These Indigenous men sat for this portrait during a forced tour of U.S. eastern cities after they were incarcerated as political prisoners
Seeing America – topic: The Frontier Manifest Destiny and The American West
There is no memorial to the Mexican-American War in Washington, D.C.—a war in which more than 15,000 American soldiers lost their lives.
The Mexican-American War
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
APUSH: KC-6.2.II.A, KC-6.2.II.D
Teaching guide
Thomas Moran, Grand Canyon of the ...
Painting, photography, and the railroad come together to preserve a topography unique in the world
The painting that inspired a National Park
Pioneers and frontiersmen, creating an American mythology amidst the Civil War
Envisioning Manifest Destiny
Business or pleasure? Watkins could photograph both beautifully.
Business, art, and the American West
This dazzling, prismatic, brilliant cut glass creates a universe of pattern and reflection.
American brilliance
Kaphar’s painting uses defacement as a way of critiquing Andrew Jackson and his role in the Trail of Tears. It makes us consider the role of presidential power, both past and present.
APUSH: KC-4.3.I.B, KC-9.2.II.C
TEKS:113.41.(24)(A)
APUSH: KC-4.3.I.B, KC-9.2.II.C
TEKS:113.41.(24)(A)
Teaching guide
Titus Kaphar, The Cost of Removal
Not content to merely paint the land, Cole elevated the landscape to approach the status of historical painting.
Settling the American Eden, The Oxbow
What most American students learn about as Custer's Last Stand was the last great victory for the Lakota people.
Custer’s Last Stand — a Lakota view
This dignified portrait of a Native leader belies the cruel treatment he endured at the time of its painting.
The White Cloud, Head Chief of the ...
Kaphar takes a violent history and renders it visible in this modified portrait of Andrew Jackson.
The Trail of Tears and The Cost ...
Remington mourns the decline of the cowboy by depicting the very thing that destroyed his iconic lifestyle.
The closing of the frontier
Cole feared for the American landscape as his country expanded westward.
Wilderness, settlement, American identity
Thomas Cole's painting reflects both the hopes and the anxieties brought on by the Market Revolution and Manifest Destiny. As the United States expanded westward, displacing Indigenous communities, was its drive to industrialize destined to destroy the landscape's sublime beauty?
APUSH: KC-4.1.II.C, KC-4.2.III.A, KC-5.1.I.A
APUSH: KC-4.1.II.C, KC-4.2.III.A, KC-5.1.I.A
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