Grade 8 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 8, Lesson 1

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A More Perfect Union

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 8, Lesson 1: Exploring Beyond the Mississippi (pp. 222-227)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Change Exploration of the West encouraged Americans to move west and to consider expanding the United States even further.

Review the experiences of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and its goals and achievements. Be sure students understand that these individuals were seeing land that no white people had seen before, and were traveling without any maps, and little knowledge of the territory.

Make a table identifying the explorers discussed in this lesson -- the mountain men and government expeditions -- and the territories they explored. Talk about how a greater awareness of the western lands led to a desire to expand the United States.

Lesson Outline
Use the Lesson Outline to preview the content of the lesson. You may wish to print it for your students as a guide during reading.

Check for Understanding

Ask students to write a speech for Thomas Jefferson giving the reasons why exploration of the Louisiana Territory is important to the United States. Encourage students to clearly state the potential benefits of such knowledge.
Have each student draw a picture representing a moment in a mountain man's life. Remind students that such moments could include exploring, acting as a guide, trapping animals, or gathering with other trappers and traders at a rendezvous.

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