Stage 4: U.S. Context | Unit 12

STEP 1

Read the U.S. Context Section

Your editor now has a U.S. Context section after the Timeline. Scroll down in the Live Preview and read it. This section does not require you to do any research, it is pre-written for you. Its job is to answer one question: what was happening in the United States that caused the federal government to treat Tribal nations this way?

Federal Indian policy did not happen in a vacuum. It was driven by very specific political, economic, and ideological forces. Understanding those forces helps explain why the Treaty-Making Era ended when it did, and why it ended the way it did.

Why This Section Is Pre-Written

Your job in these era units is to become the expert on the Tribal side of this history. The U.S. Context section gives you the surrounding frame so your research has more meaning. You did not need to research it, but you do need to understand it, because it will inform how you write your My Research section in Stage 5.

STEP 2

The Context Grid Layout

The U.S. Context section uses a simple CSS grid to arrange four context cards side by side. This is the same auto-fill grid pattern you have used before, now applied to a prose-heavy layout instead of flip cards.

// auto-fill wraps columns based on available width .context-grid {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fill, minmax(280px, 1fr));
  gap: 20px;
}

Notice the same pattern from the cases grid: repeat(auto-fill, minmax(280px, 1fr)). The browser fills as many 280px columns as it can, then wraps the rest. On a wide screen you get 4 cards across. On a narrow screen they stack. One rule, infinite screen sizes handled.

The context cards use a border-top instead of a border-left as their accent color. This is a small design variation that creates a different visual rhythm than the timeline event cards. The top border acts as a "tab" identifying the card's category at a glance.

// Border-top accent instead of border-left .context-card {
  border-top: 3px solid var(--rust);
  background: var(--bg-card);
  border-radius: 10px;
  padding: 24px;
}

STEP 3

Write Your U.S. Connection

Scroll to the bottom of the #us-context section in your editor. You will see a .student-connection box with a comment placeholder. Replace the comment with a paragraph of your own writing.

Write 2-3 sentences answering this question: How did one event from U.S. history during 1778-1871 connect to or affect federal Indian policy?

You can draw on anything from the context cards you just read, your timeline research, or the flip card cases. Write in Google Docs first, then paste your paragraph here.

Connection Prompts: Choose One

You do not have to use one of these, but they may help you get started:

How did the Louisiana Purchase (1803) change the U.S. government's approach to Tribal removal? The government now had "somewhere to send" eastern Tribes.

How did the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and the acquisition of California and the Southwest affect Tribal nations in those regions? New Tribes came under U.S. jurisdiction overnight.

How did the completion of the transcontinental railroad (1869) make the end of treaty-making more likely? Railroad routes cut through treaty-protected Tribal lands, creating new pressure to extinguish those protections.

How did the Civil War (1861-1865) change the U.S. military and its relationship to Tribal nations? A battle-hardened army with no more Confederate soldiers to fight was redeployed to the West.

Write First, Then Paste

Open a Google Doc, write your paragraph there, then copy it here. Do not try to write directly in the code editor. The editor is for pasting your finished writing into the HTML structure.

STEP 4

Why Context Belongs on a History Site

A website that only shows what happened, without explaining why, leaves readers without understanding. The U.S. Context section is what separates a list of facts from an argument. It tells the reader: here is the world these events happened in, here is who held power, here is what they wanted and why they pursued it.

Every design decision in this section supports that goal. The rust top border on the context cards signals that this section has the same weight and credibility as the Key Cases section. The lead paragraph sets up the question before the cards answer it. The student connection box at the bottom gives you a voice alongside the pre-written material, because your perspective on this history matters too.

Stage 4 Complete!

Your site now has four sections: Hero, Key Cases, Timeline, and U.S. Context. In Stage 5 you will add the My Research section, where you paste in the writing you have been developing across this unit and publish it as part of your site.