Geography and the environment

Teaching guides: geography and the environment

Help your students explore works of art as primary documents.

"Nature has spread for us a rich and delightful banquet. Shall we turn from it? "
—Thomas Cole, "Essay on American Scenery" (1836)

Thomas Moran, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1872)

Teaching guide<br>Thomas Moran, <em>Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone</em>

By Smarthistory

Thomas Moran's painting of Yellowstone exemplifies the complex factors that characterized U.S. westward expansion and economic development after the Civil War. Railroads, government policies, and violence against Native American communities were all intertwined with the creation of the first national park.
APUSH: KC-6.2.II.A, KC-6.2.II.D

Learn more

Explore the diverse history of the United States through its art. Seeing America is funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Alice L. Walton Foundation.