Grade Levels:
4-5th Grade Time Frame: 3class periods, 45 minutes each. Subject Matter:
Building of the Transcontinental Railroad Teacher Information: Mrs. Nancy Wilhelm AAM affiliation Southern Illinois University Edwardsville |
Lesson Plan Description and Rationale:
During this lesson, the students
will discuss the events leading up to the starting of the railroad,
its effects on the people and communities
involved in its construction, and the important documents
involved.
State Standards:
Goal 16: Understand events, trends, individuals and movements
shaping the history of
and other nations.
Standard 16A: Apply the
skills of historical analysis and interpretation.
Standard 16C: Understand the
development of economic systems.
Standard 16D: Understand
Standard 16E: Understand
Objective:
Students will have a basic
understanding of the Homestead Act of 1862, the Pacific Railroad Act of
1862 and the important role they played
in starting the railroad.
Prior Knowledge for Teachers:
Understand the impact of the Transcontinental
Railroad and the effect it placed on the settlers and settlements of the West.
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Union Pacific Pass'r Depot CREATED/PUBLISHED http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hawp:@field(NUMBER+@band(codhawp+10000305)) Date visited 2-04 |
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Across the continent, the snow sheds on the Central Pacific Railroad,
in the Sierra Nevada Mountains: From Robert B. Honeyman, Jr. Collection of Early
Californian and Western American Pictorial Material CREATOR The
Chinese in California, 1850-1925 http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cic:@field(DOCID+@lit(brk7627)) Date visited
2-04 |
Instructional Procedure:
Activity 1:
Imagine you are living during the time period of the 1860’s.
Possible discussion questions:
· Did the
· What is the difference between a state and a
territory?
· How does a territory become a state?
· How many states existed?
· Why did people cross the continent and settle in
· Why did the people decide to bypass the
· Was there a great source for water in the
· What did the settlers use for building homes and for
fuel?
· What did they use for transportation and
communication?
· Where there any Native American tribes present and how
did they survive?
Activity 2:
Discuss the important role that the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railroad Act had in creating the Transcontinental
Railroad.
Student Materials:
Copies of the Homestead Act
of May 20, 1862 and the Pacific Railroad Act of July 1, 1862.
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/five/homestd.htm
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/five/railact.htm
Possible discussion question:
Homestead Act of
· What was the purpose of this act?
· Who could receive a grant from the Federal
Government?
· Could women?
· How would a person go about obtaining a plot of land?
· How much would an acre of land cost?
· How long would a settler have to wait between filling out the affidavit and obtaining title to the land?
What would he do in the mean time?
Pacific Railroad Act of
· What was the purpose of this act?
· What is the most difficult terrain that the workers
will
encounter?
· The railroad is given the right to own how much land
on each
side of the railroad?
· Why would the government provide telegraph poles along
the
way?
· Would the government pay different amounts of
money
according to the type of land?
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United States, map: U.S. western railway land grants SOURCE American Landscape and Architectural Design, 1850-1920 http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/alad:@field(DOCID+@lit(h119053)) Date visited 2-04 |
Possible Extensions:
1. PBS video: The West, Episode
5 "The Grandest Enterprise Under God"
2. Give each group a copy of the Map
Analysis Worksheet. Preview the information sheet and
what is expected before completing assignment.
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/analysis_worksheets/map.html
3. American Memory: The
Great Train Robbery
Evaluation:
Each student will choose one
of following questions from which to compose a one paragraph essay.
· In what way did the government help with the building
of the railroad?
· How did the railroad change the way the West was
settled?
· What was the impact the railroad had on Native Americans?
· What are three effects the Transcontinental Railroad
had on the regions
through which it passed.
· Why was the railroad built? Who built it? Who used the
railroads and why? What
effect did the railroad have on the U.S. as a nation?
Keywords for this lesson:
Transcontinental Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad, Central Pacific Railroad, Homestead Act of May 20, 1862,Pacific
Railroad Act July 1, 1862.
Resources:
Parts of this lesson plan
were adopted from Joan Brodsky Schur, New
Perspectives on the West web site,
www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/lesson_plans/lesson01.htm
U.S. National Archives &
Records Administration
Map Analysis Worksheet
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/analysis_worksheets/map.html
American Memory
United States Map of Land
Grants
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/alad:@field(DOCID+@lit(h119053))
Chinese in
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cic:@field(DOCID+@lit(brk7627))
Union Pacific Depot
http://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/query/r?ammem/hawp:@field(NUMBER+@band(codhawp+10000305))
The Great Train Robbery
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@field(NUMBER+@band(edmp+2443s3))
The Little Train Robbery
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@field(NUMBER+@band(edmp+2570s3))
Extension Lesson: All Aboard! Building of the Transcontinental Railroad
