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Educator Resource

American and Western Expansion Middle School Teacher Unit Overview

Unit 7 of Building a Self-Governing People BRI’s Civics and U.S. History Curriculum for Middle School, invites students to analyze the challenges of westward expansion, like land acquisition, Native American relations and slavery and how it led to sectional divisions. The unit emphasizes how the drive for territorial expansion shaped the nation’s identity and created new challenges for the United States.

Published
Nov 3, 2025
Unit 7: American Expansion (1830-1860)
Analyze the challenges of westward expansion (e.g., land acquisition, Native American relations, slavery) and how it led to sectional divisions. 
Assessment Focus:
Thesis		 DBQ/ Essential Question:

How did the drive for territorial expansion shape the nation’s identity and create new challenges for the United States? 
DBQ Documents: 

  • Document A: Interview with Harriet Scott Palmer (1939)
  • Document B: American Progress by John Gast (1872)
  • Document C: Excerpt from the Gadsden Treaty (1853)
  • Document D: Excerpt from the Indian Removal Act (1830)
  • Document E: Handbill from the California Emigration Society, Boston (1856)
  • Document F: Excerpt from President James Polk’s Message to Congress (1845)
  • Document G: Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1835)
DBQ Resources:
Topic 1 Topic 2 Topic 3
Economic Development  Territorial Expansion  Sectionalism and Compromise 

 
Guiding Questions:

How did economic factors drive westward expansion and create new opportunities and challenges? 

 Guiding Questions:

How did the acquisition of new territories impact the nation’s growth and development?  

How did westward expansion impact Native American tribes, and what were the consequences of these interactions? 

 Guiding Questions:

How did the expansion of slavery into new territories intensify sectional tensions?  

What were the major compromises and their impact on the nation? 
Resources:

 Resources:

 

 

 

 Resources:
Principle(s)

  • Natural/Inalienable Rights
 Virtue(s)

  • Responsibility 

 

Standards

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