1. Chapter 17: Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy
Presenters: Elena Lin, Alice Wang, Zachary Rosenthal and Vlad Savin
Objectives:
The class should have a basic knowledge of the following topics:
1. Tyler’s election and presidency
2. Third War with England
3. Situation with Texas in 1836-1845 and its annexation
4. Polk’s election of 1844 and Polk’s presidency
5. The cause, effects and results of the War with Mexico
Procedure:
On the day of the presentation, the presenters will come in dressed up as their main character.
(lol is that ok?) The first 25 minutes will be dedicated to a video of the presenters acting out the
important events in Chapter 17.
In the video:
Characters:
America - Zach
Britain - Alice
Mexico - Elena
Russia – Vlad
Spain –Elena
Polk – Alice
Tyler Too –Vlad
Webster - Elena
Events:
Four nations (American, Britain, Mexico and Russia) get together to play a game of monopoly.
-Setup
Nations are arguing over which token they want
America starts to tell a tale of his problems (Election of 1841/John Tyler)
British and American argue about who goes first (“War of Words”)
-Maine
America rolls first and lands on Maine, tries to buy.
America and British negotiate a treaty
-Texas
Britain rolls and lands on Texas – America vs. Britain vs. Mexico
Tyler has resolution passed to make Texas a state
Mexico angry that Texas is now an American state
-Oregon Fever
Russia rolls and lands on Oregon – decides to not take the property
Becomes fight between America and Britain – discuss their claims to the territory
-Intermission commercial for election of Polk – “Who is James K. Polk?”
Show Clay failing as the “Great Compromiser”
Show Polk’s goals as president

2. -California
Mexico rolls and lands on California
Polk wanted to buy from Mexico, John Slidell to Mexico City in 1845 – Mexico rejects
proposal
Polk tries to get Congress to declare war
-Mexican-American War
Santa Anna’s double crossing
General Winfield Scott to attack Mexico City
General Stephen W. Kearny
General Winfield Scott
Negotiated treaty between Mexico and America
-Results
Latin America doesn’t trust United States
Increase in slavery issue
Wilmot Amendment
-“Mexico will poison us”
The last 15 minutes will be spent on assessing how much information the class remembered.
Assessment:
We split the class into two teams. The goal is to acquire the most land in the spirit of Manifest
Destiny. To gain land, they have to answer the questions correctly. Easier questions earn small
farms and towns. The harder questions are worth an entire state or territory. The team
collectively comes up with an answer and chooses one speaker to say the answer.
One round works like this:
One of the presenters randomly chooses a parcel of land (a picture) with the question attached to
the back of it out of a hat. Since manifest destiny was a “contest” for land, the two teams send
up one representative to verse the other team in an intense game of Rock-paper-scissor to see
who gets to answer first. If the first team gets it wrong, then the other team gets to answer.