Florida SS.5.A.6.7

Social Studies5th GradeGrowth and Westward Expansion

The Standard

Discuss the concept of Manifest Destiny.

Florida Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for Social Studies

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students explain why many Americans believed the nation was destined to expand westward. They connect that belief to territorial growth and its effects on Native peoples, Mexico, and settlers. They also compare different views of expansion.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students can describe the belief as an argument used to justify westward expansion. They can use a map, image, or quotation to explain who supported expansion and who was harmed by it.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think all Americans supported expansion. They may treat expansion as unavoidable rather than a series of choices. They may also assume western lands were empty before settlers arrived.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: In three sentences, explain the belief behind westward expansion, name one affected group, and describe why that group might disagree with it.

Lesson moves

Give pairs an 1840s map and colored string to trace U.S. expansion, then label land already claimed or inhabited.
Ask, "Was westward expansion destiny or a choice?" Students cite one map detail and one affected group in a five-sentence response.
Run a source-card sort where students classify quotations as supporting expansion, opposing it, or showing consequences, then defend one choice.
Have students examine a current local land-use proposal and list who benefits, who loses, and what claim is used to justify it.

Keep exploring

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