Last updated: August 22, 2024
Lesson Plan
Correspondents, Soldiers and Spies: Women in the U.S.-Mexican War
Learn about how women helped the war effort in the Mexican-American War.
War News from Mexico, Richard Catton Woodville, 1848. Crystal Bridges Museum of Art.
- Grade Level:
- Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade
- Subject:
- Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 90 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 4.SL.1.c, 4.SL.1.d, 4.SL.4, 4.SL.6
- State Standards:
- State: TX Subject: United States History Grade Level: 8
State Standards
(6) History (B), (C), (D)
•(23) Culture (E)
•(24) Culture (B)
Grade Level 11
State Standards
•(26) Culture (A)
•(29) Social Studies Skills (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), (F - Additional Standards:
- AP U.S. History Key Concepts:
KC-4.2.II.C Gender and family roles
KC-4.1.III.C Women’s rights movement
KC-5.1.I.B Manifest Destiny
KC-5.1.I.C. Adding large territories in the West - Thinking Skills:
- Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts. Evaluating: Make informed judgements about the value of ideas or materials. Use standards and criteria to support opinions and views.
Essential Question
What roles did women have during the U.S.-Mexican War?
How did the roles of women during the U.S.-Mexican War support or refute the “socially acceptable” roles of women of the era?
Objective
Students will analyze primary source documents to:
• Differentiate how the U.S.-Mexican War affected the lives of women from both countries.
• Identify various roles women held.
• Learn about women who contributed to the war effort and compare/contrast their roles with traditional female roles of the era.
• Compare/contrast women’s perspectives of the U.S.-Mexican War.
Background
In the decades prior to the U.S.-Mexican War, the U.S. Market Revolution was booming in the east and with it the rise of industry and the early factory system, shifting the country from an agrarian to an industrial society. Religious fervor swept across the “Burned-Over” District of upstate New York and New England, bringing along with it increased involvement of women in social and moral reforms. Temperance, Abolition, Education, Prison and Asylum reforms and the push for women’s suffrage began to take hold at the same time as the U.S-Mexican War. In the background, a new idea known as Manifest Destiny captivated the imagination of the U.S. public. Manifest Destiny called for U.S. westward expansion from the Atlantic to the Pacific. To fulfill Manifest Destiny, Congress needed to approve Texas annexation and land had to be obtained from Mexico.
The U.S.-Mexican War was highly contested among politicians and civilians. Antebellum Reform and arguments over the expansion of slavery gripped the nation. Women were major participants in Antebellum Reform movements and had strong opinions about the War. Those in favor of Manifest Destiny viewed the War as a chance to expand the U.S. boundary to the Pacific Ocean and open up new territories for individuals to settle and businesses to reach their ever-growing markets. Those in favor of abolition opposed the War and feared it would expand slavery into the new territories.
Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park preserves the site of the first battle of the U.S.-Mexican War. During the War, women were an important presence both on the home front and on the battlefield. Many U.S. and Mexican women took on traditional roles of cooks, laundresses, and nurses. These women upheld the standards of the “cult of domesticity” and traditional gender roles of the era.
However, some women took on unconventional roles such as soldiers, spies and war correspondents. These women broke away from the “domestic sphere” of the home, entered the “public sphere,” and were involved in politics, the military, and other traditionally male arenas. Through the experiences of these unconventional women, we can learn how women both kept to and challenged their role in society and how this mirrored the experiences of those women pushing for women’s rights during this time.
Preparation
- Computers or tablets with internet access so students can read “Their stories: Women in the U.S.-Mexican War”
- Print 1 copy of each primary source document station packets and Images 1-5.
- Place Images 1-4 at the front of the room for the Lesson Hook/Preview.
- Place primary source document packets in stations in the classroom or hallway.
- Place Image 5 in station 2.
- Print 1 copy for each student of the Venn Diagram Worksheet for primary source documents and the Women in the U.S.-Mexican War chart.
*Teacher may edit and cut down the length of the primary source documents
Materials
Sketch of Eliza Allen Billings in traditional dress
Sheet music
Sheet music
Sketch of Eliza Allen Billings in traditional dress
Sketch of Eliza Allen Billings in nontraditional dress
Students will analyze traditional roles by reading the following primary sources: o Song lyrics o Poem o Article in the Martinsburg Gazette
Download Station 1: Caregivers
Students will analyze traditional roles by examining the following primary sources: o Articles in the Niles National Register o Image
Download Station 2: Sarah Bowman
Students will analyze nontraditional roles by examining the following primary sources: o Senate report & bill o Book excerpts o Letters
Students will analyze untraditional roles by examining the following primary sources: o Letter o Article in the New England Mercury
Students will analyze nontraditional roles by examining the following primary sources: o Letter o Article in the United States Magazine & Democratic Review
Download Station 5: War Correspondents
Students will analyze nontraditional roles by examining the following primary sources: o Article in Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book o Article in the Niles National Register
Download Station 6: Views on the Home front
Lesson Hook/Preview
- Show students Image 1 without text and Images 2 & 3.*
- Ask:
- How do you think U.S. women contributed to the U.S.-Mexican War?
- What roles did U.S. women have during the War?
- How do you think Mexican women contributed to the War?
- What roles did Mexican women have during the U.S.-Mexican War?
- Have students justify their answers.
- Show Image 4 & 5
- Discuss reasons why Image 5 is considered an untraditional female role.
*Instead of Image 3, teachers may substitute an image of a Mexican family from the Amon Carter museum
Procedure
Step 1: Have students talk with a partner or have a class discussion about their answers to the questions in the Lesson Hook/Preview. (5 minutes)
Step 2: Have students read the Cult of Domesticity in their textbooks. (5 minutes)
Step 3: Assign two-three students to work together using mixed ability pairs.
Step 4: Assign each group a station to start (i.e., Group 1 starts at Station 1, etc.)
Step 5: After 10 minutes, tell groups to move to the next station. Continue rotating until each group goes to each station. (60 minutes total)
Step 6: Review the origins of the Women’s suffrage movement. (5-10 minutes)
Step 7: Lead students in a roundtable discussion about the role of women during the U.S.-Mexican War. Ask questions such as: Would these women support women’s suffrage? Why or why not? (10- 15 minutes)
Vocabulary
- Abolition: the act of officially ending or stopping something
- Agrarian: of, relating to, or characteristic of farmers or their way of life
- Antebellum: occurring or existing before a particular war
- Burned Over District: area in western and central New York state where religious revivals of the Second Great Awakening and the majority of antebellum reform movements took place
- Cottage Industry: an industry whose labor force consists of family units or individuals working at home with their own equipment
- Cult of Domesticity: Also known as the “Cult of True Womanhood,” a term used to describe the 1800s roles in society of middle class and upper class women; Based on the societal belief that women should stay at home and not get involved in public affairs and that women were more religious, pure, submissive, and domestic than men.
- Domestic Sphere: the social order encompassing family and home
- Manifest Destiny: Belief in the right for the U.S. to expand and exert influence in western lands
- Market Revolution: drastic economic changes in 19th century U.S. during which transportation, communication and industry were improved.
- Public Sphere: the social order encompassing public and political affairs
- Suffrage: the right to vote
- Temperance: moderation in or abstinence from drinking alcohol
Supports for Struggling Learners
- Highlighted text
- Read text out loud prior to answering questions
- Mixed-ability partnerships
Enrichment Activities
- Write epitaphs for one or several women based on their role in the U.S.-Mexican War.
- Write an essay about which role you would have played – traditional or untraditional.