The American Old West (1789-1916)

I was asked to give a presentation on “American Pioneers” for the Teacher Training program I’m involved with. I said, “great, I’m related to some of the Old West pioneers – I could probably talk about that a little.”

But as I got to work building the PPT, I realized there was actually a LOT of stuff that I was only marginally familiar with. And as I dug deeper, I became enthralled with my study of the American Old West – it’s quite fascinating.

Breakdown

This presentation is LONG (200+ slides in total). Although that’s partially due to splitting US map gifs depicting the growth of the nation into multiple slides, I think the full PPT and contents contained within are of such a length as to warrant multiple blog posts. Therefore, the full presentation will be broken down in this way:

1. Brief introduction (this section)
2. Historical Old West
3. Sensational Old West (Top Ten Rivalries)
4. Real Old West (Oregon Trail PPT Game)

Continue reading below for a description of each concurrent section.

Brief introduction

This presentation begins almost where my Hamilton presentation ends. (But it includes some important events that took place during the Federalist Era while Hamilton was still alive, such as the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.)

Hamilton was shot and killed in 1804 in a duel with then Vice President Aaron Burr. The Louisiana Purchase was made in 1803, which began the period of westward expansion in the US.

Historical Old West

The period of the American Old West can be broken down into three major sections:

1. Westward Expansion (1789-1849)
2. American Civil War (1849-1865)
3. Industrialization (1865-1918)

Sensational Old West (Top Ten Rivalries)

The American Old West is probably most well known for stories of “cowboys vs. Indians” or “outlaws vs. lawmen.” While many stories are true, much of what we think of when we think of the Old West has been sensationalized to the point of legend.

This section will include cowboys, Indians, outlaws, and lawmen, but will focus more on the biggest rivalries during that period than on individuals. I’ve selected the following ten rivalries to focus on:

1. Hamilton vs. Burr (1804)
2. North vs. South (1861-1865)
3. Cowboys vs. Indians (1883-1913)
4. US Army vs. Indians (1775-1924)
5. Man vs. Wild (1836-1869)
6. Outlaws vs. Lawmen (1865-1890)
7. Government vs. Big Business (Trust-busting) (1900-1917)
8. Hatfields vs. McCoys (& other famous feuds) (1863-1891)
9. Blacks vs. Whites (the title is an obvious over-simplification) (1526-??)
10. Mormons vs. Anti-Mormons (1823-1847)

Real Old West (Oregon Trail PPT Game)

The Oregon Trail is probably the best known example of American westward expansion and “manifest destiny.” It was largely popularized for a generation of students in the 1970s and 80s on the Apple II computer, and other devices, in the form of a computer game developed by MECC.

The Oregon Trail game is a classic (I grew up with it as well), and arguably the top educational game of all time. It introduced players to the harsh realities of the Oregon Trail in a fun and educational way. Therefore, this section of the PPT partially attempts to recreate the experience of the computer game as a PPT game that can be played in a classroom. It is divided into two sections:

1. Exploring the Oregon Trail computer game + landmarks
2. Oregon Trail PPT game