Oman, Andrew Jackson, and trade: Early United States diplomatic efforts to establish international trade and commerce worldwide.

Elementary and middle school textbooks and state social studies curriculum frameworks rarely mention international or foreign trade beyond the slave trade. As textbooks and curriculum frameworks focus on slavery, trade with Native Americans, the Triangular trade, and interstate commerce, students develop a misconception that the US was not engaged in efforts to establish trade and expand international trade prior to Reconstruction. In this lesson, student misconceptions will be challenged as they examine international trade before Reconstruction.