U.S.

History II Orleck

Western Migration
Unit Guide

Unit Essential Question: Why did the United States feel they had a right to assimilate and
Native Americans as they pushed west?

Key Questions:
• In what ways did the U.S. try to assimilate Native Americans?
• What was the source of conflict among the U.S. government, white settlers and Native
Americans?
• How did the Native Americans resist and protest the treatment by the U.S. government
and soldiers?
• What types of economic incentives did the United States government provide to settlers in
the west to encourage growth of private property ownership?
• What technological advancements helped make farming profitable?
• How did cattle ranching and mining expand opportunities for settlement?
• Do you think the federal government had the right to give away land on which Native
Americans already live? Was the "free land" offered by the Homestead Act really free?
How does a government get people to move to an area where few people live?
• Having suffered slavery and oppression themselves, how do you think the buffalo soldiers
justified supporting the government's oppression of the Native Americans?

Unit Objectives:
• Students will understand the experiences of African Americans who participated in the
westward movement by analyzing primary source documents.
• Students will assess how the selection of evidence by historians influences perceptions of
later generations.
• Students will compare and contrast treatment of African Americans and Native
Americans as territorial expansion became intertwined with official government policies.
• Students will determine economic, social, and political motivation for settlers to move
west.

Terms:

Homestead Act Battle of Little Big Horn

Bureau for Indian Affairs Crazy Horse
Sand Creek Massacre

Forced resettlement
Treaty of Medicine Lodge Dawes General Allotment