Given the changing nature of the Internet, you may wish to preview these sites. Always check for updated links to U.S. history sites.

Allow one week to teach this chapter.

Students should be aware that they do not have to answer the essay questions in the order in which they appear on the test. They should quickly scan the questions and rank them by how well they think they know the answers. Then students should respond first to the questions they know best. By following this strategy, if time becomes an issue, the more hurried answer will be to the question that the student feels least prepared to address.

Chapter 13 tells the story of westward expansion through the eyes of emigrants on the trails as well as through the perspective of Native Americans and Mexicans who were displaced by these settlers. The chapter is divided into a discussion of early interest in western regions, the Mexican American War and the resolution of the Oregon boundary issue with Great Britain, and then the settling of the Western lands. The latter focuses on the conflicts between white settlers and Native Americans and white settlers and former Mexicans in the newly acquired lands under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Gadsden Purchase.

The AP* exam may ask students to identify regions on maps or time periods illustrated by certain boundaries on maps. To provide students with practice, instruct them to draw the map on p. 401 as a base and then superimpose on it the population patterns shown on the second map on p. 408. Have students work in pairs to write multiple-choice questions based on the map that could be on the AP* exam. Encourage students to write inference questions and answers, not just literal interpretation questions. You might repeat the activity using the map on p. 401 and the Native American land cessions map on p. 423.

You might also find these additional readings useful in developing students' background knowledge or for DBQ activities: