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Westward Expansion and Territorial Growth of the United States

3rd Grade · Social Studies · US-MA-SS

10 lessons

Goal

Explain how transportation innovations, territorial acquisitions, and pioneer migrations expanded the United States from 1791 to 1898.

10 lessons
0 of 10 done
  1. Canals, Turnpikes, and the Transportation RevolutionUp next
  2. Iron Horses: How Railroads Transformed ExpansionNot started yet
  3. The Louisiana Purchase: Doubling the Nation's SizeNot started yet
  4. The Oregon Treaty and Boundary With BritainNot started yet
  5. The Mexican-American War and Southwestern CessionNot started yet
  6. Alaska Purchase and the Annexation of HawaiiNot started yet
  7. Territories From the Spanish-American War: Puerto Rico and BeyondNot started yet
  8. Why Families Moved West: Land, Gold, and New BeginningsYou are here
  9. Life on the Trail: Wagon Trains on the Oregon and Santa Fe RoutesNot started yet
  10. Homesteading and Building Frontier CommunitiesNot started yet
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Learning standards covered

us-ma4.T4.3Massachusetts Social Studies Standards · 5th Grade

Compare different reasons why men and women who lived in the Eastern part of the United States wanted to move West in the 19th century, and describe aspects of pioneer life on the frontier (e.g., wagon train journeys on the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails, and settlements in the western territories).