Manifest Destiny and Its Critics.pdf - Mr. Mermelstein's classes

Manifest Destinyand Its Criticsby Jonathan BurackEach unit in The Historian’s Apprentice series deals with an important historical topic. Itintroduces students to a five-step set of practices designed to simulate the experience of beinga historian and make explicit all key phases of the historian’s craft.The Historian’s Apprentice: A Five-Step Process1. Reflect on Your Prior Knowledge of the TopicStudents discuss what they already know and how their priorknowledge may shape or distort the way they view the topic.2. Apply Habits of Historical Thinking to the TopicStudents build background knowledge on the basis of five habits ofthinking that historians use in constructing accounts of the past.3. Interpret the Relevant Primary SourcesStudents apply a set of rules for interpreting sources and assessingtheir relevance and usefulness.4. Assess the Interpretations of Other HistoriansStudents learn to read secondary sources actively, with the goalof deciding among competing interpretations based on evidencein the sources.5. Interpret, Debate, and Write About the Topic YourselfStudents apply what they have learned by constructing evidencebasedinterpretations of their own in a variety of ways.

©2009 MindSparks, a division of Social Studies School Service10200 Jefferson Blvd., P.O. Box 802Culver City, CA 90232United States of America(310) 839-2436(800) 421-4246Fax: (800) 944-5432Fax: (310) 839-2249http://mindsparks.comaccess@mindsparks.comPermission is granted to reproduce individual worksheets for classroom use only.Printed in the United States of AmericaISBN: 978-1-57596-287-0Product Code: HS370

Teacher IntroductionTeaching the Historian’s CraftThe goal of The Historian’s Apprentice unitsis to expose students in a manageableway to the complex processes by whichhistorians practice their craft. By modelingwhat historians do, students will practice thefull range of skills that make history the uniqueand uniquely valuable challenge that it is.Modeling the historian’s craft is not thesame as being a historian—somethingfew students will become. Therefore, ascaffolding is provided here to help studentsmaster historical content in a way that will bemanageable and useful to them.Historical thinking is not a simple matter ofreciting one fact after another, or even ofmastering a single, authoritative account.It is disciplined by evidence, and it is aquest for truth; yet, historians usually try toTeacherIntroductionclarify complex realities and make tentativejudgments, not to draw final conclusions. Indoing so, they wrestle with imperfect sets ofevidence (the primary sources), detect multiplemeanings embedded in those sources, andtake into account varying interpretations byother historians. They also recognize howwide a divide separates the present fromearlier times. Hence, they work hard to avoidpresent-mindedness and to achieve empathywith people who were vastly different from us.In their actual practice, historians are mastersof the cautious, qualified conclusion. Yet theyengage, use their imaginations, and debatewith vigor. It is this spirit and these habits ofcraft that The Historian’s Apprentice seeks toinstill in students.The Historian’s Apprentice: Five Steps in Four PartsThe Historian’s Apprentice is a five-step process. However, the materials presented here areorganized into four parts. Part I deals with the first two of the five steps of the process. Eachof the other three parts then deals with one step in the process. Here is a summary of thefour parts into which the materials are organized:Teacher Introduction. Includes suggested day-by-day sequences for using thesematerials, including options for using the PowerPoint presentations. One sequence isdesigned for younger students and supplies a page of vocabulary definitions.Part 1. A student warm-up activity, an introductory essay, a handout detailing a set ofhabits of historical thinking, and two PowerPoint presentations (Five Habits of HistoricalThinking and Manifest Destiny and Its Critics). Part 1 (including the PowerPoints) dealswith The Historian’s Apprentice Steps 1 and 2.Part 2. A checklist for analyzing primary sources, several primary sources, andworksheets for analyzing them. Part 2 deals with The Historian’s Apprentice Step 3.Part 3. Two secondary source passages and two student activities analyzing thosepassages. Part 3 deals with The Historian’s Apprentice Step 4.Part 4. Two optional follow-up activities enabling students to write about and/or debatetheir own interpretations of the topic. Part 4 deals with The Historian’s Apprentice Step 5.All pages in this booklet may be photocopied for classroom use.Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 3

TeacherIntroductionSuggested Five-Day SequenceBelow is one possible way to use this Historian’s Apprentice unit. Tasks are listed day by day in asequence taking five class periods, with some homework and some optional follow-up activities.PowerPoint Presentation: Five Habits of Historical Thinking. This presentation comes witheach Historian’s Apprentice unit. If you have used it before with other units, you need not do soagain. If you decide to use it, incorporate it into the Day 1 activities. In either case, give students the“Five Habits of Historical Thinking” handout for future reference. Those “five habits” are as follows:• History Is Not the Past Itself• The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation• Time, Change, and Continuity• Cause and Effect• As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of ViewWarm-Up Activity. Homework assignment: Students do the Warm-Up Activity. This activity exploresstudents’ memories and personal experiences shaping their understanding of the topic.Day 1: Discuss the Warm-Up Activity, then either have students read or review the “Five Habits ofHistorical Thinking” handout, or use the Five Habits PowerPoint presentation.Homework assignment: Students read the background essay “Manifest Destiny: The History ofan Idea.””Day 2: Use the second PowerPoint presentation, Manifest Destiny and Its Critics, to providean overview of the topic for this lesson. The presentation applies the Five Habits of HistoricalThinking to this topic. Do the two activities embedded in the presentation.Homework assignment: Students read the “Interpreting Primary Sources Checklist.” The checklistteaches a systematic way to handle sources:• Sourcing• Contextualizing• Interpreting meanings• Point of view• Corroborating sourcesDay 3: In class, students study some of the ten primary source documents and complete “SourceAnalysis” worksheets on them. They use their notes to discuss these sources. (Worksheetquestions are all based on the concepts on the “Interpreting Primary Sources Checklist.”)Day 4: In class, students complete the remaining “Source Analysis” worksheets and use their notesto discuss these sources. Take some time to briefly discuss the two secondary source passagesstudents will analyze next.Homework assignment: Student read these two secondary source passages.Day 5: In class, students do the two “Secondary Sources” activities and discuss them. Theseactivities ask them to analyze the two secondary source passages using four criteria:• Clear focus on a problem or question• Position or point of view• Use of evidence or sources• Awareness of alternative explanationsFollow-Up Activities (optional, at teacher’s discretion).Do as preferred: the DBQ Essay Assignment and/or the Structured Debate.4 The Historian’s Apprentice | Manifest Destiny and Its Critics

Suggested Three-Day SequenceTeacherIntroductionIf you have less time to devote to this lesson, here is a suggested shorter sequence. Thesequence does not include the PowerPoint presentation Five Habits of Historical Thinking. Thispresentation is included with each Historian’s Apprentice unit. If you have never used it with yourclass, you may want to do so before following this three-day sequence.The three-day sequence leaves out a few activities from the five-day sequence. It also suggeststhat you use only seven key primary sources. However, it still walks students through the stepsof the Historian’s Apprentice approach: clarifying background knowledge, analyzing primarysources, comparing secondary sources, and debating or writing about the topic.Warm-Up Activity. Homework assignment: Ask students to read or review the “Five Habits ofHistorical Thinking” handout and read the background essay “Manifest Destiny: The History ofan Idea.”Day 1: Use the PowerPoint presentation Manifest Destiny and Its Critics. It provides an overviewof the topic for this lesson by applying the Five Habits of Historical Thinking to it. Do the twoactivities embedded in the presentation.Homework assignment: Students read or review the “Interpreting Primary Sources Checklist.”The checklist teaches a systematic way to handle sources.Day 2: In class, students study some of the ten primary source documents and complete“Source Analysis” worksheets on them. They then use their notes to discuss these sources.Documents 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are suggested.You may wish to make your own choices of primary sources. Use your judgment in decidinghow many of them your students can effectively analyze in a single class period.Homework assignment: Student read the two secondary source passages.Day 3: In class, students do the two “Secondary Sources” activities and discuss them. Theseactivities ask them to analyze the two secondary source passages using four criteria.Follow-Up Activities (optional, at teacher’s discretion):Do as preferred: the DBQ Essay Assignment and/or the Structured Debate.Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 5

TeacherIntroductionSuggestions for Use With Younger StudentsFor younger students, parts of this lesson may prove challenging. If you feel your students needa somewhat more manageable path through the material, see the suggested sequence below.If you want to use the Five Habits of Historical Thinking PowerPoint presentation, this sequencetakes four class periods. If you do not use this PowerPoint, you can combine DAY 1 and DAY 2 andkeep the sequence to just three days. We suggest using six primary sources only. The ones listedfor DAY 3 are less demanding in terms of vocabulary and conceptual complexity. For DAY 4, weprovide some simpler DBQs for the follow-up activities.Vocabulary: A list of vocabulary terms in the sources and the introductory essay is provided onpage 7 of this booklet. You may wish to hand this sheet out as a reading reference, you could makeflashcards out of some of the terms, or you might ask each of several small groups to use thevocabulary sheet to explain terms found in one source to the rest of the class.SUGGESTED FOUR-DAY SEQUENCEWarm-Up Activity. Homework assignment: Students do the Warm-Up Activity. This activityexplores students’ memories and personal experiences shaping their understanding of the topic.Day 1: Discuss the Warm-Up Activity. Show the Five Habits of Historical Thinking PowerPointpresentation (unless you have used it before and/or you do not think it is needed now). If youdo not use this PowerPoint presentation, give students the “Five Habits of Historical Thinking”handout and discuss it with them.Homework assignment: Ask students to read the background essay “Manifest Destiny: TheHistory of an Idea.”Day 2: Use the PowerPoint presentation Manifest Destiny and Its Critics. This introduces thetopic for the lesson by applying the Five Habits of Historical Thinking to it. Do the twoactivities embedded in the presentation.Homework assignment: Students read or review the “Interpreting Primary Sources Checklist.”The checklist offers a systematic way to handle sources.Day 3: Discuss the “Interpreting Primary Sources Checklist” and talk through one primary sourcedocument in order to illustrate the meaning of the concepts on the checklist. Next, havestudents complete “Source Analysis” worksheets after studying primary source documents 1,2, 3, 5, 7, and 9.Homework assignment: Students read the two secondary source passages.Day 4: Students do only “Secondary Sources: Activity 2” and discuss it. This activity asks themto choose the two primary sources that best back up each secondary source passage.Follow-Up Activities (optional, at teacher’s discretion):Do as preferred: the DBQ Essay Assignment and/or the Structured Debate.Here are some alternative DBQs tailored to the six primary sources recommended here:“Manifest Destiny was just an excuse by the slave states to expand slaveryand shore up their power in American society in general.” Explain why youdo or do not agree with this statement.“U.S. settlement would have rolled all the way to the Pacific no matter what.With or without the ideal of Manifest Destiny, nothing could have stoppedthe settlers.” Explain why you do or do not agree with this statement.6 The Historian’s Apprentice | Manifest Destiny and Its Critics

VocabularyVocabulary: The Introductory Essaydiplomacy: The art of conducting talks or negotiations between countriesSecond Great Awakening: A broad religious revival movement in the first half of the 19th century in the U.S.inevitable: Unavoidable or unstoppablejustification: A reason for something, or a defense of some action takenordained: In this case, something destined to occur or ordered to occurromantic: In this case, describes an emotional and idealized view of some action or situationVocabulary: The Primary Sourcesascend: To rise or go upwardannexation: In this case, the act of attaching or taking control over some landbeneficent: Goodderived: Taken from some sourceemigrant: Someone who leaves his own land to move to anotherenjoin: To prohibit some action, usually through court orderjurisdiction: The area over which an official authority has control, or the extent of that controlProvidence: In this case, the idea of God or some divine presence watching over and directing human affairspecuniary: Having to do with moneyreceptacle: A containerslough off: To shed or cast offunsullied: Pure, uncontaminatedVocabulary: The Secondary Sourcesadhering: Remaining attached to something, clinging to somethingcategorize: Classify or group under broader headingscolluding: Acting together in secrethierarchies: Systems that rank people or things in order, one above the nextindigenous: Native to an areainfiltrating: Moving into something or some area, often slowly or secretlysubjugation: The act of bringing under control or conqueringvalidate: To confirm or back up something; to provide official sanction for somethingperspective: A mental point of view or outlook on somethingterminus: The end or limit of somethingManifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 7

Student ActivityWarm-Up ActivityWhat Do You Know About Manifest Destiny?This lesson deals with the concept of Manifest Destiny. Whenever you start to learn somethingabout a time in history, it helps to think first of what you already know about it, or think youknow. You probably have impressions, or you may have read or heard things about it already.Some of what you know may be accurate. You need to be ready to alter your fixed ideas aboutthis time as you learn more about it. This is what any historian would do. To do this, study thispainting and take a few notes in response to the questions below it.This painting shows Mexican soldiersevacuating Vera Cruz in 1847 aftersurrendering their arms to the U.S. Army,under General Winfield Scott. What do youknow about the war of which this scenewas a part?What impression do you have of theMexican War? What idea or sense ofwhat this war was like do you get fromthis painting?Have you ever heard the phrase “ManifestDestiny”? What do you think it means?What do you think the connection might bebetween the term “Manifest Destiny” andthe Mexican War?Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 9

Introductory Essay• Manifest Destiny: The History of an Idea•In 1845, journalist John Louis O’Sullivan wrote,“Our manifest destiny is to overspread the continentallotted by Providence for the free developmentof our yearly multiplying millions.” The phrase“Manifest Destiny” soon came to sum up a viewthat it was inevitable and just that the United Stateswould one day extend from the Atlantic to thePacific, encompassing the entire continent of NorthAmerica. It was the view that the United Stateswas ordained by God or fate to spread across thecontinent, bringing the fruits of civilization with iteverywhere. The 1840s are seen as the decade ofManifest Destiny, the turning point during which thisvision of a vast United States continental empirewas realized.O’Sullivan may have coined the phrase “manifestdestiny” only in 1845, but in a way the idea itselfis as old as the republic, if not older. After all, thevery first colonists settling in Jamestown and NewEngland were Protestant English subjects whowere the front line in a battle with Catholic Spainfor control of vast new lands of the Americas.Later, during the American Revolution, many ofthe Founders already envisioned a new nationof vast extent. Thomas Jefferson described agrowing population that would one day “coverthe whole northern if not southern continent, withpeople speaking the same language, governed bythe same forms, and by similar laws.” At first, theyoung nation was hemmed in on all sides by landsclaimed by Spain, England, and France. However,the American spirit of independence was deeplyingrained in thousands of individual settlers whopushed westward, apparently determined not to bethwarted by any group, either European or NativeAmerican. As president, Jefferson would take ahuge step in realizing his own vision of Americanexpansion with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.If a sense of inevitable growth was part of thenation’s thinking from the start, why are the 1840sseen as a special time for the triumph of the spirit ofManifest Destiny?The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 did add millions ofsquare miles to the nation’s territory, yet even then,many Americans still regarded the Rocky Mountainsas a likely barrier to any future expansion. Moreover,Spain, Britain, and even Russia in the far west stillmade land claims that stood in the way of U.S.expansion. The many powerful Native Americantribes and nations still populating and controllinglarge areas both east and west of the MississippiRiver also posed an obstacle to expansion.Starting with the War of 1812, however, a greaterfeeling began to set in that continent-wide expansionwas a real possibility. That war with Great Britainmay not have resolved many differences, but itdid give Americans a huge boost in confidence.Several factors fueled a growing sense of patrioticpride and a heady feeling that the U.S. wouldbecome master of the continent. The early stagesof industrial development had begun. Reportsfrom explorers stirred interest in the western lands.Political democracy was expanding. The SecondGreat Awakening fostered a new spirit of reform,missionary zeal, and sense of perfectibility. Allthese factors convinced Americans that they weredestined to play a unique role on the stage ofhistory. A less easily romanticized factor was theequally relentless drive to spread slavery and cottonfarming ever farther westward. The very survival ofslavery seemed to many Southerners to dependon continually expanding the number of statescommitted to defending it.These general trends still clashed with several keyobstacles. For one thing, a newly independentMexico stood squarely in the way of expansioninto the Southwest. The British still claimed partof Oregon Country in the Northwest, and evenon the eastern side of the Mississippi, powerfulNative American communities stood in the wayof a mushrooming land hunger driving thousandsof settlers ever farther west. President AndrewJackson’s ruthless Indian removal policies solvedthat problem in the 1830s, at a horrendous cost.Creeks, Choctaws, Cherokees, and other powerfultribes were forced hundreds or thousands of milesto homelands across the Mississippi River in IndianTerritory (what is today Oklahoma). Death tolls onthese forced marches were horrifying. In his defense,10 Debating the Documents | Manifest Destiny and Its Critics

Student HandoutJackson claimed that masses of land-hungry settlerswould in the end flood onto Indian lands and destroynative ways of life anyway. Whatever the truth of thatclaim, the removal polices were a tragic aspect ofManifest Destiny that the supporters of the conceptrarely acknowledged as such.The final factor standing in the way of ManifestDestiny was Mexico and its refusal to agree to grantTexas independence or sell California to the UnitedStates. When the U.S. annexed Texas in 1845, warbecame all but inevitable. It took that war, along withdiplomacy with the British, to give expansioniststhe final victory and proving to them that ManifestDestiny was a reality and not merely an idea.The concept of Manifest Destiny today is often seennegatively as a justification for ruthless conquest andempire, or more specifically, as the result of racistviews abut African Americans, Spanish-speakingMexicans, and Native American tribes—a triumphalsense of the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon peopleover them all. That is surely one aspect of it.However, for many at the time, it was also linkedwith the idealism and romantic individualism ofmid-1800s America. The idea of expansion was sobound up with notions of American individual libertyit is hard to see how it could not have developed.The settlers who continually pushed westward rarelyasked anyone’s permission. Was Manifest Destiny aresult of deep flaws that the nation could and shouldhave overcome, or was it an inevitable part of whatwas both flawed and admirable about Americansociety? Manifest Destiny’s admirers and critics havelong debated such questions and will undoubtedlycontinue to do so in the future.Points to Keep in MindHistorians’ QuestionsMost historians agree that the concept of ManifestDestiny swept the nation in the 1840s. They do notagree as to how deep or powerful a guiding idea itwas before or after that decade. Nor do they agreeabout its causes, or how to judge or evaluate it.Some see it as a purely dishonest justification forland hunger, greed, and imperial ambition. In thisview, Manifest Destiny was based on a growingview of humanity as divided into superior andinferior races, with Americans as the noble Anglo-Saxon bearers of higher civilization. In this view,superior Americans were destined by God andnature to spread across the continent, replacingand/or civilizing all others in their path.Other historians say the concept had an idealisticside. They point to those who promoted the idea ofManifest Destiny as the way to ensure the triumphof America’s democratic heritage of freedom.Along with this argument, historians also argueabout how much choice the government had toeither foster or resist Manifest Destiny and theexpansion it justified. Did America’s very freedommake such expansion inevitable as settlers simplyheaded west on their own? These and many otheraspects of the concept are still debated today.The Primary Source EvidenceFor this lesson, you will study ten primary sourcedocuments on Manifest Destiny and related topics,such as Andrew Jackson’s Indian removal policies,the Mexican War, or the expansion of slave statesand free states. Together, these sources will giveyou evidence to help you better understand andevaluate the concept of Manifest Destiny. They willalso enable you to make some informed judgmentsof your own about what two historians say aboutthis decade.Secondary Source InterpretationsAfter studying and discussing the primary sources,you will read two short passages from two booksthat deal with the place of Manifest Destiny in thenation’s history. The two historians who wrotethese passages agree about most of the facts,but they make different overall judgments aboutthe causes of Manifest Destiny. You will useyour own background knowledge and your ideasabout the primary sources as you think about andanswer some questions about the views of thesetwo historians.Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 11

Student HandoutFive Habits of Historical ThinkingHistory is not just a chronicle of one fact after another. It is a meaningful story, or anaccount of what happened and why. It is written to address questions or problemshistorians pose. This checklist describes key habits of thinking that historians adopt asthey interpret primary sources and create their own accounts of the past.History Is Not the Past ItselfWhen we learn history, we learn a story about the past, not the past itself. No matter how certainan account of the past seems, it is only one account, not the entire story. The “entire story” isgone. That is, the past itself no longer exists. Only some records of events remain, and theyare never complete. Hence, it is important to see all judgments and conclusions about the pastas tentative or uncertain. Avoid looking for hard-and-fast “lessons” from the past. The value ofhistory is in a way the opposite of such a search for quick answers. That is, its value is in teachingus to live with uncertainty and see even our present as complex, unfinished, open-ended.The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, InterpretationHistorians can’t observe the past directly. They must use evidence, just as a detective tries toreconstruct a crime based on clues left behind. In the historian’s case, primary sources are theevidence—letters, official documents, maps, photos, newspaper articles, artifacts, and all othertraces from past times. Like a detective, a historian defines a very specific problem to solve, onefor which evidence does exist. Asking clear, meaningful questions is a key to writing good history.Evidence is always incomplete. It’s not always easy to separate fact from opinion in it, or to tellwhat is important from what is not. Historians try to do this, but they must stay cautious abouttheir conclusions and open to other interpretations of the same evidence.Time, Change, and ContinuityHistory is about the flow of events over time, yet it is not just one fact after another. It seeks tounderstand this flow of events as a pattern. In that pattern, some things change while others holdsteady over time. You need to see history as a dynamic interplay of both change and continuitytogether. Only by doing this can you see how the past has evolved into the present—and why thepresent carries with it many traces or links to the past.Cause and EffectAlong with seeing patterns of change and continuity over time, historians seek to explain thatchange. In doing this, they know that no single factor causes change. Many factors interact.Unique, remarkable and creative individual actions and plans are one factor, but individual planshave unintended outcomes, and these shape events in unexpected ways. Moreover, individualsdo not always act rationally or with full knowledge of what they are doing. Finally, geography,technology, economics, cultural traditions, and ideas all affect what groups and individuals do.As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of ViewAbove all, thinking like a historian means trying hard to see how people in the past thought andfelt. This is not easy. As one historian put it, the past is “another country” in which people felt andthought differently, often very differently from the way we do now. Avoiding “present-mindedness”is therefore a key task for historians. Also, since the past includes various groups in conflict,historians must learn to empathize with many diverse cultures and subgroups to see how theydiffer and what they share in common.12 The Historian’s Apprentice | Manifest Destiny and Its Critics

Part 2: Analyzing the Primary SourcesThe Primary SourcesNote to the teacher: The next pages provide the primary sources for this lesson. We suggest you givethese to students after they read the background essay, after they review the Five Habits of HistoricalThinking handout, and after they watch and discuss the PowerPoint presentation for the lesson.This section includes the following:• Handout: “Interpreting Primary Sources Checklist”Give copies of this handout to students and ask them to refer to it when analyzing anyprimary source.• Ten Primary Source DocumentsThe Documents are as follows:Document 1. An 1839 article by John Louis O’SullivanDocument 2. An 1856 campaign poster for John C. FremontDocument 3. Andrew Jackson on his Indian removal policy, 1830Document 4. An Andrew Jackson proclamation on public lands, 1830Document 5. “We’ll Conquer All Before Us,” an 1846 songDocument 6. J. H. Ingraham on the spread of cotton culture in MississippiDocument 7. O’Sullivan coins the phrase “Manifest Destiny,” 1845Document 8. Cartoon on the Mexican War and the Whig candidate of 1848Document 9. President Polk on Oregon territory, 1845Document 10. Illustration of settlers pouring into Oklahoma, 1889• Ten “Source Analysis” Worksheets for Analyzing the Primary SourcesEach worksheet asks students to take notes on one source. The prompts along the side matchthe five categories in the “Interpreting Primary Sources Checklist.” Not every category is used ineach worksheet, only those that seem most relevant to a full analysis of that source.You may want students to analyze all of the sources. However, if time does not allow this, usethose that seem most useful for your own instructional purposes.Students can use the notes on the “Source Analysis” worksheets in discussions, as help inanalyzing the two secondary sources in the next part of this lesson, and in follow-up debates,DBQs, and other activities.Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 13

Student HandoutInterpreting Primary Sources ChecklistPrimary sources are the evidence historians use to reach conclusions and write theiraccounts of the past. Sources rarely have one obvious, easily grasped meaning. Tointerpret them fully, historians use several strategies. This checklist describes some ofthe most important of those strategies. Read the checklist through and use it to guideyou whenever you need to analyze and interpret a primary source.SourcingThink about a primary source’s author or creator, how and why the primary source document wascreated, and where it appeared. Also, think about the audience it was intended for and what itspurpose was. You may not always find much information about these things, but whatever youcan learn will help you better understand the source. In particular, it may suggest the source’spoint of view or bias, since the author’s background and intended audience often shape his or herideas and way of expressing them.Contextualizing“Context” refers to the time and place of which the primary source is a part. In history, facts donot exist separately from one another. They get their meaning from the way they fit into a broaderpattern. The more you know about that broader pattern, or context, the more you will be able tounderstand about the source and its significance.Interpreting MeaningsIt is rare for a source’s full meaning to be completely obvious. You must read a written sourceclosely, paying attention to its language and tone as well as to what it implies or merely hints at.With a visual source, all kinds of meaning may be suggested by the way it is designed, and bysuch things as shading, camera angle, use of emotional symbols or scenes, etc. The more youpay attention to all the details, the more you can learn from a source.Point of ViewEvery source is written or created by someone with a purpose, an intended audience, and a pointof view or bias. Even a dry table of numbers was created for some reason, to stress some thingsand not others, to make a point of some sort. At times, you can tell a point of view simply bysourcing the document. Knowing an author was a Democrat or a Republican, for example, willalert you to a likely point of view. In the end, however, only a close reading of the text will makeyou aware of point of view. Keep in mind that even a heavily biased source can still give you usefulevidence of what some people in a past time thought. However, you need to take the bias intoaccount in judging how reliable the source’s own claims really are.Corroborating SourcesNo one source tells the whole story. Moreover, no one source is completely reliable. To makereasonable judgments about an event in the past, you must compare sources to find points ofagreement and disagreement. Even when there are big differences, both sources may be useful.However, the differences will also tell you something, and they may be important in helping youunderstand each source.14 The Historian’s Apprentice | Manifest Destiny and Its Critics

The Primary Sources for the LessonThe Primary SourcesDocument 1Information on the source: John Louis O’Sullivan, editor of The United States Magazine andDemocratic Review, coined the phrase “manifest destiny” in 1845. Even earlier, however, he had begunexpressing the idea in very similar terms, as he does in these passages from “The Great Nation ofFuturity,” from The United States Magazine and Democratic Review, November 1839.The American people having derived their originfrom many other nations, and the Declaration ofNational Independence being entirely based onthe great principle of human equality, these factsdemonstrate at once our disconnected position asregards any other nation; that we have, in reality, butlittle connection with the past history of any of them,and still less with all antiquity, its glories, or its crimes.On the contrary, our national birth was the beginningof a new history…and so far as regards the entiredevelopment of the natural rights of man, in moral,political, and national life, we may confidently assumethat our country is destined to be the great nationof futurity…We have no interest in the scenes of antiquity, onlyas lessons of avoidance of nearly all their examples.The expansive future is our arena, and for our history.We are entering on its untrodden space, with thetruths of God in our minds, beneficent objects inour hearts, and with a clear conscience unsullied bythe past. We are the nation of human progress, andwho will, what can, set limits to our onward march?Providence is with us, and no earthly power can. Wepoint to the everlasting truth on the first page of ournational declaration, and we proclaim to the millionsof other lands, that “the gates of hell”—the powersof aristocracy and monarchy—“shall not prevailagainst it.”The far-reaching, the boundless future will be theera of American greatness. In its magnificent domainof space and time, the nation of many nations isdestined to manifest to mankind the excellence ofdivine principles; to establish on earth the noblesttemple ever dedicated to the worship of the MostHigh—the Sacred and the True. Its floor shall bea hemisphere—its roof the firmament of the starstuddedheavens, and its congregation an Unionof many Republics, comprising hundreds of happymillions, calling, owning no man master, but governedby God’s natural and moral law of equality, the law ofbrotherhood—of “peace and good will amongst men.”Document 2Information on the source: A largewoodcut campaign poster for John C.Fremont, Republican presidential contenderin 1856. Fremont is shown here plantingan American flag on a mountain peak. Heis clad in fringed trousers and military coatand waves a visored cap in the air. Below, atright, are a bearded trapper or fellow explorerand a Mexican wearing a wide-brimmedhat. An eagle soars in the air beyond them.This scene seems designed to evoke heroicmemories of Fremont’s famous exploringexpeditions to the Rocky Mountains in 1842and 1843.Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 15

The Primary SourcesDocument 3Information on the source: Part of Andrew Jackson’s Second Annual Message to Congress,December 6, 1830, justifying his Indian removal policy. Against strong opposition, Jackson was able tocarry out this plan, which forced many of the most powerful Indian tribes and confederations to movefrom areas east of the Mississippi to lands set aside for them in what is now Oklahoma.The consequences of a speedy removal will beimportant to the United States, to individual States,and to the Indians themselves. The pecuniaryadvantages which it promises to the Government arethe least of its recommendations. It puts an end to allpossible danger of collision between the authoritiesof the General and State Governments on accountof the Indians. It will place a dense and civilizedpopulation in large tracts of country now occupied bya few savage hunters. By opening the whole territorybetween Tennessee on the north and Louisiana on thesouth to the settlement of the whites it will incalculablystrengthen the southwestern frontier and renderthe adjacent States strong enough to repel futureinvasions without remote aid. It will relieve the wholeState of Mississippi and the western part of Alabamaof Indian occupancy, and enable those States toadvance rapidly in population, wealth, and power…The tribes which occupied the countries nowconstituting the Eastern States were annihilated orhave melted away to make room for the whites.The waves of population and civilization are rollingto the westward, and we now propose to acquirethe countries occupied by the red men of the Southand West by a fair exchange, and, at the expenseof the United States, to send them to land wheretheir existence may be prolonged and perhaps madeperpetual. Doubtless it will be painful to leave thegraves of their fathers; but what do they more thanour ancestors did or than our children are now doing?To better their condition in an unknown land ourforefathers left all that was dear in earthly objects.Our children by thousands yearly leave the land oftheir birth to seek new homes in distant regions.Does Humanity weep at these painful separationsfrom everything, animate and inanimate, with whichthe young heart has become entwined? Far from it.It is rather a source of joy that our country affordsscope where our young population may rangeunconstrained in body or in mind, developing thepower and facilities of man in their highest perfection.These remove hundreds and almost thousands ofmiles at their own expense, purchase the lands theyoccupy, and support themselves at their new homesfrom the moment of their arrival. Can it be cruel inthis Government when, by events which it can notcontrol, the Indian is made discontented in his ancienthome to purchase his lands, to give him a new andextensive territory, to pay the expense of his removal,and support him a year in his new abode? Howmany thousands of our own people would gladlyembrace the opportunity of removing to the West onsuch conditions!Document 4Information on the source: Andrew Jackson’s March 30, 1830, “Proclamation on Public LandsNear Huntsville, Alabama.”Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of theUnited States, have thought proper to issue this myproclamation, commanding and strictly enjoining allpersons who have unlawfully taken possession ofor made any settlement on, or who now unlawfullyoccupy, any of the public lands within the district oflands subject to sale at Huntsville, in the State ofAlabama, as aforesaid, forthwith to remove therefrom;and I do hereby further command and enjoin themarshal, or officer acting as marshal, in that State,where such possession shall have been taken orsettlement made, to remove, from and after the1st day of September, 1830, all or any of the saidunlawful occupants; and to effect the said service Ido hereby authorize the employment of such militaryforce as may become necessary in pursuance of theprovisions of the act of Congress aforesaid, warningthe offenders, moreover, that they will be prosecutedin all such other ways as the law directs.16 The Historian’s Apprentice | Manifest Destiny and Its Critics

The Primary SourcesDocument 5Information on the source: Part ofthe lyrics for “We’ll Conquer All Before Us,”an 1846 song by George Washington Dixon,a popular blackface minstrel.The Mexicans are on our soil,In war they wish us to embroil;They’ve tried their best and worst to vex us,By murdering our brave men in Texas.ChorusWe’re on our way to Rio Grande,On our way to Rio Grande,On our way to Rio Grande,And with arms they’ll find us handy.We are the boys who fear no noise,We’ll leave behind us all our joys,To punish those half savage scamps,Who’ve slain our brethern in their camps.Document 6Information on the source: J. H. Ingraham grewup in New England, but in 1830, he moved to Natchez,Mississippi. In 1835, he wrote about the region in hisbook The South-West. This short passage on the rapidspread of cotton culture is from that book.Cotton and negroes are the constant theme—the everharped upon, never worn out subject of conversationamong all classes. But a small portion of the broad richlands of this thriving state is yet appropriated. Not tillevery acre is purchased and cultivated—not till Mississippibecomes one vast cotton field, will this mania, whichhas entered into the very marrow, bone and sinew ofa Mississippian’s system, pass away. And not then,till the lands become exhausted and wholly unfit forfarther cultivation.Document 7Information on the source: O’Sullivan actually first used the exact phrase “manifestdestiny” in an editorial supporting annexation of Texas in the July–August 1845 editionof the United States Magazine and Democratic Review. In that same editorial, O’Sullivanspecifically sought to answer charges that Texas was annexed solely to allow the spread ofslavery and ensure its survival.Nor is there any just foundation for thecharge that Annexation is a great proslaverymeasure—calculated to increaseand perpetuate that institution… Thegreater value in Texas of the slave labornow employed in [the northern tier of SlaveStates], must soon produce the effectof draining off that labor southwardly, bythe same unvarying law that bids waterdescend the slope that invites it. Every newSlave State in Texas will make at least oneFree State from among those in which thatinstitution now exists—to say nothing ofthose portions of Texas on which slaverycannot spring and grow—to say nothing ofthe far more rapid growth of new States inthe free West and North-west, as these fineregions are overspread by the emigrationfast flowing over them from Europe, as wellas from the Northern and Eastern Statesof the Union as it exists. On the otherhand, it is undeniably much gained for thecause of the eventual voluntary abolitionof slavery, that it should have been thusdrained off towards the only outlet whichappeared to furnish much probability ofthe ultimate disappearance of the negrorace from our borders. The Spanish-Indian-American populations of Mexico, CentralAmerica and South America, afford the onlyreceptacle capable of absorbing that racewhenever we shall be prepared to sloughit off—to emancipate it from slavery, and(simultaneously necessary) to remove itfrom the midst of our own.Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 17

The Primary SourcesDocument 8Information on the source: This cartooncriticizes the Whig Party’s presidential candidatefor 1848. Here the “available candidate” iseither General Zachary Taylor or GeneralWinfield Scott, both of whom were seeking thenomination. The skulls and sword allude to thebloody but successful Mexican War campaignswaged by both Taylor and Scott. This madethem popular with many Whigs, but not with thisartist. The figure is usually identified as Taylor,but may have been Scott, whose support wasrising before the party’s convention on June 7,1848. Taylor won that nomination.Document 9Information on the source: In this part ofhis inaugural address on March 4, 1845, PresidentJames K. Polk speaks of the need to acquire theOregon territory.Nor will it become in a less degree my duty to assertand maintain by all constitutional means the right ofthe United States to that portion of our territory whichlies beyond the Rocky Mountains. Our title to thecountry of the Oregon is “clear and unquestionable,”and already are our people preparing to perfect thattitle by occupying it with their wives and children.But eighty years ago our population was confined onthe west by the ridge of the Alleghanies. Within thatperiod—within the lifetime, I might say, of some ofmy hearers—our people, increasing to many millions,have filled the eastern valley of the Mississippi,adventurously ascended the Missouri to itsheadsprings, and are already engaged in establishingthe blessings of self-government in valleys ofwhich the rivers flow to the Pacific. The worldbeholds the peaceful triumphs of the industry of ouremigrants. To us belongs the duty of protecting themadequately wherever they may be upon our soil.The jurisdiction of our laws and the benefits of ourrepublican institutions should be extended over themin the distant regions which they have selected fortheir homes.Document 10Information on the source: Settlersin 1889 rush into the “Unassigned Lands” inwhat was then the Indian Territory, on the daythe government finally opened these landsup for settlement. At noon on April 22, 1889,settlers would be able to enter these landsand choose 160 acres for a homestead. Theillustration is dated 1905.18 The Historian’s Apprentice | Manifest Destiny and Its Critics

Student ActivitySource Analysis: Primary Source Document 1An 1839 article by John Louis O’Sullivan.ContextualizingO’Sullivan wrote the article of which thispassage is a part in 1839. He actuallyused the specific phrase “manifestdestiny” in another article in 1845. Sumup the events of those years that mightadd to the enthusiasm of someone whobelieve America was destined to expandinto a huge continental nation.Interpreting meaningsO’Sullivan says in his first paragraph that“our national birth was the beginning ofa new history.” How does the rest of thisparagraph explain what he means?O’Sullivan says the nation is “enteringon its untrodden space…with a clearconscience unsullied by the past.” Why doyou think he believed this? Do you think hewas right to think of American society as“unsullied by the past”? Why or why not?One historian says, “Much of O’Sullivan’sforceful optimism in this article seemsto rest on his view of the Declaration ofIndependence and its central place innational life.” Can you explain?Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 19

Student ActivitySource Analysis: Primary Source Document 2An 1856 woodcut campaign poster for John C. Fremont, Republican presidentialcontender in 1856.ContextualizingFremont was famous for the accounts ofhis exploring expeditions to the vast landsof the far west. However, by 1856, hewas engaged in political pathfinding of avery different sort. Can you explain whatthat was and why this poster would havehelped him in that effort?Interpreting meaningsNotice the way Fremont is dressed, hisposture and gestures, the objects in theair and on the ground around him. Howdo all of these details combine to create asense of Fremont as a heroic figure?How do all these features also help to givea sense of what the western territorieswere like? Does this image of Fremontand the American West support the ideaof “Manifest Destiny” as you understandit? Why or why not?Corroborating sourcesDoes this source back up O’Sullivan’sview of America as predestined toexpand, as expressed in Primary SourceDocument 1? Why or why not?20 The Historian’s Apprentice | Manifest Destiny and Its Critics

Student ActivitySource Analysis: Primary Source Document 3Part of Andrew Jackson’s Second Annual Message to Congress, December 6, 1830,justifying his Indian removal policy.ContextualizingJackson justifies Indian removal in theSoutheastern states by saying it “willplace a dense and civilized population inlarge tracts of country now occupied by afew savage hunters.” What do you knowabout the tribes he forced to move west ofthe Mississippi? Based on what you know,assess the accuracy of Jackson’s descriptionhere of what removal would mean.Interpreting meaningsJackson says of the tribes he wants toforce out, “Doubtless it will be painful toleave the graves of their fathers; but what dothey more than our ancestors did or than ourchildren are now doing?” Do you think this isa fair comparison? Why or why not?Jackson says that “waves of population andcivilization are rolling to the westward.” Laterhe speaks of Indians made discontent by“events which it [the government] can notcontrol.” What point does Jackson seem tomake about westward settlement with thesephrases? Do you think he is right, or is hejust making excuses?Point of viewAt a number of points, Jackson seemsto express real concerns about theNative American tribes he is removing.Do you think he was sincere about this?What was his point of view about NativeAmericans and their cultures?Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 21

Student ActivitySource Analysis: Primary Source Document 5Part of the lyrics of “We’ll Conquer All Before Us,” an 1846 song by GeorgeWashington Dixon, a popular blackface minstrel.ContextualizingThe date of this song is 1846. Brieflysummarize the events that year thatare referred to in the parts of this songshown here.The song claims that “the Mexicans areon our soil” seeking to embroil the U.S. ina war. Briefly explain why this claim wasnot accepted either by the Mexicans oreven by a number of Americans, includingAbraham Lincoln.Interpreting meaningsHow would you describe the tone of thissong? That is, do you think it is bellicose,angry, excited, arrogant, confident, jaunty,carefree, etc.? What spirit seems to bebehind it?Point of viewWhat bias or point of view is expressed bythe song when it refers to the Mexicansas “those half savage scamps”? Why doyou think the Americans who liked this songviewed Mexicans this way?Some who fought for Texas’s independencein 1835–36 might have said that theMexicans they fought deserved to bedescribed as they are in this song. Can youexplain why they would have felt this way?Did they have a point? Why or why not?Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 23

Student ActivitySource Analysis: Primary Source Document 9Part of President James K. Polk’s inaugural address, March 4, 1845.ContextualizingPolk says the U.S. claim to the Oregonterritory is “clear and unquestionable,” yetit still was being questioned. Who elsewas still claiming title to all or parts ofthis territory?Polk justifies his claim in part by sayingthat “already are our people preparing toperfect that title by occupying it with theirwives and children.” What do you knowabout settlers and the use of the OregonTrail? How does this knowledge help tounderstand what Polk is referring to here?Interpreting meaningsIn what ways does this statement fit withor seem similar to the views expressed byJohn Louis O’Sullivan in Primary SourceDocument 1? Choose two or threesentences or phrases that seem closest inthought and feeling to O’Sullivan’s viewsin that document. Explain your choices.Point of viewPolk says, “The world beholds the peacefultriumphs of the industry of our emigrants.”Do you think this statement is just Polk’sbiased and inaccurate point of view? Doyou think it is both partly true and partlyfalse, or do you think it is largely true andaccurate? Explain your answer.Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 27

Student ActivitySource Analysis: Primary Source Document 10An illustration of settlers pouring into Oklahoma, 1889.ContextualizingThe “Boomer movement” in the late1800s was an effort by settlers to moveonto certain so-called “UnassignedLands” in what was then Indian Territory.Can you explain why this area was calledIndian Territory, and name the state itfinally became?Before the Unassigned Lands wereopened to settlement, several Boomerattempts to move onto them were actuallyhalted by U.S. troops. Why do you thinkthe federal government at first tried tostop the Boomers?Interpreting meaningsWhat ideas about the Boomer movementdoes this depiction of it suggest to you?How reliable do you think this illustration isof the events on April 22, 1889?Corroborating sourcesWhat other primary sources for thislesson seem to fit with this one in theimpression they give of the westwardmovement of settlers in the 19th century?How do these sources help you betterunderstand the appeal of the concept ofManifest Destiny?28 The Historian’s Apprentice | Manifest Destiny and Its Critics

Part 3: Analyzing the Secondary SourcesThe Secondary SourcesNote to the teacher: This next section includes passages from two secondary source accounts dealingwith Manifest Destiny, along with two activities on these sources. We suggest you first discuss the briefcomment “Analyzing Secondary Sources” just above the first of the two secondary sources. Discuss thefour criteria the first activity asks students to use in analyzing each secondary source. These criteria focusstudents on the nature of historical accounts as 1) problem-centered, 2) based on evidence, 3) influencedby point of view and not purely neutral, and 4) tentative or aware of alternative explanations.Specifically, this section includes the following:• Two secondary source passagesGive copies of these passages to students to read, either in class or as homework. The twopassages are from Throes of Democracy: The American Civil War Era, 1829–1877, by WalterA. McDougall (New York: HarperCollins, 2008), and Manifest Destiny, by David S. Heidler andJeanne T. Heidler (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2003).• Two student activitiesActivity 1Students analyze the two passage taking notes on the following questions:• How clearly does the account focus on a problem or question?• Does it reveal a position or express a point of view?• How well does it base its case on primary source evidence?• How aware is it of alternative explanations or points of view?Activity 2In pairs, students select two of the primary sources for the lesson that best support eachauthor’s claims in the secondary source passages. Students discuss their choices withthe class.Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 29

The Secondary SourcesThe Secondary Sources for the LessonAnalyzing Secondary SourcesHistorians write secondary source accounts of the past after studying primary source documents likethe ones you have studied on Manifest Destiny. However, they normally select documents from amonga great many others, and they stress some aspects of the story but not others. In doing this, historiansare guided by the questions they ask about the topic. Their selection of sources and their focus are alsoinfluenced by their own aims, bias, or point of view. No account of the past is perfectly neutral. In readinga secondary source, you should pay to what it includes, what it leaves out, what conclusions it reaches,and how aware it is of alternative interpretations.* * * *Secondary Source 1Information on the source: The passage in the box below is an excerpt from Throes ofDemocracy: The American Civil War Era, 1829–1877, by Walter A. McDougall (New York: HarperCollins,2008), p. 232.If expansionist ambitions and argument wereas old as the republic, why did the mania ofManifest Destiny sweep the nation in the 1840srather than before or after? One answer wasthe near disappearance of doubt concerningthe possibility of a continental republic. Even theexpansionist Thomas Hart Benson of Missourihad once thought the Rocky Mountains theabode of “the fabled God, Terminus,” and someNew Englanders thought even the Great Plainstoo remote to govern. The westward marchof constitutional government, supported bysteamboats, railroads, and telegraphs, dissolvedsuch fears by the 1840s. A second answerwas that American trappers, farmers, ranchers,planters, loggers, merchants, whalers, andmissionaries were already infiltrating the GreatNorth Woods, Great Plains, Rockies and PacificRim. By 1840, the federal government had littlechoice but to extend its protection over them.A third answer, the one that caused ManifestDestiny to melt into “manifest design,” was a fearthat Britain and France were colluding in a sort of“containment policy” against the upstart Yankees.This made expansion a matter of urgency. Afourth answer was simply that Democrats beatthe expansionist drum as an electoral ploy in1844.30 The Historian’s Apprentice | Manifest Destiny and Its Critics

The Secondary Sources for the LessonSecondary Source 2The Secondary SourcesInformation on the source: The passage in the box below is an excerpt from Manifest Destiny, byDavid S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2003), p. 24.From another perspective, evolvingconcepts of racial uniqueness clearlyfigured into the rhetoric and meaning ofManifest Destiny. Reginald Horsman hasshown that assigning hierarchies accordingto racial identity existed as early as theeighteenth century. By the mid-1800s, bothscience and philosophy categorized thedifferent races almost as different species.Americans were adhering to historicaltrends when they justified expansion withclaims of Anglo-Saxon racial superiority.Believing that indigenous people (Indiansor blacks) or inhabitants of neighboringcountries (Mexicans) were fated by thenatural order for subjugation, Americanswithout guilt could justify perpetuatingslavery, acquiring land for agriculturalincrease, and securing markets forcommercial growth. Manifest Destinycould thus validate the interests of empirewithout acknowledging the corruptionof imperialism.Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 31

Student ActivityThe Secondary Sources: Activity 1In this exercise, you read two short passages from much longer books dealing with Manifest Destiny. Foreach secondary source, take notes on the following four questions (you may want to underline phrases orsentences in the passages that you think back up your notes):1. How clearly does this account focus on a problem or question? What do you think that problem orquestion is? Sum it up in your own words here.Throes of Democracy, McDougallManifest Destiny, Heidler and Heidler2. Does the secondary source take a position or express a point of view about Manifest Destiny? If so,briefly state that point of view or quote an example of it.Throes of Democracy, McDougallManifest Destiny, Heidler and Heidler3. How well does the secondary source seem to base its case on primary source evidence? Take notesabout any specific examples, if you can identify them.Throes of Democracy, McDougallManifest Destiny, Heidler and Heidler4. Does the secondary source seem aware of alternative explanations or points of view about this topic?Underline points in the passage where you see this.Throes of Democracy, McDougallManifest Destiny, Heidler and HeidlerIn pairs, discuss your notes for this activity.32 The Historian’s Apprentice | Manifest Destiny and Its Critics

Student ActivityThe Secondary Sources: Activity 2This activity is based on the passages from Throes of Democracy: The American Civil War Era, 1829–1877, by Walter A. McDougall, and Manifest Destiny, by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. From theprimary sources for this lesson, choose two that you think best support each author’s point of view aboutManifest Destiny. With the rest of the class, discuss the two secondary source passages and defend thechoice of sources you have made.1. From this lesson, choose two primary sources that best back up McDougall’s interpretation of ManifestDestiny. List those sources here and briefly explain why you chose them.2. From this lesson, choose two primary sources that best back up Heidler and Heidler’s interpretation ofManifest Destiny. List those sources here and briefly explain why you chose them.3. Does your textbook include a passage describing or summing up the idea of Manifest Destiny? If so, withwhich of the two secondary sources (McDougall, or Heidler and Heidler) does it seem to agree most? Whatone or two primary sources from this lesson would you add to this textbook passage to improve it?Discuss your choices with the rest of the class.Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 33

Follow-Up ActivitiesPart 4: Follow-Up OptionsNote to the teacher: At this point, students have completed the key tasks of The Historian’s Apprenticeprogram. They have examined their own prior understandings and acquired background knowledge on thetopic. They have analyzed and debated a set of primary sources. They have considered secondary sourceaccounts of the topic. This section includes two suggested follow-up activities. Neither of these is a requiredpart of the lesson. They do not have to be undertaken right away. However, we do strongly recommendthat you find some way to do what these options provide for. They give students a way to write or debate inorder to express their ideas and arrive at their own interpretations of the topic.Two suggested follow-up activities are included here:• Document-Based QuestionsFour document-based questions are provided. Choose one and follow the guidelinesprovided for writing a typical DBQ essay.• A Structured DebateThe aim of this debate format is not so much to teach students to win a debate, but to learnto listen and learn, as well as speak up and defend a position. The goal is a more interactiveand more civil debating process.34 The Historian’s Apprentice | Manifest Destiny and Its Critics

Document-Based QuestionsFollow-Up ActivitiesDocument-based questions (DBQs) are essay questions you must answer by using your own backgroundknowledge and a set of primary sources on that topic. Below are four DBQs on Manifest Destiny. Use thesources for this lesson and everything you have learned from it to write a short essay answer to one ofthese questions..Suggested DBQs“Manifest Destiny was a completely dishonest justification for imperial expansion.It rested above all on a racist contempt for anyone who was not a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant member of a supposedly superior civilization.” Assess the validityof this statement (that is, explain why you do or do not agree with it).Was government the key active agent fostering a spirit of Manifest Destiny, or didgovernment merely go along with and seek to manage a spirit of Manifest Destinythat the public was determined to follow anyway?“O’Sullivan was right. The slavery issue had nothing to do with the spirit of ManifestDestiny. Oregon was as crucial as Texas to the expansionists inspired with thisspirit.” Assess the validity of this statement (that is, explain why you do or do notagree with it).Assess the following as factors fueling the spirit of Manifest Destiny: Land hunger,fear of foreign powers, ethnocentric prejudice, democratic idealism.Suggested Guidelines for Writing a DBQ EssayPlanning and thinking through the essayConsider the question carefully. Think about how to answer it so as to address each part of it.Do not ignore any detail in the question. Pay attention to the question’s form (cause-and-effect,compare-and-contrast, assess the validity, etc.). This form will often give you clues as to how best toorganize each part of your essay.Thesis statement and introductory paragraphThe thesis statement is a clear statement of what you hope to prove in your essay. It must addressall parts of the DBQ, it must make a claim you can back up with the sources, and it should bespecific enough to help you organize the rest of your essay.Using evidence effectivelyUse the notes on your “Source Analysis” activity sheets to organize your thoughts about theseprimary sources. In citing a source, use it to support key points or illustrate major themes. Do notsimply list a source in order to get it into the essay somehow. If any sources do not support yourthesis, you should still try to use them. Your essay may be more convincing if you qualify your thesisso as to account for these other sources.Linking ideas explicitlyAfter your introduction, your internal paragraphs should make your argument in a logical or clearway. Each paragraph should be built around one key supporting idea and details that back up thatidea. Use transition phrase such as “before,” “next,” “then,” or “on the one hand…but on the otherhand,” to help readers follow the thread of your argument.Wrapping it upDon’t add new details about sources in your final paragraph. State a conclusion that refers back toyour thesis statement by showing how the evidence has backed it up. If possible, look for nice turnsof phrase to end on a dramatic note.Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 35

Follow-Up ActivitiesA Structured DebateSmall-group activity: Using a version of the Structured Academic Controversy model, debate alternateinterpretations of this lesson’s topic. The goal of this method is not so much to win a debate as to learnto collaborate in clarifying your interpretations to one another. In doing this, your goal should be to seethat it is possible for reasonable people to hold differing views, even when finding the “one right answer”is not possible.Use all their notes from previous activities in this lesson. Here are the rules for this debate:1.Organize a team of four or six students. Choose a debate topic based on the lessonManifest Destiny and Its Critics.(You may wish to use one of the DBQs suggested for the Document-BasedQuestions activity for this lesson, or you may want to define the debate topic in adifferent way.)2.3.4.Split your team into two sub-groups. Each sub-group should study the materials forthis lesson and rehearse its case. One sub-group then present its case to the other.That other sub-group must repeat the case back to the first sub-group’s satisfaction.The two sub-groups then switch roles and repeat step 2Your team either reaches a consensus which it explains to the entire class, or itexplains where the key differences between the sub-groups lie36 The Historian’s Apprentice | Manifest Destiny and Its Critics

AnswersAnswers to “Source Analysis” ActivitiesSource Analysis: Document 1Contextualizing: Rapid settlement in the Oregon territory, the annexation of Texas, etc.Interpreting meanings: The focus is on how unique America is, how unburdened by past history, etc.Answers will vary and should be discussed.Much of the passage rests on the phrases in the Declaration about equality and rights, seeing this asmaking America a nation based on ideas and not on past traditions, aristocratic elites, monarchs, etc.Source Analysis: Document 2Contextualizing: He became the first presidential candidate of the newly formed Republican Party,representing those opposed to extending slavery into the territories and new states.Interpreting meanings: Answers will vary but should make specific reference to features in the image.Answers here might vary, but should focus on the rugged and empty environment, almost waiting to beconquered and tamed, etc.Corroborating sources: Answers will vary and should be discussed.Source Analysis: Document 3Contextualizing: These were known as the Five Civilized Tribes. They included the Cherokeewho engaged in agriculture and had adopted many European ways, a written alphabet, a formalgovernment, etc. In this sense, Jackson’s description could be seen as wildly inaccurate.Interpreting meanings: Answers will vary but should deal with the differences between immigrantsentering America voluntarily and Indians forced to leave lands without choosing to.He is suggesting westward settlement is unstoppable by anyone, including the government.Point of view: Answers will vary and should be discussed.Source Analysis: Document 4Contextualizing: They make clear how intense the drive was to open up lands to settlement; theysuggest Jackson really did want this land for settlers, but did not want the process to be uncontrolled.Interpreting meanings: His readiness to use military force to remove these settlers.Answers will vary to this question and should be discussed.Corroborating sources: Documents 10 is especially relevant, as might be several others. These allshould be discussed.Source Analysis: Document 5Contextualizing: After annexing Mexico, war broke out with Mexico in 1846. The song refers to theevents that year in which Mexican and U.S. forces clashed, leading to the declaration of war.The Polk administration claimed the Texas boundary went to the Rio Grande, farther south than theNueces River boundary claimed by Mexico. The initial clash took place in that contested region and sosome claimed U.S. troops were on Mexican soil, not Mexican soldiers on U.S. soil.Interpreting meanings: Answers will vary. Use a discussion about this to focus on the broader issue ofthe American public’s confidence and self-assurance and its possible sources at this time.Point of view: The idea of people divided by racial characteristics was strengthening in these years duein part to the arguments over slavery, etc.Mexican brutality at the Alamo and the Goliad massacre had united Texans in anger.Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 37

AnswersSource Analysis: Document 6Contextualizing: Rapid settlement was driving Indians from the land. Land hunger was especiallyintense with regard to growing cotton, etc.British and New England textile mills demanded ever-increasing supplies of cotton. Cotton wore out thesoil in a particularly rapid way, resulting in a constant need to open up new lands.Interpreting meanings: This is a key question for students to debate. It will come up again with respectto Document 7.Point of view: Answers to this may vary and should be discussed.Source Analysis: Document 7Contextualizing: Texas was sure to be open to slavery, which was spreading rapidly westward acrossthe South. Most Americans assumed Texas would give proslavery forces at least one more slave state,and its senators and would tip the balance in favor of slavery there.Interpreting meanings: He believes slavery is not profitable in border slave states like Kentucky orMaryland and new demand for slavery in Texas will cause these states to sell off their slaves and endslavery in their borders. It will seem unrealistic to most in that the border states did not willingly give upslavery, but of course O’Sullivan could not know that.Point of view: The assumption the two races could never live together and mix in equality waswidespread, even among opponents of slavery.Source Analysis: Document 8Sourcing: Political campaigns were typically full of exaggerated or extreme claims against opponents,more so at times even than now.Contextualizing: These men had been the two key generals throughout the entire war. Both were seenby Whig supporters as heroes of that war.Both generals had acted under orders from Democratic President James K. Polk.Interpreting meanings: The horrifying mountain of skulls is contrasted sharply with the elegant militarydress of the candidate.Source Analysis: Document 9Contextualizing: Great Britain.Throughout the 1840s, an ever-increasing stream of settlers was using the trail to go to Oregon.Interpreting meanings: Choices will vary to this question and should be discussed.Point of view: Answers will vary and should be discussed.Source Analysis: Document 10Contextualizing: Jackson’s Indian removal policies had sent many tribes to new lands in this area,which would one day become part of the state of Oklahoma.Answers to this will vary. These actions do provide evidence the government wanted to protect Indianlands or at least prevent violent confrontations between Indians and settlers, etc.Interpreting meanings: The illustration conveys the sense of land-hungry settlers barely able to becontained from sprinting to their new lands. The illustration is dated from 1905 and may be questionedfor this reason as to its accuracy.Corroborating sources: Several sources could be use, especially Documents 1, 2, 4, 6, and 9.38 The Historian’s Apprentice | Manifest Destiny and Its Critics

Evaluating Secondary Sources: Activity 1AnswersThese are not definitive answers to the questions. They are suggested points to look for instudent responses.1. How clearly does this account focus on a problem or question? What do you think that problem orquestion is? Sum it up in your own words here?McDougall here summarizes a series of possible answers to the question of why Manifest Destinyseemed to “sweep the nation” in the 1840s and not earlier or later.Heidler and Heidler seek to understand how Americans could come to accept the idea of ManifestDestiny and use it to spread over the continent “without guilt,” as he says, about conqueringother peoples.2. Does the secondary source take a position or express a point of view about Manifest Destiny? If so,briefly state that point of view or quote an example of it.McDougall explains the triumph of the spirit of Manifest Destiny in the 1840s by referring to economicand diplomatic factors, and the determined movement of masses of settlers that all came together inthat decade.Heidler and Heidler in this passage explain the triumph of Manifest Destiny as due to shifting racialtheories and ideas, which convinced Americans they were right to expand based on their society’sAnglo-Saxon racial superiority.3. How well does the secondary source seem to base its case on primary source evidence? Take notesabout any specific examples, if you can identify them.McDougall only refers directly to a statement by Thomas Hart Benton in support of economic, social,and other factors he describes. Heidler and Heidler refer only to other secondary sources in summingup the ideas about race they describe.However, both of these passage are based on primary source documents that the authorsreference elsewhere.4. Does the secondary source seem aware of alternative explanations or points of view about this topic?Underline points in the passage where you see this.Neither McDougall nor Heidler and Heidler refer directly here to alternate views. However, they do implythat their own explanations are some “answers” (as McDougall says) among other possible answers, or“perspectives,” as Heidler and Heidler put it.Manifest Destiny and Its Critics | The Historian’s Apprentice 39