Establishing America's Place in the World

Introduction

By the start of the 19th Century, America was beginning to figure out who it was as a country. In his Farewell Address, George Washington warned the country to stay neutral and avoid developing permanent alliances. However, there were signs early on that this might not be totally possible...

Task

By the time this Webquest is completed, you will need to have accomplished the following:

  1. Read your assigned source. Source assignments are listed in Schoology. You can reach the source by clicking on the hyperlink in the title. All sources are available in the "Process" section of this Webquest.
  2. Answer the questions that accompany your source. You can respond in Pages, Docs, or on paper. HOWEVER, all submissions must be turned in to Schoology. NO PAPER COPIES WILL BE ACCEPTED.
  3. With your group, create a short newspaper that highlights the events discussed in each of the sources. You can create articles, political cartoons, interviews, or anything else you can think of to communicate the relevant information. However, you must have a variety of pieces. That means you cannot have ALL cartoons, interviews, or articles. No more than 2 must be in the same medium.

By the time you are completed with this activity, you should have a solid understanding of how the United States interacted with other countries in its early years following the creation of the Constitution.

Process

Source 1: Relations with Native Americans

  1. Who pressured the U.S. government to remove Native Americans in the coastal South?
  2. Which President led the way for Indian removal?
  3. What did the Indian Removal Act of 1830 do?
  4. When the Cherokee took their case to court, what did the Supreme Court rule? How did Jackson respond?

Source 2: Pinckney's Treaty

  1. Why was Pinckney's Treaty so important?
  2. What did Pinckney's Treaty allow the U.S. to continue doing?

Source 3: Louisiana Purchase

  1. What area did the Louisiana Purchase cover?
  2. Why was Napoleon so willing to sell the territory to the U.S.?
  3. Why was the territory significant? (What did it allow Americans to do?)

Source 4: Transcontinental Treaty

  1. How did the issue with Florida begin?
  2. Why did people like Adams say that Jackson's meddling in Florida was necessary?
  3. What did the Transcontinental Treaty accomplish?

Source 5: The Monroe Doctrine

  1. What were the three main concepts of the doctrine? What do you think these mean?
  2. What was the purpose of the Monroe Doctrine?
  3. What were the "spheres of influence"? What does this mean?
  4. What did the Monroe Doctrine establish a precedent for?

Evaluation

5 pts: Answeri and Submit Questions for Source

5 pts: Create an article, political cartoon, interview, etc. for your source

5 pts: No spelling/grammar errors

5 pts: Overall professional look/creative piece

= 20 pts Total Possible Score