Jump to Navigation

Manifest Destiny and Its Impact on American Indian Culture

Guided tour—Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site, Fairway

Grades—Seventh and eighth

Shawnee Indian MissionProvide your students with a unique educational experience at the site where history occurred! 

Students will rotate through a variety of 25-minute sessions that consist of historic interpretations, presentations, and hands-on activities. Concepts that can be covered include: Manifest Destiny: Clash of Cultures; Indian Relocation and Government Policies; Sectionalism and Secession prior to the Civil War (e.g., Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act – Popular Sovereignty and Bleeding Kansas. Students will be working with primary and secondary sources as they learn first-hand about America's struggles during the movement West.

Shawnee Indians working in fields

Kansas History, Government and Social Studies Standards

Standard #4 Societies experience continuity and change over time

  • 4.1: The student will recognize and evaluate continuity and change over time and its impact on individuals, institutions, communities, states, and nations.

Standard #5 Relationships among people, places, ideas, and environments are dynamic.

  • 5.1: The student will recognize and evaluate dynamic relationships that impact lives in communities, states, and nations.

Kansas College and Career Ready Standards

  • RH 6-8.2: The student will determine the central ideas of information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
  • SL 7.2: The student will analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse media and formats and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.

Missouri Show-Me Standards

  • Social Studies 2 continuity and change in the history of Missouri, the United States and the world
  • Social Studies 5 the major elements of geographical study and analysis (such as location, place, movement, regions) and their relationships to changes in society and environment
  • Social Studies 7 the use of tools of social science inquiry (such as surveys, statistics, maps, documents)

Communication Arts

  • RI.8.6: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.

Length of tour: approximately two hours.

Number of students in a group: for the best experience, we recommend no more than 30 students per tour.

Registration, prices, and scheduling: Contact the site administrator, 913-262-0867 or email Shawnee Indian Mission. Tours must be scheduled at least two weeks in advance.

Other guided tours available at the Shawnee Indian Mission:

American Indian Homes in the Central Plains

Jumping Off to the Oregon Trail

Traveling the Santa Fe Trail