Expansion’s Impact on the Environment

Social Studies American History Civil War Through 1900 Expansion’s Impact on the Environment
Students analyze a political cartoon about the transcontinental railroad. Then they learn about ways that westward expansion modified the environment, focusing on the negative impact. Next they examine how settlers adapted their homes to the new environments. Finally, students reflect on their own interactions with the environment.

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Overview

In this experience, students analyze a political cartoon about the transcontinental railroad. Then they learn how westward expansion changed the environment, including the effects of railroads, growing towns, and mining. Next, they examine how settlers adapted their homes to different environments. Finally, students reflect on how they interact with and adapt to the environment today.

If you have access to leveled readers that include stories about the California Gold Rush, assign them to the students in parallel to this experience.

Estimated duration: 35-45 minutes

Vocabulary words:

  • modification
  • habitat
  • revere
  • boomtown
  • silt
  • atmosphere
  • mercury
  • erosion
  • desertification
  • adaptation

Objectives

  • Describe the settlers’ use of natural resources
  • Evaluate the environmental effects of expansion


As settlers moved west, they used the environment to meet basic needs such as shelter, food, and energy. They also used natural resources such as gold, wood, and grazing land to earn money and build communities. In this experience, you will learn how settlers adapted to the environment and changed the land as they moved into the West.

Objectives

  • Describe the settlers’ use of natural resources
  • Evaluate the environmental effects of expansion


a cartoon showing a train traveling westward marked New York and a train traveling eastward marked San Francisco, with people cheering and shaking hands; in the foreground, Indigenous people and buffalo are running away from the trains

Cartoon Caption: Does not SUCH a meeting make amends? (1869)


Look at the political cartoon above, published in 1869 after the completion of the transcontinental railroad. The cartoonist is using a picture to express an opinion about the benefits and costs of the railroad.


Identify one positive effect and one negative effect of the railroad, according to the cartoon.


If students struggle to answer the question, have them turn to elbow partners to discuss the cartoon.

Sample answers:

  • Positive effect: Railroads made it easier to move people and goods between the eastern and western United States.
  • Negative effect: Railroad construction changed the land and disrupted wildlife habitats. Railroads also brought more settlers and hunters west, which contributed to the killing of millions of buffalo and the loss of lands and resources used by Indigenous peoples.

Point out that changes people make to the environment can have both benefits and harmful effects. If there are local examples relevant to the school’s location, such as a new neighborhood built on open land, trees cleared for construction, a dam that changed a river, or a new highway built through an animal habitat, discuss them with the class.


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Expansion’s Impact on the Environment
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