This is a link to a range of resources for teaching C19th America across various specifications and boards for GCSE. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments, or suggestions for modifications. Equally, if you would like to share something with the GCSE C19th America community here, please do get in touch and I will add it to the repository.

CPD (LINK)
Various workshops and sessions I have run on the subject of teaching the period study.

American Expansion: ​1789-1838 (LINK)
A range of resources relevant to the expansion of the USA after 1789 and the growth and development of slavery.

The American West 1839-60 (LINK)
This section covers white expansion into the West, as well as the Indian cultures who lived on the Plains. You will also find Mormons and homesteaders in this section.

Civil War and Reconstruction 1861-77 (LINK)
As it says on the tin with this one. Material related to the outbreak of war, its course and the attempts to reconstruct America afterwards.

​Conflict on the Plains 1861-77 (LINK)
This section focuses primarily on the period known as the "Indian Wars" and mirrors the developments in the East, above.

American Identities 1877-1900 (LINK)
This section looks at attempts to create a unified American culture; the growth of big business; and the impact of immigration. It also looks at continued limits to the liberty of black Americans.

​Overview and Revision (LINK)
Some items which might be useful for creating a sense of period overview throughout, or for using at the end of teaching. 

​This is a short series of blogs inspired by Ben Newmark and Mike Stuchbery's #youreallyshouldteach hashtag. Each blog will be an story which might help teachers delivering the C19th America / American West courses. Each story aims to offer a novel window onto a key topic - in this case the Indian Wars and Indian policy of the 1870s. This would make an excellent comparison to the more well-known stories of Red Cloud's War or Sitting Bull and the Little Bighorn.

You can find downloadable versions of these resources over on the C19th America blog HERE. If you want to find out more about Chief Joseph, I can highly recommend Elliot West's excellent book: The Last Indian War, or Ken Burns' documentary: The West.

​Chief Joseph: 
Fight No More Forever

It was late Spring when Chief Joseph looked back over his beloved Wallowa Valley for the last time. The new, green leaves promised a beautiful summer to come. In the past they would have reminded Joseph of the hunting season on the Plains. This time, he saw them differently; fragile and temporary, soon to fall in the stiff Autumn breezes. They reminded him that nothing, not even his own homeland could last forever, and that soon his own people would fall like the leaves in the gale of white settlement.
​
Land and exploitation
The Nez Perce had historically had good relations with white explorers and settlers, but decades of settlement since the 1840s had strained the relationship as whites came in search of the American Dream. Tensions rose further still when gold was discovered in the 1860s.

In 1863, the government demanded the Nez Perce sign a new treaty, giving away 90% of their lands, including the Wallowa valley. The Nez Perce were divided over the treaty and many refused to move to the reservation. When Joseph became the chief of the Wallowa Nez Perce in 1871, he also refused to give up his ancestors’ vision of a free-ranging life. But this lifestyle was increasingly leading to conflict with white settlers who feared the presence of the Nez Perce, or wanted access to the gold fields.

In 1877 Joseph was called to a meeting with the US Army General, Oliver Otis Howard. Howard had already written to his superiors to say “I think it is a great mistake to take from Joseph and his band of Nez Perce Indians that valley...and possibly [should] let these really peaceable Indians have this poor valley for their own.” The government were not convinced. Joseph in turn repeated his stock response, that the land was the home of his people and not his to sell. Howard could almost see the writing on the wall when he came to the meeting with Joseph, but Joseph would not sell the land.

An unwanted conflict

Just two quick links to book reviews:

• Edward Baptist's, "The half has never been told" AND classroom applications HERE.
• Elliot West's, "Contested Plains"