Lesson Plan
Cyberbee

Manifest Destiny: Clash of Cultures

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
A unit plan about the Manifest Destiny that includes an explanation of the term as well as additional resources.
Website
Digital History

Digital History: Manifest Destiny

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief explanation of where the term "manifest destiny" came from, and a look at how the term meant different things to different segments of American society.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: Sacramento Was Gateway to Gold

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the growth and importance of Sacramento as a mining town in the California Gold Rush. From a larger site from the Sacramento Bee.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: Justice Wasn't Pretty but It Was Quick

For Students 9th - 10th
This CalGoldRush.com site contains information on justice and law in California during the gold rush. Many felons lost their lives at the end of a rope.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: Culture Took Hold Despite Tough Crowds

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource contains information on the development of culture in California during the gold rush. Culture developed in spite of the harsh conditions and tough people.
Primary
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: Religion Reclaimed Souls

For Students 9th - 10th
This article, entitled "Religion Reclaimed Souls as Mining Expanded," contains information on the developement of religion in California during the gold rush.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: Boring Diet Gave Miners Appetite for Dining

For Students 9th - 10th
This site discusses the eating habits of many of the miners during the California gold rush.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: Rivals in the Newspaper Field

For Students 9th - 10th
This article from the Sacramento Bee discusses the rise of journalism during the California gold rush. Many journalists left their jobs and headed west to cover this great event.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: 'Real Women' Who Defied Stereotype

For Students 9th - 10th
This CalGoldRush.com site discusses the role of the women during the gold rush in California. They served in a variety of roles and many made more than miners. This page tells their stories.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: His Path Back to Japan Was Paved With Gold

For Students 9th - 10th
This CalGoldRush.com site discusses the life of Manjiro Nakahama, a Japanese immigrant who made enough money during the gold rush in California that he was able to return home to Japan.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: Some Found Riches, Many Found Themselves

For Students 9th - 10th
This site discusses how many miners never made it rich, but had an adventure of a lifetime during the California gold rush.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

The Sacramento Bee: Timeline of John Sutter

For Students 9th - 10th
John Sutter was the unwitting lynchpin in the California Gold Rush. Read the time line of events that show how he suffered for that discovery.
Primary
Oakland Museum of California

California's Untold Stories: Art of the Gold Rush

For Students 9th - 10th
The Oakland Museum presents an exhibit of art that show the miners, mining towns, new cities, and people of the Gold Rush. Be sure to read the overview of the exhibit to get the historical background.
Primary
Oakland Museum of California

California's Untold Stories: Silver and Gold

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides a virtual tour of the mining of silver and gold in California through excellent photos and facts.
Unknown Type
History Teacher

Historyteacher.net: Westward Expansion & Manifest Destiny: Quiz (1)

For Students 9th - 10th
This 10-question multiple choice quiz is immediately scored and tests your knowledge of westward expansion in the 1800s.
Unknown Type
History Teacher

Historyteacher.net: Westward Expansion & Manifest Destiny: Quiz (2)

For Students 9th - 10th
Ten multiple choice question quiz is immediately scored and covers territorial expansion and the Manifest Destiny.
Unknown Type
History Teacher

Historyteacher.net: Westward Expansion & Manifest Destiny: Quiz (5)

For Students 9th - 10th
Choose the correct word from the drop down menu for each of the twelve questions to evaluate your knowledge of people and events relating to westward expansion in the mid 1800s.
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Teachers: Moving West, Natural Disasters

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Assign reasons from Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to explain pioneers' migration to and return from the American plains in the 1800s. Research, write and produce a newspaper dedicated to a natural disaster such as the 19th-century drought.
Handout
PBS

New Perspectives on the West: John Augustus Sutter (1803 1880)

For Students 9th - 10th
Biography of John Sutter, a Swiss settler who helped to develop Californian and saw his fortunes dwindle after the California Gold Rush.
Handout
PBS

New Perspectives on the West: James Wilson Marshall (1810 1885)

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief biography of James Marshall who discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848, which led to the California Gold Rush.
Primary
Other

Ailello Studios: The Land of Glittering Dreams

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn some interesting facts about the California Gold Rush through images, personal stories and other writings.
Graphic
Other

Gilded Age: From Frontier to Factory Timeline 1845 1916

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A timeline that lists major events in culture, military, industry, and politics across three-quarters of a century.
Handout
Other

The Gold Rush: Despair

For Students 9th - 10th
This page discusses what happened to many of the gold miners when the gold ran out in California.
Handout
Other

The Gold Rush: Collision of Cultures

For Students 9th - 10th
This page discusses the many different cultures that came to California during the gold rush.