Leaders of the State:
Indiana Governors on the Giant Map
Rules: No shoes allowed on the map. Please have students remove shoes before walking on the map. Socks
required. No writing utensil on the map.
Grade Level: Grades 4-12
Purpose: In order to better understand how Geography has influenced politics in Indiana, students will learn of Indiana’s
past through the lives and achievements of Indiana’s governors.
Estimated Time: Two or more class periods.
Objectives: Students will
 identify Indiana’s governors and describe their major accomplishments,
 compare and contrast Indiana leadership,
 research to learn more about the Influence of Indiana governors on the development and growth of the state.
 use a map to draw conclusions about Indiana’s political growth and development, and
 locate places on the map that were named for governors and other notable people.
Materials Required:
 Indiana Governor Cards
 Indiana County Maps
 Outline map of the United States
Indiana Social Studies Standards Addressed:
4.1.4 Summarize and explain the significance of key documents in Indiana’s development from a United
State’s territory to statehood.
4.1.6 Explain how key individuals and events influenced the early growth of and changes in Indiana.
4.1.15 Create and interpret timelines that show the relationships among people, events and movements in the
history of Indiana.
4.2.3 Identify and explain the major responsibilities of the legislative executive and judicial branches of state
government as written in the Indiana Constitution.
4.2.4 Identify major state offices, the duties and powers associated with them, and how they are chosen, such
as by election or appointment.
4.3.2 Estimate distances between two places on a map, using scale of miles, and use cardinal and intermediate
directions when referring to relative location.
4.3.9 Explain the importance of major transportation routes, including rivers, in the exploration, settlement
and growth of Indiana and in the state’s location as a crossroad of America.
4.3.12 Read and interpret thematic maps – such as transportation, population and products – to acquire
information about Indiana in the present and the past.
5.2.6 Describe the primary and general election process for local, state and national offices, A
5.2.7 Describe the three branches of the United States government, their functions and their relationships.
5.3.12 Describe and analyze how specific physical features influenced historical events and movements and
physical features influenced historical events and movements.
6.1.16 Trace the individuals, beliefs and events that represent various political ideologies during the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries
8.2.3 Explain how and why legislative, executive and judicial powers are distributed, shared and limited in the
constitutional government of the United States.
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8.2.6
Distinguish among the different functions of national and state government within the federal system by
analyzing the United States Constitution and the Indiana Constitution.
8.3.7 Using maps identify changes influenced by growth, economic development and human migration in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
USG.3.3 Identify and describe provisions of the United States Constitution and the Indiana Constitution that
define and distribute powers and authority of the federal or state government.
USG.3.7 Explain the relationships among branches of the United States government and the Indiana
government, which involve separation and sharing of powers as a means to limited government.
USG.3.16 Explain the organization of state and local governments in Indiana and analyze how they affect the
lives of citizens.
Procedures:
1. Discuss with the class the three branches of the United States government and have them identify the roles of
each. Discuss how Indiana’s government is structured in a similar way. Have the students identify the three
branches of Indiana’s government.
2. Have students identify who the governor of Indiana is. Have them read the Indiana constitution to define the
duties of the governor. (Included with lesson)
3. Have students work in groups to make a list of all of Indiana’s governors. Have them identify where each
governor resided and where they were born.
4. On the Giant Map of Indiana have the students locate the county each governor called home.
5. Using the Giant Map of Indiana have the class calculate the distance travelled from each governor’s home to the
state capital. Who lived closest? How many were from the north, south , east and west? Who lived the furthest
from the capital? Which governor was born furthest from Indiana?
6. Discuss why certain regions of the state might have produced more governors (i.e. settlement and immigration
patterns, political party affiliation).
7. Have the students work in groups to create a bar graph that illustrates data about Indiana’s governors. This might
be counties of residence, political affiliation, etc.
8. Have each student research and write a report on one of Indiana’s governors and [present what they have learned
to the rest of the class.
9. Discuss with the class what each governor did to shape the geography and history of Indiana.
Additional Activities:
1. Make a timeline of Indiana governors. You might include major historical events on the timeline.
2. Research and report on the history and development of political parties including those that had their roots in
Indiana.
3. Research Indiana’s first ladies and find where each was born. Locate these places on the Giant Map of Indiana.
4. Discuss the movement of the state capital from Corydon to Indianapolis.
5. Research the governor’s mansion.
6. On a map of the United Stated have students identify where each Indiana governor was born.
7. Study the Indiana constitutional conventions (1816 and 1850) and identify where in Indiana the delegates lived.
Use the Giant Map of Indiana to identify where they lived and the route each traveled to the convention.
Assessment:
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Participation in class discussion.
Written report on an Indiana Governor.
Written statement about Indiana political history based on the information learned from reports and maps.
Student graphs.
Additional Resources:
 Biographical information and portraits of every Indiana Governor (from the Indiana Historical Bureau):
http://www.in.gov/history/2360.htm
 Chart of Political Party Strength in Indiana:
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party_strength_in_Indiana
 Duties of Governor from the 1816 Indiana Constitution:
http://www.in.gov/history/2879.htm
 Biographical Information of Indiana Governors (from the National Governors Association):
http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governorsbios/page_indiana.html?begin=25&end=49&pagesize=25
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