US National Archives
Docsteach: The Settlement of the American West
Learners will analyze primary sources with an eye for cause-and-effect relationships.They will identify the roles of government policy and technological improvements in the settlement of the West, and explain their impact on Native...
Calisphere: University of California Libraries
University of California: Calisphere: 1870 1900: Preservation of the West
Primary source images looking at the settling of the West between 1870 and 1900 and the push by some to protect and preserve the natural beauty.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Texas Ranch House
What was it like to be a cowboy in 1867? Visit the Cooke Ranch and explore a cowboy's working and dwelling quarters. Play the interactive games to learn about the many aspects of daily life in the American West. (Click "Interactive...
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: Journeys West
A series of lessons utilizing primary texts, including narratives, photographs, and maps, through which students explore the following question: "What motivated thousands of people to journey west during the 1800s?"
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Freedom: A History of Us: Whose Land Is This? Webisode 8
From Joy Hakim's marvelous set of books, A History of US, this webisode offers narrative, pictures, and teaching guides for the settling of the West after the Civil War.
US National Archives
Docsteach: Lewis & Clark's Expedition to the Complex West
This activity can be used as an introduction or for a closer study of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Students will learn that the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803 and President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and...
Curated OER
Cbc.ca: Taking the West Pioneers Head West
After Confederation, Canada focused on settling the vast lands to the West. They hoped to avoid the problems already faced by the Americans in western expansion by establishing peace and law before the settlers arrived.
Canadian Museum of History
Cmc: The Last Best West: Advertising for Immigrants to Western Canada
Government claims to lands in Western Canada was one matter but maintaining sovereignty over these lands was quite another. Sir John A Macdonald's approach to maintaining sovereignty in western Canada by not losing the land to American...
OpenStax
Open Stax: The Impact of Expansion on Chinese Immigrants and Hispanic Citizens
As white populations moved westward in the 19th century, Chinese immigrants and Hispanic Americans faced racism and discrimination and were unable to compete on an equal basis for land. Eventually, both groups settled into urban areas...
PBS
Pbs the West: Exodusters
Contains a description of the Exodusters and their impact on the American West through their immigration.
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: The Iron Horse: Land Departments and Immigration
From a lengthy essay on the history of the railroad in the United States. This section describes what the Land Department and the Bureau of Immigration did in order to attract new immigrants to settle along the railroad line. The...
Other
Postbellum African American Society and Culture: Black Migration
From the Encyclopedia of American Social History. Read about the black migration to the West, primarily Kansas and Oklahoma after the end of Reconstruction and the institution of black codes in the South.
Library of Congress
Loc: African American Mosaic: Western Migration and Homesteading
Contains text and photos on the African-American exodus to the West. Includes primary source documents and maps from the era.
Other
Western History Genealogy: Digital Images: Native American Women
A picture gallery with information about the roles that Native American women played in everyday life in the late 19th century in the West.
PBS
Pbs the West: Fight No More Forever (1874 1877)
From the PBS critically acclaimed series, "The West" comes this introduction to the Indian Wars that were waged in the course of settling the frontier.
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: u.s. & the Netherlands
This resource is an overview of the relationship of the Dutch West India Company and the settling of New Netherlands under the "patroon" system, which brought many Dutch colonists to the New World.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: The Orphan Trains
A site telling of the trains during the late 1800s that took orphans and unwanted children from the cities and transported them to the West to work on farms and hopefully be adopted.
Other
Images of the American West: Oklahoma
This is a photo gallery of white homeseekers known as Boomers and other homesteaders settling the Oklahoma Territory in the late 1800's.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Adeline Hornbeck and the Homestead Act
This Teaching with Historic Places lesson effectively depicts the life of a pioneer woman and ways in which the Homestead Act impacted her life. The site includes lesson plans, inquiry questions, and photos that may be used in covering...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Settling the West: Westward Expansion
During this instructional activity, learners will have the opportunity to experience the westward expansion through literature and the Internet. By creating a brochure and a slideshow presentation, students will become aware of the...
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: The Last Frontier
Describes the various forces and events that shaped the expansion of the western frontier in the mid- to late 1800s.
![Loc: Primary Source Set: Westward Expansion Teacher's Guide [Pdf] Lesson Plan](http://content.lessonplanet.com/resources/thumbnails/410042/large/bwluav9tywdpy2symdiwmduymc0ymjm1lwl2exnyai5qcgc.jpg?1589985000 "Loc: Primary Source Set: Westward Expansion Teacher's Guide [Pdf] Lesson Plan")
Library of Congress
Loc: Primary Source Set: Westward Expansion Teacher's Guide [Pdf]
As the United States expanded westward, many cultural groups came into contact with one another, such as Native American tribes, Chinese, and various Europeans. In this set of exercises, young scholars use primary source documents to...
Yale University
Yale Law School: Proclamation of 1763 by King George Iii
Primary text of the Proclamation of 1763 ordered by King George III. The colonists' main objection was to a reserved area west of the Appalachian Mountains. American colonists were forbidden to settle in this area, and many colonies...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Utah History Encyclopedia: Outlaws in Utah
This site discusses the cultural icon of the western "outlaw" in the context of the state of Utah.