. Butcher, the four Chrisman sisters are lined up at their first homestead in 1887. The
Chrisman sisters lived near the Goheen settlement on Lieban Creek in Custer County. Lizzie Chrisman filed
the first homestead claim in 1887. Lutie Chrisman filed her claim the following year. The sisters took turns
living with each other so they could fulfill the residence requirements without living alone. The other two
sisters, Hattie and Jennie Ruth, had to wait until they came of age to file. Unfortunately all the land was gone
before the youngest sister was old enough to file, but all four were well-known members of the community.
Settlers faced many challenges with life in the Plains. From droughts to blizzards, floods, fire, locust plagues, and
raids, the population grew from 1% in in 1850 to about 30% at the end of the century.
Since trees were scarce, many settlers made dugouts, homes dug into the sides of ravines or hills. In the plains,
settlers made soddies or sod homes by stacking blocks of turf. Soddies were warm in the winter and cool in the
summer. However, they were small, offered little light, and were havens for pests. Although fireproof, they leaked
when it rained.
Homesteaders virtually lived alone, and were virtually self-sufficient. Women often worked beside men doing men’s
work—plowing, harvesting, and shearing sheep. They also performed traditional work like carding wool, making soap,
and canning vegetables. They were also skilled in doctoring ailments and injuries, and were involved in community
work sponsoring schools and churches.
Reading for enrichment. Read "A BUSY, HAPPY SUMMER" September 11, 1909, and have students answer the
following questions.
Who was Elinore Rupert writing to? What does Elinore Rupert do for a living? Describe the purpose of the letter?
How would you characterize her work ethic? How does Elinore Rupert demonstrate her resourcefulness? Why might
"A BUSY, HAPPY SUMMER" September 11, 1909.
The writer of the following letters is a young woman who lost her husband in a railroad accident and went to Denver to seek
support for herself and her two-year-old daughter, Jerrine. Turning her hand to the nearest work, she went out by the day as
house-cleaner and laundress. Later, seeking to better herself, she accepted employment as a housekeeper for a well-to-do
Scotch cattle-man, Mr. Stewart, who had taken up a quarter-section in Wyoming. The letters, written through several years
to a former employer in Denver, tell the story of her new life in the new country. They are genuine letters, and are printed as
written, except for occasional omissions and the alteration of some of the names. May 1914.
DEAR MRS. CONEY, -This has been for me the busiest, happiest summer I can remember. I have worked very hard, but it has been work that I
really enjoy. Help of any kind is very hard to get here, and Mr. Stewart had been too confident of getting men, so that haying
caught him with too few men to put up the hay. He had no man to run the mower and he couldn't run both the mower and
the stacker, so you can fancy what a place he was in.
I don't know that I ever told you, but my parents died within a year of each other and left six of us to shift for ourselves.
Our people offered to take one here and there among them until we should all have a place, but we refused to be raised on
the halves and so arranged to stay at Grandmother's and keep together. Well, we had no money to hire men to do our work,
so had to learn to do it ourselves. Consequently I learned to do many things which girls more fortunately situated don't even
know have to be done. Among the things I learned to do was the way to run a mowing-machine. It cost me many bitter tears
because I got sunburned, and my hands were hard, rough, and stained with machine oil, and I used to wonder how any
Prince Charming could overlook all that in any girl he came to. For all I had ever read of the Prince had to do with his
"reverently kissing her lily-white hand," or doing some other fool trick with a hand as white as a snowflake. Well, when my
Prince showed up he didn't lose much time in letting me know that "Barkis was willing," and I wrapped my hands in my old
checked apron and took him up before he could catch his breath. Then there was no more mowing, and I almost forgot that
I knew how until Mr. Stewart got into such a panic. If he put a man to mow, it kept them all idle at the stacker, and he just
couldn't get enough men. I was afraid to tell him I could mow for fear he would forbid me to do so. But one morning, when
he was chasing a last hope of help, I went down to the barn, took out the horses, and went to mowing. I had enough cut
before he got back to show him I knew how, and as he came back manless he was delighted as well as surprised. I was
glad because I really like to mow, and besides that, I am adding feathers to my cap in a surprising way. When you see me
again you will think I am wearing a feather duster, but it is only that I have been said to have almost as much sense as a
"mon," and that is an honor I never aspired to, even in my wildest dreams.
I have done most of my cooking at night, have milked seven cows every day, and have done all the hay-cutting, so you
see I have been working. But I have found time to put up thirty pints of jelly and the same amount of jam for myself. I used
wild fruits, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and cherries. I have almost two gallons of the cherry butter, and I think it is
delicious. I wish I could get some of it to you, I am sure you would like it.
We began haying July 5 and finished September 8. After working so hard and so steadily I decided on a day off, so
yesterday I saddled the pony, took a few things I needed, and Jerrine and I fared forth. Baby can ride behind quite well. We
got away by sunup and a glorious day we had. We followed a stream higher up into the mountains and the air was so keen
and clear at first we had on our coats. There was a tang of sage and of pine in the air, and our horse was midside deep in
rabbit-brush, a shrub just covered with flowers that look and smell like goldenrod. The blue distance promised many alluring
adventures, so we went along singing and simply gulping in summer. Occasionally a bunch of sage chickens would fly up
out of the sagebrush, or a jack rabbit would leap out. Once we saw a bunch of antelope gallop over a hill, but we were out
just to be out, and game didn't tempt us. I started, though, to have just as good a time as possible, so I had a fish-hook in
my knapsack.
Presently, about noon, we came to a little dell where the grass was as soft and as green as a lawn. The creek kept
right up against the hills on one side and there were groves of quaking asp and cottonwoods that made shade, and
service-bushes and birches that shut off the ugly hills on the other side. We dismounted and prepared to noon. We
caught a few grasshoppers and I cut a birch pole for a rod. The trout are so beautiful now, their sides are so silvery,
with dashes of old rose and orange, their speckles are so black, while their backs look as if they had been sprinkled
with gold-dust. They bite so well that it doesn't require any especial skill or tackle to catch plenty for a meal in a few
minutes.
In a little while I went back to where I had left my pony browsing, with eight beauties. We made a fire first, then I
dressed my trout while it was burning down to a nice bed of coals. I had brought a frying-pan and a bottle of lard, salt,
and buttered bread. We gathered a few service-berries, our trout were soon browned, and with water, clear, and as cold
as ice, we had a feast. The quaking aspens are beginning to turn yellow, but no leaves have fallen. Their shadows
dimpled and twinkled over the grass like happy children. The sound of the dashing, roaring water kept inviting me to
cast for trout, but I didn't want to carry them so far, so we rested until the sun was getting low and then started for
home, with the song of the locusts in our ears warning us that the melancholy days are almost here. We would come up
over the top of a hill into the glory of a beautiful sunset with its gorgeous colors, then down into the little valley already
purpling with mysterious twilight. So on, until, just at dark, we rode into our corral and a mighty tired, sleepy little girl
was powerfully glad to get home.
After I had mailed my other letter I was afraid that you would think me plumb bold about the little Bo-Peep, and was a
heap sorrier than you can think. If you only knew the hardships these poor men endure. They go two together and
sometimes it is months before they see another soul, and rarely ever a woman. I wouldn't act so free in town, but these
men see people so seldom that they are awkward and embarrassed. I like to put them at ease, and it is to be done only
by being kind of hail-fellow-well-met with them. So far not one has ever misunderstood me and I have been treated with
every courtesy and kindness, so I am powerfully glad you understand. They really enjoy doing these little things like
fixing our dinner, and if my poor company can add to any one's pleasure I am too glad.
Sincerely yours,
ELINORE RUPERT.
Mr. Stewart is going to put up my house for me in pay for my extra work. I am ashamed of my long letters to you, but
I am such a murderer of language that I have to use it all to tell anything. Please don't entirely forget me. Your letters
mean so much to me and I will try to answer more promptly.
Homework: Old West Acrostic
• Describe your personal perspective on the unit theme
question (Manifest Destiny or Destruction?). Decide if
the closing of the West meant the fulfillment of our
“Destiny” or the destruction of a legacy.
• Use the word “Old West” to write 7 sentences on your
perspective. The first letter for each sentence must begin
with the letters listed below.
• Include 3+ illustrations related to context, and 5+ colors.
O
L
D
W
E
S
T
Manifest Destiny or
Destruction?
Visual Discovery
Unit Theme Question
Did the closing of the American
west fulfill Manifest Destiny or
manifest destruction?
Preview: Sweet Betsy From
Pike
Did you ever hear tell of Sweet Betsy from Pike,
Who crossed the wide mountains (blue ridges) with her
lover Ike,
Two yoke of cattle, a large yeller dog,
A tall Shanghai rooster, and a one-spotted hog.
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-oo-ra-li-ay
One evening quite early they camped on the Platte,
Twas near by the road on a green shady flat.
Betsy, sore-footed, lay down to repose-With wonder Ike gazed on that Pike County rose.
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-oo-ra-li-ay
Out on the prairie one bright, starry night,
They broke out the whiskey, and Betsy got tight.
She sang and she shouted and danced o'er the plain,
And she showed her bare arse to the whole wagon train.
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-oo-ra-li-ay
A miner said, "Betsy, will you dance with me?"
"I will that, old hoss, if you don't make too free.
Don't dance me hard, do you want to know why?
Doggone you, I'm chock-full of strong alkali."
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-oo-ra-li-ay
The Shanghai ran off, and the cattle all died,
That morning the last piece of bacon was fried.
"Dear old Pike County, I'll go back to you"-Says Betsy, "You'll go by yourself if you do!"
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-oo-ra-li-ay
The Injuns came down in a thundering horde,
And Betsy was scared they would scalp her adored.
So under the wagon-bed Betsy did crawl
And she fought off the Injuns with musket and ball.
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-oo-ra-li-ay
They swam the wide rivers and crossed the tall peaks,
And camped on the desert for weeks upon weeks.
Starvation and cholera, hard work and slaughter-They reached California 'spite of hell and high water.
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-oo-ra-li-ay
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-oo-ra-li-ay
Questions
•What is the mood of the song’s melody?
•Where was Sweet Betsy headed?
•Why would Betsy, the pioneers, and others be willing to
risk such hardships?
•This song was written in the 1800’s as many people were
making their journey out west. Why would a song like this
have been written?
•Why do you think this song survived to become a folk song
today?
Homework: Old West Acrostic
• Describe your personal perspective on the unit theme
question (Manifest Destiny or Destruction?). Decide if
the closing of the West meant the fulfillment of our
“Destiny” or the destruction of a legacy.
• Use the word “Old West” to write 7 sentences on your
perspective. The first letter for each sentence must begin
with the letters listed below.
• Include 3+ illustrations related to context, and 5+ colors.
O
L
D
W
E
S
T