Perspectives on Westward Expansion

SOLD! Thomas Jefferson just pulled off the real estate deal of the century, purchasing the entire Louisiana territory for a song while nearly doubling the size of the United States in the blink of an eye. America would acquire 830,000 square miles of land containing forests, farmland and an abundance of valuable resources for $15M (equivalent to approximately 3 cents per acre). In addition, America would now have vital access to the Gulf of Mexico, offering open and free commerce for goods traveling via the Mississippi River. Look out, world. America is about to become a continental power.

While the deal would be considered one of Jefferson's most notable achievements as President, it would have equally powerful, yet much less desirable cultural and social consequences for others - particularly, Native Americans, not to mention the Spanish, French and enslaved Africans who had also been living in that same territory at the time of the acquisition. In what ways did the deal affect EVERYONE involved?

Learners began researching and analyzing the impact this deal would have on varying groups of people - from its strongest supporters to its fiercest opposition. They then viewed this issue from the perspective of either a European American (federalist or democratic-republican), Native American, Spanish settler, French settler or enslaved African living in the territory in April of 1803 (just months before the Louisiana Purchase Treaty was ratified). What reasons would they have to support or oppose the deal? How would they show their support for the ratification of the treaty or will they try to convince France to withdraw their offer to sell the territory? Learners are in the process of creating public service announcement campaigns (PSAs) to inform the public about the issue from their perspective, offer a possible solution and request a call to action. The PSAs are being created in a variety of media formats (flyers, pamphlets, videos, etc.), as they learn about the powerful impact PSAs can have on influencing people's ideas and beliefs about important issues happening in the world around them. Couple that with social media and you're looking at future influencers capable of reaching all pockets of the globe and (ideally) becoming ambassadors for good. Stay tuned for more on this. We're using the skills and competencies we develop from this project as a springboard for a future PBL that connects our previous Atlantic Slave Trade unit with our upcoming Civil Rights unit.