I teach early US to 10th graders and wanted some help finding sources about the Scalping Market that has been discussed here a few times.
I know that there was a price for scalps in Mexico and in the Border States in the US. Beyond that though, my knowledge of the subject is pretty bare bones.
Are there solid sources that discuss the conflicts between Mexico, the U.S., and the Native Tribes?
Or, any other recommendation for reading on Manifest Destiny would be much appreciated.
You might want to look at Pekka Hämäläinen's The Comanche Empire, which is an excellent source for contextualizing warfare in the Southwest in the 18th and 19th centuries. He discusses Mexican scalp bounties on p. 228, but the contextual material is what makes his book worthwhile - it's from the Comanche point of view, but it offers a really illuminating take on US-Mexican-Native relations, particularly at the time of the Mexican-American war.
See also Ralph A. Smith, "The Scalp Hunter in the Borderlands 1835-1850," Arizona and the West, vol. 6 (Spring, 1964): 5-22. Much of the material Smith discusses is also available at this webpage.