Blog/Westward Expansion
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Westward Expansion
Every Historical Conquest article on Westward Expansion — 37 pieces of narrative history written for students and teachers.
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: Louisiana Purchase and the Many Expeditions
The Prelude to Louisiana PurchaseThe Louisiana Purchase, finalized in 1803, was a monumental event that doubled the size of the United States and set the stage for westwa
57 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: The Earliest Pioneers
The Adventures of Daniel Boone: Pioneer, Warrior, and StatesmanIn the rugged wilderness of Pennsylvania, Daniel Boone was born on November 2, 1734, into a Quaker family s
49 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: The Missouri Compromise of 1820
John Berry Meachum: The Quiet Abolitionist of MissouriThe story of John Berry Meachum begins not in Missouri, but in the shadow of slavery in the South. Born enslaved in
48 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: President John Quincy Adams
The Early Life of John Quincy AdamsIt was a humid summer day in July 1767 when John Quincy Adams was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, into a family destined to be etched
51 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: President Andrew Jackson and the Indian Removal Act
Andrew Jackson’s Inauguration: A President’s Mission to Redefine WashingtonThe morning of March 4, 1829, dawned cold but clear over Washington, D.C., as a sea of humanity
54 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: Texas Independence and Annexation (1836–1845)
Mexico’s Independence from Spain and the Inclusion of Texas in Mexican TerritoryMexico’s War for Independence: A Decade of Struggle (1810–1821)Mexico’s fight for independ
49 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: The Presidents Who Led to the Annexation of Texas
The Unlikely Path of Senator Henry Johnson: The Power of One Vote…In the heated political landscape of 19th-century America, where power shifted on razor-thin margins, Se
48 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: The Oregon Trail and Oregon Country
The Whitman Missionaries: Pioneers of the Oregon Trail (True Story)In the early 19th century, the Oregon Territory stood at the edge of the known world for many Americans
53 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: President James K. Polk and his Manifest Destiny
The Life of James K. Polk: A Story of Determined AmbitionIn the rolling hills of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, on November 2, 1795, James Knox Polk was born into a
48 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: The Mexican-American War
The Mexican-American War: A Clash of Ambitions and IdeologiesThe Mexican-American War (1846–1848) was a pivotal conflict shaped by territorial ambitions, clashing ideolog
51 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: The Gold Rush and Statehood of California
The Golden Discovery: Sutter's Mill and the Spark of a NationIt was a crisp January morning in 1848 when James Marshall, a carpenter, and builder from New Jersey, set out
50 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: The Mormon Pioneers
The Mormon Pioneers and Other Religious PioneersA Boy’s Sacrifice to Save OthersThe message had come to Salt Lake City like a whisper of desperation carried on the cold a
53 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: The Presidents Who Continued the Expansion Westward
Zachary Taylor: The Reluctant Hero Who Became a PresidentIn the humid Kentucky summer of 1784, a child was born to Richard and Sarah Taylor on a modest plantation. Named
51 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: Living on the Edge... of the Frontier
The Kansas FrontierColonel Henry Leavenworth’s Mission: Bring Stability to the Western EdgeThe year was 1827, and the Missouri River rolled steadily through the heart of
52 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: Living on the Edge... of the Frontier
The Deep West – Boomtown and Cities near the Southern BorderThe Life of Kit Carson: A Journey Through the American FrontierIn the wild, untamed lands of the early 19th ce
54 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: The Settling of California and Nevada
Early Settlers in California Before 1850California's history of human settlement predates European arrival by thousands of years. Indigenous peoples, including the Chumas
52 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: The Rest of the Louisiana Purchase
A Race for a Dream: The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 (Historical Fiction)The morning light filtered through the thin curtains of the little cabin on the Kansas-Oklahoma bor
46 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: The Indian Wars of 1860-1890
The Life of Chief American Horse: A Story of Resistance and DiplomacyA Warrior’s Beginnings (1830s–1850s)Under the vast, open skies of the Great Plains, a Lakota boy was
60 min
Lesson Plans for the Expansion West: Cross Curricular Lessons
Enhancing Student Learning Through Cross-Curricular Connections in Expansion West HistoryThe Power of Cross-Curricular LearningEducation is most effective when subjects a
45 min
1. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: The Louisiana Purchase (1803)
My Name is Robert Livingston: Diplomat and Architect of a Nation’s ExpansionI was born in 1746 into the Livingston family of New York, a name already woven deeply into co
43 min
2. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: Early Pioneer Life in the Westward Expansion
My Name is Daniel Boone: Frontiersman of the American WestI was born into a world where the edge of settlement was always moving, and from the time I could walk, I felt t
36 min
3. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: The Missouri Compromise (1820)
My Name is Daniel Webster: Senator and Defender of the UnionI was born with the sound of the frontier in my ears and the Constitution in my mind. From an early age, I bel
40 min
4. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: John Quincy Adams Presidency: Westward Expansion
My Name is John Quincy Adams: A Life in Service to the RepublicI was born in 1767, in a time when the idea of America itself was still uncertain. My earliest memories are
38 min
5. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: Andrew Jackson’s Presidency: Indian Removal Act
My Name is Andrew Jackson: Seventh President of the United StatesI was born in 1767 in the Carolina backcountry, a place where law was thin, danger was constant, and surv
43 min
6. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: Texas Independence and Annexation (1836-1845)
My Name is Stephen F. Austin: The Father of TexasI was born in 1793, into a world where land meant opportunity and borders were still being decided by grit rather than in
38 min
7. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: The Presidents of Westward Expansion
My Name is Martin Van Buren: Eighth President of the United StatesI was not born into grandeur, nor shaped by the frontier myth that later defined American politics. My p
34 min
8. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: The Oregon Country and Oregon Trail (1846)
My Name is Peter Skene Ogden: Fur Trader of the Oregon CountryMy name is Peter Skene Ogden: Fur Trader of the Oregon Country. I was born in 1790 in Quebec, into a world a
40 min
9. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: James K. Polk Presidency: Manifest Destiny
My Name is James K. Polk: President of the Republic and Architect of ExpansionI was born in 1795 in North Carolina, on the edge of a young republic still defining its amb
47 min
10. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: The Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
My Name is William L. Marcy: Soldier, Governor, and Secretary of WarI was born in 1786 in Massachusetts, in the first years of the American Republic, when the nation was
50 min
11. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: The California Gold Rush (1848-1855)
My Name is Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo: Californio General, Ranchero, and Witness to a Changing CaliforniaI was born in 1807 in Monterey, Alta California, when this distant
52 min
12. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: The Mormon Pioneer and other Religious Pioneers
My Name is Anne Hutchinson: Religious Dissenter and Defender of ConscienceI was born Anne Marbury in 1591 in Alford, Lincolnshire, England, the daughter of a clergyman wh
51 min
13. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: The Presidents Who Continued the Expansion Westward
My Name is Millard Fillmore: Thirteenth President of the United StatesI was born on January 7, 1800, in a small log cabin in Cayuga County, New York. My parents were poor
52 min
14. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: The Deep West Cities
My Name is Kit Carson: Mountain Man, Scout, and Pathfinder of the WestI was born in 1809 in Kentucky, but my life truly began when my family moved to the Missouri frontie
50 min
15. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: The Edge of the Frontier
My Name is Alexander William Doniphan: Lawyer, Soldier, and Defender of LawI was born in 1808 in Kentucky, but my life and legacy would be written in the soil of Missouri
48 min
16. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: The Settling of California and Nevada
My Name is Sarah Winnemucca: Northern Paiute Leader and AdvocateI was born around 1844 near what is now western Nevada, into the Northern Paiute people, a land of wide va
47 min
17. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: The Rest of the Louisiana Purchase and Homestead Act
My Name is Harriet Tubman: Conductor of the Underground RailroadI was born around 1822 in Dorchester County, Maryland, and my birth name was Araminta Ross. My parents, Ha
41 min
18. Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion: The Native American Wars
My Name is William Henry Harrison: Frontier General of the Early RepublicI was born in 1773 in Virginia, the son of a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Yet my de
46 min