D2.His.5.6-8: Explaining How and Why Perspectives Change Over Time

Overview

Lesson Procedure

60-70 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Think of something you used to see one way and now see differently: a food, a game, a place, a book. What did you think before? What do you think now? What made you change your mind?"

   Students write for two minutes, then share with a partner. On the board, make two columns: Before and after and What changed my mind. Sort the answers in the second column into four groups and name them: new evidence or experience (I tried it), a new idea (someone explained it differently), a new goal (I needed it for something), and a new position (I joined the team, I moved, I got older).

   Tell students that historians ask the same two questions about people in the past. A perspective is the way a person sees something, shaped by what the person knows, has experienced and wants. Explaining how a perspective changed means describing the view before and after, with dates. Explaining why means giving the reasons.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Part 1: Key words. Post these before reading. The Great Plains are the wide grasslands between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains. Cultivation means growing crops. Subsistence means the food and goods people need to live. Arid means very dry. Irrigation means bringing water to fields through ditches or canals. Precipitation means rain and snow. A meridian is a north-south line of longitude on a map; writers of the 1870s and 1880s used the 100th meridian as a dividing line on the Plains. Powell's word isohyetal describes a map line joining places that get the same average rainfall.

   Part 2: Meet the writers. A writer's job and the person the writer reports to are part of the writer's position, one of the things that shapes a perspective. Each source tells us who wrote it and when. A survey here means a government team that measures and maps land; an expedition is a journey made to explore a region.

   The writers of Sources 1-5 (from each book's title page or opening letter)

   Source	Writer	Position when writing	Date
   1	Major Stephen H. Long	Army officer commanding an exploring expedition of 1819 and 1820, sent by order of the Secretary of War; his report went to the Secretary of War	Report dated January 20, 1821; published in 1823
   2 and 4	J. W. Powell	"In charge U. S. G. and G. Survey Rocky Mountain Region," a federal survey; his report went to the Commissioner of the General Land Office	Letter dated April 1, 1878
   3 and 5	C. D. Wilber	Inspector of mining lands in the western states and territories, and superintendent of the Department of Geology and Mineralogy of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences; the book was printed in Omaha	1881

   Part 3: How and why. Model the two steps with Sources 1 and 2. A how statement names the view before, the view after, and the dates. A why statement gives a reason and says what kind of reason it is: new evidence or experience, a new idea (such as a theory, an idea that tries to explain how something works), a goal, or the writer's position. Read Source 1 aloud, then Source 2, and work through the examples below.

   1In regard to this extensive section of country, we do not hesitate in giving the opinion, that it is almost wholly unfit for cultivation, and of course uninhabitable by a people depending upon agriculture for their subsistence. Although tracts of fertile land, considerably extensive, are occasionally to be met with, yet the scarcity of wood and water, almost uniformly prevalent, will prove an insuperable obstacle in the way of settling the country. This objection rests not only against the immediate section under consideration, but applies with equal propriety to a much larger portion of the country. Agreeably to the best intelligence that can be had, concerning the country both northward and southward of the section, and especially to the inferences deducible from the account given by Lewis and Clark, of the country situated between the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains, above the river Platte, the vast region commencing near the sources of the Sabine, Trinity, Brasis, and Colorado, and extending northwardly to the forty-ninth degree of north latitude, by which the United States territory is limited in that direction, is throughout, of a similar character. The whole of this region seems peculiarly adapted as a range for buffaloes, wild goats, and other wild game, incalculable multitudes of which, find ample pasturage and subsistence upon it.

   2This region, however, viewed as a frontier, may prove of infinite importance to the United States, inasmuch as it is calculated to serve as a barrier to prevent too great an extension of our population westward, and secure us against the machinations or incursions of an enemy, that might otherwise be disposed to annoy us in that quarter.

   3The Indians of the section last described, whose numbers are very limited, compared with the extent of country they inhabit, will be considered in the sequel of this report.

   1It was my intention to write a work on the Public Domain. The object of the volume was to give the extent and character of the lands yet belonging to the Government of the United States. Compared with the whole extent of these lands, but a very small fraction is immediately available for agriculture; in general, they require drainage or irrigation for their redemption.

   [...]

   2The eastern portion of the United States is supplied with abundant rainfall for agricultural purposes, receiving the necessary amount from the evaporation of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico; but westward the amount of aqueous precipitation diminishes in a general way until at last a region is reached where the climate is so arid that agriculture is not successful without irrigation. This Arid Region begins about midway in the Great Plains and extends across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. [...] Experience teaches that it is not wise to depend upon rainfall where the amount is less than 20 inches annually, if this amount is somewhat evenly distributed throughout the year; [...]

   3The isohyetal or mean annual rainfall line of 20 inches, as indicated on the rain chart accompanying this report, begins on the southern boundary of the United States, about 60 miles west of Brownsville, on the Rio Grande del Norte, and intersects the northern boundary about 50 miles east of Pembina. Between these two points the line is very irregular, but in middle latitudes makes a general curve to the westward.

   • Long's perspective (Source 1, paragraph 1)

     What did Major Long think of the country between the Council Bluffs and the Rocky Mountains, and what reason did he give?

     Result: Long judged the country "almost wholly unfit for cultivation, and of course uninhabitable by a people depending upon agriculture for their subsistence." His reason: "the scarcity of wood and water, almost uniformly prevalent" (paragraph 1). In his view, that scarcity was "an insuperable obstacle," a problem that could not be overcome.

   • Powell's perspective (Source 2, paragraph 2)

     Where did Powell say that farming would need irrigation?

     Result: Powell wrote that "a region is reached where the climate is so arid that agriculture is not successful without irrigation. This Arid Region begins about midway in the Great Plains" (paragraph 2). Powell did not call the land useless: he said farming there needs added water.

   • A how statement (Sources 1 and 2)

     Write one sentence that describes how the view of the western Plains changed from Long to Powell.

     Result: In Long's report of 1821, published in 1823, the region was "almost wholly unfit for cultivation"; in Powell's report of 1878, the Arid Region that begins midway in the Plains was land where farming could succeed only with irrigation. The view moved from "not farmland" to "farmland only with added water." The statement names the before, the after and both dates.

   • A why statement (Source 2, paragraph 3)

     Give one reason Powell could draw a different picture of the Plains than Long did, and name the kind of reason.

     Result: New evidence: Powell's report rests on a "mean annual rainfall line," shown "on the rain chart accompanying this report" (paragraph 3). Measured rainfall let him draw a line across the Plains marking where the dry country begins, instead of judging the whole region at once.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs read Source 3, from Wilber's 1881 book, and answer four questions. Circulate and ask each pair to point to the words that support each answer.

   1. In paragraph 1, what does Wilber say growing crops will cause? Explain his idea in your own words.
   2. Which kind of reason is this: new evidence, a new idea, a goal, or a position?
   3. In paragraph 3, find the four-word sentence that states Wilber's view most directly.
   4. Find one sentence in Source 3 that Powell (Source 2) would disagree with, and explain why.

   1The crop surface on the western border of settlements for 1879, extending north and south through Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, make a strip or belt ten miles wide and one thousand miles in length. During all the previous years and ages only sparse grass, in tufts or patches, has partially covered the ground, but now the new carpet of green, growing crops, for the first time wholly overspreads and shields the earth from the sun's heat. [...] In other words, the crop surface, from sprouting to ripening—a period of four to six months—is a condensing surface, and will cause an increase of rainfall all along the line of farms from north to south, increasing in amount until the average measure of precipitation is reached. Every year will show the work of a large army of pioneer farmers, who, armed with the plow, will overturn and conquer a wide belt of the wild prairie desert, thus preparing the way for a still further advance of rainfall.

   [...]

   23. The relation here stated is that of cause and effect. In other words, rain follows the plow. Across the States of Nebraska and Kansas, from east to west, over 300 miles, the plow has advanced in spite of prophetic starvation. The first settlers, twenty-five years ago, placed the desert limits just west of the Missouri river counties. These being occupied the desert line was established on the Big Blue, seventy miles beyond. But the farmer invaded the Big Blue Valley, and the desert line was established near Kearney, 190 miles west of Omaha. But the irrepressable plow broke the barrier in so many places that the desert-makers fled with their line to the 100th meridian, determined to have and enjoy a desert. But hordes of farmers have gone far beyond and secured farms whose products equal those of Iowa or Illinois.

   3There being really no reliable line or meridian which can be named as the boundary of our mythical American desert, I do not hesitate to say that it will never be found. There is no desert, neither is there any foundation in fact for the terms "non-farming," "non-irrigable," and "pasturage lands." These flimsy barriers have been interposed by wiseacres, kid-gloved experts and closet-philosophers, but the farmer with his plow tears them asunder, leaving us to remember the experts only as charlatans or quacks.

   Teacher key. 1. Wilber says the crop surface "is a condensing surface, and will cause an increase of rainfall all along the line of farms" (paragraph 1): he thought planted fields would shade the ground and bring more rain. 2. A new idea, a theory about rain; Wilber calls it "cause and effect" (paragraph 2). 3. "There is no desert" (paragraph 3). 4. Sample: Powell would disagree with Wilber's claim that farms beyond the 100th meridian had products that "equal those of Iowa or Illinois" (paragraph 2), because Powell placed that country in an Arid Region where "agriculture is not successful without irrigation" (Source 2, paragraph 2). Accept other sentences from paragraphs 1-3 with a reason from Source 2.

   Point out that Source 3 attacks the people who disagree with Wilber. One of the terms he rejects in paragraph 3, "pasturage lands," is a land class used in Powell's 1878 report. Wilber's claim that farming brings rain is his 1881 theory; Source 4 shows that Powell rejected it in 1878.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students work alone on Source 4, a second passage from Powell's 1878 report, in which Powell discusses why streams in the West seemed to be growing. They answer Quiz Questions 9-12 and 16, then write two sentences answering this question: Does Source 4 show Powell's own perspective changing, or Powell explaining why other people held a perspective he did not share? Students cite a paragraph for each sentence.

   1In the history of the settlement of the several districts an important fact has been uniformly observed--in the first years of settlement the streams have steadily increased in volume. This fact has been observed alike in California, Utah, Colorado, and wherever irrigation has been practiced. [...] An increase in the water supply, so universal of late years, has led to many conjectures and hypotheses as to its origin. It has generally been supposed to result from increased rainfall, and this increased rainfall now from this, now from that, condition of affairs. Many have attributed the change to the laying of railroad tracks and construction of telegraph lines; others to the cultivation of the soil, [...]

   2[...] In what manner rainfall could be affected through the cultivation of the land, building of railroads, telegraph lines, etc., has not been shown. Of course such hypotheses obtain credence because of a lack of information relating to the laws which govern aqueous precipitation. [...] But the operations of man on the surface of the earth are so trivial that the conditions which they produce are of minute effect, and in presence of the grand effects of nature escape discernment. Thus the alleged causes for the increase of rainfall fail. The rain gauge records of the country have been made but for a brief period, and the stations have been widely scattered, so that no very definite conclusions can be drawn from them, but so far as they are of value they fail to show any increase.

   3[...] If it is due to a temporary increase of rainfall, or any briefly cyclic cause, we shall have to expect a speedy return to extreme aridity, in which case a large portion of the agricultural industries of the country now growing up would be destroyed.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket. On an index card, students complete: "Between 1821 and 1881, some writers' view of the Great Plains changed from ______ to ______. One reason is ______, which is a kind of reason called ______." Collect the cards and sort them by the kind of reason chosen; start the next lesson with one card from each pile.

   Teacher notes. The sources use the words of their time, such as "Indians" in Source 1. Source 5 leaves out a paragraph in which Wilber uses an offensive phrase for Native nations; the cut is marked. Teach Wilber's rain theory as a historical perspective, not as science: Powell's report (Source 4) gives his reasons for rejecting it. Source 6 is written for this page and contains three deliberate errors for Activity 3.

   1In preparing this work the writer has endeavored to accomplish two purposes: First, to assure those who have already begun their homes in the region beyond the Missouri River, that its natural resources and attractions are second to none in the Middle and Eastern States; and, second, to convince those especially who are seeking homes and farms, or business and health, of the substantial facts that should determine a good investment.

   [...]

   2Throughout the West the people have generally accepted it as a fact that the area of increased precipitation is gradually extending toward the Rocky Mountains.

   3We admit as recent the dawn of this great truth, which, if established as a reality, implies not only a revolution of all preconceived notions in regard to the occupation of the Western plains, but also a reconstruction of the long-cherished plans of the founders of our government, who beheld in the Western Territories only a gloomy back-ground of constant care and trouble.

   [...]

   4That our ancestors should not only underrate but ignore the material resources of the West is very natural and excusable, because their attention was confined constantly to the narrow affairs of their own limited living, and in the Eastern States to-day large numbers of the present population still persist in shutting their eyes to the extraordinary enterprises for new homes and permanent business in the Trans-Missouri region; but we will attribute most of this disposition to the force of heredity.

   (1) In 1823, Major Long's report said the plains were "almost wholly unfit for cultivation." (2) By 1878, J. W. Powell agreed with Long that nobody could ever grow crops anywhere in the Arid Region. (3) Then, in 1881, C. D. Wilber called the plains "non-irrigable" land that farmers should avoid. (4) People's views changed because the weather on the plains got colder after 1850. (5) So the way some writers saw the plains changed from a place unfit for farms to a place where farms could succeed.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 1, paragraph 2, why does Long say the region "may prove of infinite importance to the United States"?

   AIts rivers could carry trade goods to the Pacific coast BIt could act as a barrier to settlement and to enemies CIts soil could grow wheat once trees were planted on it DIts gold and silver could pay the costs of the expedition

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 1, paragraph 1, what does Long think the region is well suited for?

   ATowns built along a future railroad line BSmall farms watered by deep wells CCattle ranches owned by eastern investors DA range for buffaloes and wild game

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 1, paragraph 1, Long extends his judgment to a much larger region. That part of his judgment rests partly on what?

   ALetters from farmers living there BRainfall measured at army forts CThe account given by Lewis and Clark DReports written by Spanish mission priests

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 2, paragraph 1, Powell writes that the lands "require drainage or irrigation for their redemption." What does redemption mean here?

   ABeing sold back to the first owners BBeing made useful for growing crops CBeing forgiven for an earlier mistake DBeing mapped and named by a survey

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 2, paragraph 2, experience teaches that it is not wise to depend upon rainfall where the yearly amount is less than how much (if it is spread evenly through the year)?

   A10 inches B40 inches C20 inches D80 inches

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 3, paragraph 2, what happened to the "desert line" as farmers moved west?

   AIt moved back east after several years of drought BIt stayed at the Missouri River for twenty-five years CIt was erased by Congress when Nebraska became a state DIt was moved farther west each time farms reached it

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 3, paragraph 2, Wilber says the plow advanced "in spite of prophetic starvation." What does he mean?

   ASettlers really did go hungry during the first hard winters there BFarmers kept going west though some predicted they would starve CProphets and preachers led the farmers to the new lands of Kansas DCrops grew so well that the farmers sold food to starving cities

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 3, paragraph 3, Wilber calls the people who disagree with him "wiseacres, kid-gloved experts and closet-philosophers." What do these words reveal about his perspective?

   AHe respected scientists who studied the West from offices BHe wanted Congress to hire more experts to study the land CHe scorned experts who judged land without farming it DHe thought thinkers knew more about the rain than farmers

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 4, paragraph 1, where had the growth of the streams been observed?

   AIn California, Utah, Colorado and wherever irrigation was used BOnly in Nebraska and Kansas, in the farm counties near the Missouri River COnly where rain gauges had been read for many decades DOnly beside the one railroad line that crossed the region

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Source 4, paragraph 1, which explanation for the extra water does Powell say people had suggested?

    AThe building of large dams across the mountain rivers BThe spread of irrigation from the Spanish missions CThe melting of old glaciers high in the Rocky Mountains DThe laying of railroad tracks and telegraph lines

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A hypothesis is a possible explanation that still needs testing. In Source 4, paragraph 2, why does Powell say such hypotheses "obtain credence" (win belief)?

    APeople lacked information about the laws that govern rain BRain gauge records proved that rainfall was rising fast CRailroad companies paid writers to spread the hypotheses DSettlers had kept careful weather diaries for many decades

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Aridity means very dry conditions. In Source 4, paragraph 3, what does Powell warn could happen if the increase in water is due to a temporary increase of rainfall?

    ASettlers would need to switch from growing wheat to growing corn BA return to extreme aridity could destroy many farm industries CCongress would be forced to buy back the farms from the settlers DThe streams would rise and flood the new towns along the rivers

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    The examples in this question are invented. Which sentence describes how a perspective changed, rather than why?

    AIn 1880 the paper called the bridge useless; by 1900, its pride. BThe paper's view changed because the bridge brought in customers. CThe paper's new editor owned a store on the far side of the bridge. DThe bridge was paid for with money borrowed from a far-off bank.

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In an invented example, a farmer calls one of her fields worthless in 1890. In 1895, after three years of good harvests on that field, she calls it her best land. What kind of reason best explains her change?

    AA change in her job and her position in town BA new goal for her family CNew evidence from her own harvests DA new theory she read about in a farm book

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Using Source 1, paragraph 1, and Source 3, paragraph 2, explain how views about whether farmers could settle the region changed between Long's report and Wilber's book. Give the dates and quote each source.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Using Source 4, paragraph 1, explain one reason settlers might have come to believe that rainfall was increasing. What kind of reason is it?

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Powell (1878) and Wilber (1881) wrote only three years apart but saw the same land differently. Give one reason from the sources that helps explain the difference, and name the kind of reason.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    In Source 1, paragraph 1, Long judges the country "uninhabitable by a people depending upon agriculture for their subsistence." Explain how this phrase shows that his perspective was shaped by the kind of land use he had in mind.

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19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Source 1, paragraph 3, mentions the people who already lived on the Plains. Whose perspective on the land is missing from Sources 1-4, and why does that matter for explaining how perspectives changed?

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write a paragraph of 3-4 sentences explaining how and why perspectives on the Great Plains changed between 1821 and 1881. Use at least two of Sources 1-4 and name the kind of each reason.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to D2.His.5.6-8: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.