William Penn: Frame of Government of Pennsylvania, 1682
This primary source can provide several ideas and quotes as inspiration for "Do Now" activities or to be included in a DBQ
01: Colonization
The Wampanoag Side of the First Thanksgiving Story - Indian Country Media Network
When Worlds Collide on Vimeo - 37 minutes
The untold story of the Americas after Columbus. This series, originally airing on National PBS television, explores the changes to both Europe and the Americas after 1492. The program was filmed on location in Spain, The Netherlands, Mexico, Peru and Bolivia. Hosted by Ruben Martinez.
The Puritans | Stanford History Education Group
What were the motivations and ideals of the Puritans who settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony? In this lesson, students source, corroborate, and contextualize speeches from John Winthrop and John Cotton to explore the Puritans’ motivations. Students also practice using historical evidence to construct a written answer to the question: Were the Puritans selfish or selfless?
Examining Passenger Lists | Stanford History Education Group
What can passenger lists from ships arriving in North American colonies tell us about those who immigrated? And what can those characteristics tell us about life in the colonies themselves? In this lesson, students critically examine the passenger lists of ships headed to New England and Virginia to better understand English colonial life in the 1630s.
Richard Frethorne to his father and mother, March 20, April 2 and 3, 1623 Richard Frethorne to his father and mother, March 20, April 2 and 3, 1623 The Records of the Virginia Company of London
This is how one indentured servant described his experiences at Jamestown in the 1620s
Virtual Jamestown: First-Hand Accounts
Animated interactive of the history of the Atlantic slave trade.
Plymouth Colony Legal Structure
Something to put alongside the towering pile of Mayflower Compact lessons. Much more detailed, pertinent and worthwhile, this short record with excerpts from laws, ordinances and listings will open the Plymouth to student's understanding in ways that Compact won't.
The Mail-Order Brides of Jamestown, Virginia - The Atlantic
Most US History teachers assume they would never have a chance to reference a reality show like the Bachelorette when teaching students about Jamestown. But that's only becuase the efforts of the Virginia Company to entice women to emigrate never made into the textbooks.
Codex Mendoza (1542) – The Public Domain Review
The Codex Mendoza is an Aztec codex, created about twenty years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico with the intent that it be seen by Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. It contains a history of the Aztec rulers and their conquests, a list of the tribute paid by the conquered, and a description of daily Aztec life, in traditional Aztec pictograms with Spanish explanations and commentary
The Great Dying 1616-1619, “By God’s visitation, a wonderful plague” – Historic Ipswich
This article describing the effect of European diseases on Native populations in the 1600s is replete with primary source quote. Teachers could pull quotes for a DBQ (even as justification for Manifest Destiny ie. God is clearing the land of native populations by killing them), or the reading can easily be used as a textbook reading replacement
El Requerimiento by Juan López de Palacios Rubios (1513)
This document sets forth the legal and religious justification of Europeans to conquest native populations of the Americas and take their land. The last two paragraphs could be included in a document exercise for students. How does this weave legal and religious justification? How does absolve soldiers from moral responsibility for war? Students having difficulty understanding the text should be reminded that native populations had an even more difficult time
Sarah Rapalje
Teachers who want their students to dive into just one colonists life to understand colonial history can choose this Dutch girl was married before she was 15 years old and had 15 children herself. The story lies outside of Virginia/Massachusetts and says just as much about colonial America
The New Map of Empire | MapScholar
Maps and visualizations for S. Max Edelson, The New Map of Empire: How Britain Imagined America before Independence (Harvard University Press, 2017).
Section 18A:36-13 - Patriotic exercises preceding holidays. :: 2013 New Jersey Revised Statutes :: US Codes and Statutes :: US Law :: Justia
This state law of New Jersey mandates that public schools in the state will have "appropriate exercises for a higher spirit of patriotism" before certain holidays, including Columbus Day. Teachers can ask students if this is appropriate or better yet, ask them to find out the history of this law. What does this law reveal about New Jersey?
New Netherland Institute :: Home
The greatest collection of Dutch records from the New Netherlands and what would later become Manhattan are available here. In many ways, the early Dutch colony was more indicative of what the United States would become than either New England or Virginia. It has been long neglected by history teachers and the K-12 history education industry. Maps, primary source documents are available here, but there are no lesson plans, DBQs or lesson-based materials.
Description of the New Netherlands : Donck, Adriaen van der, 1620-1655 (Book)
This 24 page description of the Dutch colony of New Netherland was not translated until the 19th century, leaving much of the history of the colonies to the English, and not the Dutch. Teachers should have students search the word "Indians" to see the half dozen or so descriptions of disease, how Natives saw colonists and other interactions with the Native Americans
The Economic History of the Fur Trade: 1670 to 1870
This shows the depth of data available to modern historians - tracking the changing pelt market in North America during European colonization. This is not an instructional material, though perhaps statistics or graphs can be used
Diary of an Indentured Servant, by John Harrower, 1900 (Book)
Diary of John Harrower, 1773-1776 : Diary of an Indentured Servant, by John Harrower, 1900 (Book)
A Model of Christian Charity - An Interactive Lesson
When Young George Washington Started a War | History | Smithsonian
Detailed article provides context of the contested back country of Virginia and Western Pennsylvania in the mid 1700s, yet is most useful in the author's description of a document he recently found which adds much to the understanding of George Washington's role.
The Law Against Lying and False News in Colonial Massachusetts | Massachusetts Law Updates
The Invention of Thanksgiving | The New Yorker
This article could not be used by students, but serves teachers well in filling out there understanding of Native Americans and the Thanksgiving myth before planning what to do with the holiday in their classes. This article focuses most on the Native history though provides a concise description of the development of the holiday itself
The LOC.GOV Wise Guide : Thanksgiving
Quick summary of the other events competing for the title of "first Thanksgiving" - no real information, but quick and easy list
America's Real First Thanksgiving - Jax History
One of the better essays of the Thanksgivings before Thanksgiving" school, describing the French and Spanish celebrations in Florida and how they were introduced to the public awareness in the mid 1960s.
Thankstaking - Commonplace - The Journal of early American Life
Brief article that re-frames the "What about the original Thanksgiving" question and makes the point that these holidays say less about than, than what we want to say about ourselves now.
Come On, Lilgrim - Commonplace - The Journal of early American Life
This essay frames the "Thanksgiving Question" of how much to debunk about the popular understanding into an inquiry that seeks to understand how such powerful myths make their way into our understanding in the first place.
The Invention of the “Indian” | Facing History and Ourselves
Short article can be used by teachers to explain how a term, or label, can emerge in context, then persist through time, long after the context that contributed to it emergence disappears
Before the Mayflower | History Today
This article is interesting not only for its ability to show us once again, that we should always be hesitant to claim that an event was the "first ever", there is always more evidence out there to disprove our assertions. But this story of an failed expedition of religious refugees before the pilgrims exposes another element of history - some of the stories are just not told. It could be shared with students for those two reasons alone, but it also shows how French, Spanish and English were struggling for what every they could get a hold of in North America