The Westward Movement and Those Left Behind

An American Studies unit for high school students which examines primary sources such as letters and journals, and includes the study of land use changes in the mid-to-late 19th Century. Students will understand the impact of the Westward migration as revealed in short stories, poetry and films about this era.

I. Introduction:

In the adolescent America of the mid-to-late nineteenth century, forces of change were at work. By the end of 1857, some 300,000 residents had left New England. The coming of the Industrial Revolution, the slavery question and the subsesquent Civil War, the lust for land, and a thrist for adventure all played roles in the events studied in this unit.

Adversity creates opportunity if one examines the lives of those who migrated to the West. In the mid-19th Century the West might have been Ohio, Illinois, or Minnesota, or as far away as Wyoming, Colorado, California, or Oregon.

This unit asks students to examine the lives of ordinary people who made the hazardous trek West. Also, long absences created problems for those family members left behind. Their letters and journals reveal courage and ingenuity as they reared families, funded their loved ones' adventures, and coped with numerous problems.

II. Guiding Questions:

1. What compelled the Yankee exodus?

2. What was the journey like?

3. Did the new country meet expectations?

4. What of the families remaining behind? Did the Westward movement provide opportunities previously denied to women?

In order to answer these questions, this unit is designed to have students examine their own histories and locales to discover reasons for this major exodus.

III. Materials Needed:

Women in Waiting in the Westward Movement, by Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith, Chapters I and II.

"Reading the Landscape's History", by Tom Wessels (taken from Into the Field, Claire Leslie, John Tallmadge, and Tom Wessels, The Nature Literacy Series, Number 3).

An essay, "Sheep in Vermont", from Green Mountain Treasury, A Vermont Life Sampler, Walter Hard, Jr., ed.

Poetry: Russell Baker's "We All Come from the Past"

Robert Frost's "Directive" and "The Gift Outright" (Students might read "The Generation of Men", " Ghost Houses" and "Mending Wall" as well if time allows.)

Will Carleton's "Over the Hill to the Poorhouse"

Cynthia Huntington's "Joinings", from Patchwork

Short stories: Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's "The Revolt of Mother", which could also be shown as a film; Hamlin Garland's "Under the Lion's Paw", and Sarah Orne Jewett's "The Town Poor".

Excerpt's from Mark Twain's Roughing It, Chapters 26 and 29, based on Twain's experiences in the West

Mari Sandoz' excerpt, from Old Jules, a biography of her father

Films: Heartland, based on Elinore Pruitt Stewart's Letters of a Woman Homesteader,and The Jack Bull , which depicts life in the old West.

A Photos and Images folder on southwestern New Hampshire's Pisgah Wilderness Park, a photo by Allen A. Clough, An Abandoned Farm, and reproductions of posters enticing Easterners to go West

Primary source letters from the Cheshire County Historical Society are included. These are from the John Carpenter family, and Alstead, NH's, Lestina Brigham Ware family.

IV. Learning Objectives:

After completing lessons in this unit, students will:

Know how to investigate primary sources to procure information concerning a specific time period

Be able to "read" a landscape's history

Be able to interview family members to elicite stories of family history

Be able to identify the circumstances which led to the Western migration

Understand and describe the unique problems of women who made the journey and/or of those who were left behind

Upon reading the literature, watching the films, and studying the letters and journals, students will comprehend how adversity could lead to opportunity.

Support Documents:
PowerPoint Presentation One
PowerPoint Presentation Two
Activitiy Schedule
Poem We all come from the past
Heritage Project
Heritage Scavenger Hunt
Teacher's guide to Gift Outright
The Gift Outright - overhead questions
Quiz- Sheep Farming in Vermont
Families in Flux
Abiah Warren Hiller-guide questions
Directive poem
Under the Lion's Paw- guide questions
Lecture notes-property values
Letter Transcription Exercise
Jack Bull Questions
Questions The Revolt of Mother
Questions for Mari Sandoz-----Old Jules
Heartland film questions
Roughing It assignment
Final essay
Assessment
Bibliography for West
Web site Resources