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Westward Expansion Dbq

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Part A:
Highlight two options that best describe the central ideas of the text.

A. History is not made up of just a few heroes and villains. B. Mexicans did not participate in westward expansion. C. Average citizens were responsible for westward expansion. D. Thomas Jefferson was responsible for westward expansion.

Part B: Select two quotations from the text --one for each answer-- to support the answers to
Part A.

“It is natural and perhaps necessary for historians and story-tellers to view the dramatic shifts of history through the actions of a few famous figures, whether heroes or villains. Certainly the story of the westward expansion of the United States has many examples of each, and sometimes it seems the villains outnumber the heroes.”

“A true story of the …show more content…
“history…[is] hard to predict with accuracy, impossible to control, yet a palpable fact.”

Part B: Select two quotations from the text --one for each answer-- to support the answers to
Part A.

“The historian John Buchanan has called the westward expansion, or Manifest Destiny, ‘the greatest folk movement of modern times, in which, for the most part, the people led and government followed.’”

“Tolstoy’s favorite metaphor for history was weather, hard to predict with accuracy, impossible to control, yet a palpable fact.”

Essay:

Based on your reading and research throughout the unit, do you agree or disagree with Morgan’s central ideas in the article? Write an argumentative essay that explains your position, citing specific textual evidence from at least three additional sources from the unit to support your claims. The additional sources are as follows:
“The Way to Rainy Mountain” --N. Scott Momaday
“Thomas Jefferson’s America, 1801” --Stephen Ambrose
“Reporting to the President, September 23- December 31, 1806” (pages 418-21) --Stephen Ambrose
“Chief Joseph Speaks…” --Chief Joseph

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