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Routes of exploration and westward expansion, 1835–1850

Format: image/map

U.S. territorial growth, 1810

Format: image/map

U.S. territorial growth, 1820

Format: image/map

U.S. territorial growth, 1860

Format: image/map

U.S. territorial growth, 1850

Format: image/map

Antebellum North Carolina

Primary sources and readings explore North Carolina in the antebellum period (1830–1860). Topics include slavery, daily life, agriculture, industry, technology, and the arts, as well as the events leading to secession and civil war.

Format: book (multiple pages)

The Louisiana Purchase

In North Carolina in the New Nation, page 8.2

Since 1762, Spain had owned Louisiana, the vast territory between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. When France acquired the territory in 1802, President Thomas Jefferson offered to buy New Orleans to ensure U.S. access to trade on the Mississippi. When Napoleon offered the entire territory for $15 million, Jefferson accepted.

Format: article

Appalachian Cultural Museum

This museum offers over twenty exhibit areas that present an intriguing overview of the people and places of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Format: article/field trip opportunity

Dashed hopes for the frontier

In Revolutionary North Carolina, page 2.2

The British won vast territory in North America after the Seven Years’ War, but with that territory came the problem of governing it. British officials tried -- and failed -- to balance the interests of colonists and American Indians, and the conflicts that resulted made the colonists increasingly unhappy with British rule and led, ultimately, to the American Revolution.

Format: article

Living the pioneer life

In this lesson, students will use photographs of Appalachian log dwellings to understand how advances in technology, the desire to own land, and political incentives have resulted in economic and social changes over time for the people of North Carolina. The students will examine text and historical documents to assess the time period in which log cabin structures were built, the reasons for constructing them, and the lives of the people who built these houses.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 Social Studies)

By Sonna Jamerson.

The expansion of slavery and the Missouri Compromise

In North Carolina in the New Nation, page 8.8

By 1820, a growing population gave the North a majority in the House of Representatives, but slave and free states still had equal representation in the Senate. The admission of Missouri to the Union as a slave state threatened that balance, but the "Missouri Compromise" maintained it by admitting Maine as a free state and banning slavery in the Lousiana territory north of Missouri's southern boundary. Page includes a map showing U.S. territorial expansion.

Format: article

Turning the century

Students will create a museum display illustrating life during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Social Studies)

By Lisa Stamey.

Political parties in the United States, 1788–1840

Timeline and explanation of the development of political parties in the early national period. Includes a sidebar about parties in North Carolina.

Format: article

North Carolina in the New Nation

Primary sources and readings explore North Carolina in the early national period (1790–1836). Topics include the development of state government and political parties, agriculture, the Great Revival, education, the gold rush, the growth of slavery, Cherokee Removal, and battles over internal improvements and reform.

Format: book (multiple pages)

The Columbian Exchange

In Prehistory, contact, and the Lost Colony, page 5.1

When Christopher Columbus and his crew arrived in the New World, two biologically distinct worlds were brought into contact. The animal, plant, and bacterial life of these two worlds began to mix in a process called the Columbian Exchange. The results of this exchange recast the biology of both regions and altered the history of the world.

Format: article

By J.R. McNeill.

William Byrd on the people and environment of North Carolina

In Colonial North Carolina, page 5.6

William Byrd II, a wealthy plantation owner from Virginia, was one of several men commissioned to survey the boundary between Virginia and North Carolina in 1728. His journals describe the people and environment of the region, though not all of his stories are believable. Includes historical commentary.

Format: diary

Commentary and sidebar notes by L. Maren Wood.

The Charter of Carolina (1663)

In Colonial North Carolina, page 1.4

In the Charter of Carolina, King Charles II of England granted the eight men known as the Lords Proprietors rights to the land that became North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Primary source includes historical commentary.

Format: charter

Commentary and sidebar notes by David Walbert.

Resources on the web

The Museum of Westward Expansion

American, westward expansion is the focus of this site hosted by the National Park Service "with some of the rarest artifacts of Lewis and Clark. (Learn more)

Format: website/general

Provided by: National Park System

Pioneer America: Legendary westerners

In this ARTSEDGE lesson, students study legendary westerners during the period of westward expansion in U.S. history. Students research, in pairs, one legendary westerner. Each student pair scripts a television interview with the westerner then performs... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 1–4 Social Studies and Theater Arts Education)

Provided by: ArtsEdge

Cultural Landscapes

Maps in this collection show the growth of the United States during the period of westward expansion. (Learn more)

Format: website/general

Provided by: Library of Congress