This teacher's resource challenges students to think about the gold nugget that began the California gold rush as a valuable resource for understanding westward expansion and the idea of Manifest Destiny. It includes a preliminary activity intended to introduce students to doing history with objects and 3 lesson plans focused on the Gold Rush experience. Also included are annotated links to other online resources that are related to western history and the California gold rush.

This resource is included in The Object of History, a cooperative project between the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and George Mason University's Center for History and New Media.