Reading an 1872 Land Advertisement Against a Treaty: Fifth-Grade Westward Expansion

It can support claims about promotion and recruitment: that railroad and land companies actively advertised, the price and acreage offered, the sales pitch about climate and homeownership, and the fact that the 160-acre figure echoes the Homestead Act of 1862 - so the ad shows federal land policy being marketed by private interests. It cannot support the general claim that cheap land was why migrants moved: advertisements reach only some audiences, and many migrants came through labor recruiters, family chains, or railroad work rather than land ads. It also says nothing about who already occupied the land or how it became available; that silence is the teaching point. Because the source is persuasive, the price may be introductory and the climate claim cannot be verified by its reader. Students should learn to write claims with a scope word - 'this advertisement shows one way settlers were recruited' - rather than 'settlers moved because.'

Name the assumption first: the question treats the land as empty and freely available. The answer is that the Great Plains was home, and the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 recognized Lakota territory including the Black Hills. Moving was not a neutral option; it meant abandoning homes, relatives, and sacred places, and the alternatives on offer were reservation confinement, cultural attack through boarding schools and the 1887 Dawes Act's break-up of communal land, and violence, while destruction of the bison removed the economic base. Give agency as well: Source B is a leader asserting a treaty right, not asking permission, and Lakota people negotiated, petitioned, and litigated. Frame the question as 'who had the power to decide?' rather than 'why didn't they cooperate?' Also avoid treating Native nations as a single actor; they differed, and individuals and bands made different choices.

Period one: read both sources and complete a source chart - who made it, when, purpose, audience, what it claims, what it leaves out. Period two: build a timeline placing the Homestead Act (1862), the transcontinental railroad (1869), and the Fort Laramie Treaty (1868); students notice that the treaty and the settlement policy overlap in time and contradict each other, then draft a claim. Assessment item: 'A student says the advertisement shows that the West was empty land waiting for settlers. In two sentences, explain what the advertisement leaves out. In one sentence, explain why a historian would still use it.' Rubric: names the omission (Native nations, treaty rights, prior occupation); cites Source B or the treaty to support that; and credits the ad for what it genuinely shows about promotion, price, and policy. Give credit to students who notice both sources are describing the same land.