01: Colonization

01: Colonization

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Prevalence of Slavery in New Jersey | Truehart Productions
Prevalence of Slavery in New Jersey | Truehart Productions
"New Jersey, the Garden State, is known for its produce, but not for the enslaved people who tilled the soil. In this two-part documentary, descendants and historians tell their stories and why it was the last northern state to end the institution of slavery."
Prevalence of Slavery in New Jersey | Truehart Productions
Civics and Government - Themed Resources
Civics and Government - Themed Resources
Review an early draft of the Constitution with revisions and marginal notations as well as the Declaration of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation. Read about presidents and the presidency, leaders of the new nation, elections, and inaugurations. Find resources to teach about constitutional issues ranging from women's suffrage to slavery and desegregation from Library of Congress
Civics and Government - Themed Resources
Cultures at Jamestown
Cultures at Jamestown
Three cultures converged at Jamestown - the Powhatan Indians, the English and the Africans - each of whom had their own unique way of life. Students compare and contrast these three cultures and learn about their interactions.
Cultures at Jamestown
Colonizing the Bay | EDSITEment
Colonizing the Bay | EDSITEment
This lesson focuses on the content of John Winthrop’s speech and how it illuminates the Puritans’ beliefs, goals, and programs. It requires a close reading of a difficult text – but one that yields significant benefits to those who persist and analyze it closely.
Colonizing the Bay | EDSITEment
Images of the New World | EDSITEment
Images of the New World | EDSITEment
This lesson will enable students to interact with written and visual accounts of this critical formative period at the end of the 16th century, when the English view of the New World was being formulated, with consequences that we are still seeing today.
Images of the New World | EDSITEment
Lesson 1: The First Great Awakening | EDSITEment
Lesson 1: The First Great Awakening | EDSITEment
By examining primary documents from the time, this lesson will introduce students to the ideas, practices, and evangelical spirit of the First Great Awakening.
Lesson 1: The First Great Awakening | EDSITEment
Mapping Colonial New England: Looking at the Landscape of New England | EDSITEment
Mapping Colonial New England: Looking at the Landscape of New England | EDSITEment
In this lesson, students learn to interpret the built environment through text and image. They also study maps as a key way of shaping territory and transmitting cultural knowledge. This lesson explores the landscape of New England as a way of understanding the contrasting ways that the Europeans and Indians understood the land and how to use it
Mapping Colonial New England: Looking at the Landscape of New England | EDSITEment
Daily Life and Diversity in 18th Century Philadelphia
Daily Life and Diversity in 18th Century Philadelphia
In this education program, students will develop an understanding of daily life in 18th century Philadelphia by exploring the people, material culture, and larger historical context related to four specific households. Guided webquest takes students through houses to meet residents and learn about their lives. Site sponsored by the National Park Service
Daily Life and Diversity in 18th Century Philadelphia
Colonial | Stanford History Education Group
Colonial | Stanford History Education Group
The lessons in the Colonial Unit introduce students to many of the themes in the curriculum.  In the Pocahontas lesson, students question Disney's account of Pocahontas's encounter with John Smith.  Students engage in three additional inquiries: one about the Puritans, one about the causes of King Philip's War, and one about the causes of the Salem Witch trials.  The Colonial Unit is unique in that it introduces students to different types of historical evidence such as maps and passenger lists, and asks students to consider what claims can be made on the basis of these special documents.
Colonial | Stanford History Education Group
An Explorer's View of Maryland: Can we Believe Him?
An Explorer's View of Maryland: Can we Believe Him?

In what at first looks like another overly-ambitious lesson, the resources provided with this lesson make it clear that it can absolutely be done. valuable critical thinking skills and historical analysis are exercised in this lesson. Be sure to look through the resources provided, there is enough material here to run the lesson right out of the box.

Students will practice using historical thinking skills including sourcing, close reading, contextualizing and corroborating to evaluate John Smith's Map of Virginia (1612) by comparing and contrasting Smith's map with Augustine Herrman's Map (1670) and a map of Maryland today. Students will draw conclusions about the reliability of the Smith map as a primary source and explore the changes in Maryland through an analysis of these maps.

An Explorer's View of Maryland: Can we Believe Him?
Early American Government, Plymouth Style
Early American Government, Plymouth Style

The purpose of this lesson is for students to gain an understanding of the establishment of a democratic government in America by studying Jamestown, Plymouth, and St. Mary's City to identify how early settlements adapted and survived in America.

Either run the whole lesson, or just pick out the Mayflower Compact analysis materials

Early American Government, Plymouth Style
Colonial and Early America - Themed Resources
Colonial and Early America - Themed Resources
Learn about colonization and the colonial experience by examining maps, letters and other primary documents. Trace the origins and celebration of Thanksgiving in the United States through images and documents. From Library of Congress
Colonial and Early America - Themed Resources
American as Pumpkin Pie - BackStory with the American History Guys
American as Pumpkin Pie - BackStory with the American History Guys
In this BackStory Podcast episode historian James McWilliams discusses why the Puritans would have turned up their noses at our “traditional” Thanksgiving foods. Religion scholar Anne Blue Wills reveals the Victorian origins of our modern holiday, and one woman’s campaign to fix it on the national calendar. An archeologist at Colonial Williamsburg explains what garbage has to tell us about early American diets. And legendary NFL quarterback Roger Staubach describes what it was like to spend every turkey day on the football field
American as Pumpkin Pie - BackStory with the American History Guys
Common-place: Talk of the Past: Thankstaking
Common-place: Talk of the Past: Thankstaking
Is Columbus truly the moral equivalent of Hitler, as some of his critics argue? Was the 'first Thanksgiving' merely a pretext for the bloodshed, enslavement, and displacement that would follow in later decades? This article answers both questions by answering neither and arguing instead that the crafting of holidays to fit a national need is not new. The invention of Columbus Day and Thanksgiving in the form we know them today, is not any different than the ways in which some groups are trying to refashion them today.
Common-place: Talk of the Past: Thankstaking
The State of Rhode Island General Laws
The State of Rhode Island General Laws
Although there are many lessons that require students to read the PReamble to the United States, they may learn more about colonial America by reading the Preamble to the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Yes, that the legal name of the state.  It wouldn't hurt to skim the document for other surprises.  Look at how it described the freedom of religion.  Notice how slavery is prohibited.
The State of Rhode Island General Laws
Serving Time in Virginia
Serving Time in Virginia
Chapter from "After the Fact" posted by Faulkner University. Taken from a book about the craft of an historian this provides great insight into the problem of trying to figure out why the death rate in colonial was so high even after the original settlement. Spoiler alert - the reason has to do with colonists growing more tobacco for money than food for survival. This chapter has been used successfully in high school classes. 5th grade teachers would find it interesting and supply contextual information for other lessons
Serving Time in Virginia
A Puritan's Mind » Once Upon A Time, When Christmas Was Banned… - by C. Danko
A Puritan's Mind » Once Upon A Time, When Christmas Was Banned… - by C. Danko
Rather than overplay the Puritans quest for religious freedom, teachers should demonstrate a more authentic understanding of the tenants of the Puritan faith. This article explains the outlawing of Christmas celebrations in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Maybe this is one that can be thrown out there in December, right before break.
A Puritan's Mind » Once Upon A Time, When Christmas Was Banned… - by C. Danko
Colonial Law and Order
Colonial Law and Order
From the Center for learning - a list of colonial laws that students classify according to their purpose. This could be at the hear of a quick critical thinking lesson in which students try to determine what laws can help us learn about a people and a place.
Colonial Law and Order
A New Life – Puritan and Indian Children
A New Life – Puritan and Indian Children
There were many instances of Indian children taken in by colonial families and raised in their lifestyle and vice versa. Yet, according to Ben Franklin, Indian children would often escape to go back live with their own people, yet colonial children would often stay with their new Indian families. More research would be needed to gauge the true extent of this phenomenon, but this is enough to share with students. Perhaps just the quote, would serve as a class intro activity.
A New Life – Puritan and Indian Children