Lesson Plans

Aaron Burr on the Natchez Trace

After Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton, he traveled to the Natchez Trace and pulled Andrew Jackson into a scheme to divide the Nation and create a new country. President Thomas Jefferson ordered the former vice-president to be arrested and tried for treason. The trial was one of the first celebrity trials in the U.S. and it set precedents in the law of executive privilege and treason.

Lesson plan in development.

Abraham Lincoln

on the Natchez Trace

Abraham Lincoln was one of many young farmers from the Ohio River Valley, called “Kaintucks” who floated farm goods down the Mississippi River and walked hundreds of miles back home on the Natchez Trace.

Lesson plan in development.

Meriwether Lewis

on the Natchez Trace

Meriwether Lewis, the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, died at an inn on the Natchez Trace in 1809. He was buried beside the road. The cause of his death—whether suicide or murder—remains a mystery. Then serving as Governor of the Upper Louisiana Territory, Meriwether Lewis was traveling to Washington to defend his expenses and reputation. He was also carrying the now infamous journals of the expedition to meet with his publisher.

Lewis was supposedly shot twice. His throat was cut. His money was missing. A forged letter sent to Thomas Jefferson claimed Lewis committed suicide.

Lesson plan in development.

The Friendship of

Chickasaw Chief Piominko

and

James Robertson

that Created Nashville

In the early 20th century, Nashville school books included a section on Chickasaw Chief Piominko and his role in the creation of Nashville. James Robertson, now called “The Father of Nashville,” and Piominko developed a friendship that saved both Robertson’s fledgling settlement on the Cumberland River, and Piominko’s town in the center of the Chickasaw Nation. Piominko, known as “The Mountain Leader,” allowed Robertson’s settlement to exist on Chickasaw land and suggested that a road be built between the two towns. Early Tennessee maps identified the road as “Piominko’s Trace” or “Mountain Leader’s Trace.” Settlers called it “The Natchez Trace.” Piominko sent Chickasaw men to help Nashville soldiers fight against Shawnee warriors in the Battle of St. Clair. Robertson violated orders from the War Department to send militia soldiers to defend Piominko’s town against Creek warriors.

It was a friendship that built a city and a road that helped build a nation.

Lesson plan in development.

Thomas Jefferson’s Secret Construction Project:

Converting the Natchez Trace into one of the First Federal Highways Built for Wheels

Thomas Jefferson’s vision for the United States was to make it a nation that extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific and to the Gulf of Mexico. In 1803, he sent a letter to Congress marked “Confidential.” Half the letter requested funds to send Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery to the Pacific. The other half requested support to expand settlements and militias into the Chickasaw Nation to secure the Mississippi River. What Jefferson called a “military road” to be built along the Indian trail would be one of the first highways built by the federal government. It would also be novel in that it would be designed for wheel travel to permit wagons to haul supplies for troops. Officially, it would be called “The Columbian Highway,” but soldiers and settlers called it “The Natchez Trace.” The road fulfilled Jefferson’s dual mission of providing a route for soldiers during the War of 1812, and opening a super-highway for immigration into the Indian nations after the war. Today, remaining portions of Jefferson’s road run through several southern towns as county roads and city streets.

The secret road that Thomas Jefferson built for wheels is now traveled by automobile.

Lesson plan in development.