Thirteen Colonies
Cross Curricular
Writing Activity
Social Studies Grade 4
Fourth Grade Social Studies
Standard
• The learner will determine the
reasons for colonial settlement.
At the end of this presentation:
• You will write about the
reasons the early settlers
came to the America.
The Thirteen Colonies
• When the first people came
to America they settled in
areas that later became
states.
• States had not been formed
yet so these areas of
settlement were called
colonies.
The Thirteen Colonies
• A colony is "a region that is ruled by a
faraway government."
• In most of the American colonies, the
government that ruled from afar was
that of England.
• There were many reasons why people
wanted to move to the colonies.
– Economic problems or difficulty getting
and keeping things that people need or
want
– Human rights problems caused when a
person's basic rights are denied
• A right is "the freedom to do a certain activity"
for example freedom of speech or the freedom
to practice the religion of your choice.
A New Start
• The colonists viewed coming to the new
world as a way to make a new start and
each group had their own reasons for
leaving Europe.
• The differences between the groups were
the reasons they went to the New World, for
example looking for religious freedom or
hoping to get rich, and how each group's
colony was set up in the New World.
Reasons for Coming to the New
World:
• They could not find work in Europe.
• They did not have the opportunity to
practice their chosen religion.
• They could not afford to own land in
Europe.
Moving to the New World provided
solutions to each problem.
• There was work for every trade in the New
World.
• In the New World the colonists were able to
practice whatever religion they chose.
• Land was offered for free or at a very low
cost to the colonists.
th
17
Century Settlers
Most settlers who came to America in the 17th
century were English, but there were also:
• Dutch
• Swedes
• Germans in the middle region
• French Huguenots in South Carolina and
elsewhere
• Slaves from Africa, primarily in the South
• Spaniards, Italians and Portuguese
throughout the colonies
Early Explorers in America
• Captain Pedro Menendez de Aviles
– Spain
• Count de Frontenac – France
AVILES, PEDRO
MENENDEZ DE
• Captain Pedro Menendez de Aviles (Feb.
15, 1519-Sept. 17, 1574) was a brutal
Spanish sailor, soldier, explorer, and
conquistador.
•The King of Spain sent Aviles
to Florida in the New World, to
start a Spanish settlement (St.
Augustine, in northeastern
Florida), and to decimate a
nearby French settlement (Fort
Caroline).
St. Augustine
• Menendez founded a new city and
named it St. Augustine.
• The year was 1565.
• They built a fort called a
presidio for protection, the
Castillo de San Marcos.
Ranches and Haciendas
• Some ranchers in the borderlands of
northern Mexico built large estates called
Haciendas where they raised cattle and
sheep.
Missions
• The Spanish king wanted to bring the holy
Catholic faith to the people.
• They sent missionaries called Franciscans
who built missions for small religious
communities.
Nombre de Dios
is the oldest Spanish
Mission in the U.S. Missions
were used to spread
Christianity.
Indians
• The Spanish and the Indians learned from one
another.
• The Indians taught the Spanish how to build adobe
houses and how to use herbs as medicines.
• The Spanish taught the Indians how to guide a
plow instead of using a stick and hoe in the Indian
way. The Indians also learned to use other tools
and machines the missionaries brought from
Spain.
• The coming of the Spanish missions changed the
way many Indians lived, worked, and worshiped.
France
• Most French people were not interested in
settling North America.
• From 1608 to 1763 the French built only
two towns in New France - Quebec and
Montreal.
• Their interest in fur trading caused conflicts
between the English, Dutch, and Iroquois.
Count de Frontenac
• King Louis XIV declared a royal colony in North
America.
• The king appointed Count de Frontenac as
governor-general,who encouraged exploration
west.
• The French learned to build birchbark canoes from
the Indians.
• These canoes could travel over waterfalls. This
method of transportation is called portage.
Exploring the Mississippi
• The Indian peoples often talked with the French
traders about a great river, larger than all the
others.
• The Algonkins called it the Mississippi River
which means “Big River.”
• In 1673 Governor-General de Frontenac sent an
expedition to explore the rivers and lakes that he
hoped would lead French traders to the
Mississippi River and then to Asia.
Exploring the Mississippi
• The members of the expedition were
Jacques Marquette, a Catholic missionary
who knew several Indian languages; Louis
Joliet, a fur trader; and five others.
Founding Louisiana
• Another French explorer, Rene-Robert
Cavelier, known as Sir La Salle, claimed the
entire Mississippi River Valley for France.
• Sir La Salle named the area Louisiana to
honor King Louis XIV.
• In 1712 the French king made Louisiana a
proprietary colony - owned and ruled by
one person.
The New England
Colonies
• Ten years after the Pilgrims landed at
Plymouth, another group founded an
English colony in North America.
• They wanted to change some of their
religious practices and make these more
pure.
• For this reason, they were known as the
Puritans.
Contributions of the Puritans
• Puritans wanted every person to be able to
read the Bible so they passed a law,
requiring parents to teach their children to
read.
• Some parents paid other people to teach
their children, but the children learned only
reading. Math and writing lessons cost
extra.
Puritan Schools
• Puritan schools were the first community
schools in the English colonies.
• They were run by women.
• Schools were open year round.
• Puritan’s believed that vacations were a
waste of God’s precious time.
• The Puritans also founded the
first college, Harvard College.
New England Grows
• Reverend Thomas Hooker left
Massachusetts Bay because he did not like
the Puritan leadership.
• Reverend Hooker thought the colony should
be governed by what the “people” wanted
not by what the “leaders” wanted.
•In 1639, the Connecticut colony
adopted his beliefs as Fundamental
Orders - the first time colonists
could elect officials.
Massachusetts Bay Colony
• The Massachusetts Bay Colony
continued to expand its commerce.
From the middle of the 17th century
onward it grew prosperous, and Boston
became one of America's greatest
ports.
A Inscription on a Rock in
Gloucester, MA Describing the
Founding of the Massachusetts
Bay Colony.
THE MIDDLE COLONIES
•In the middle colonies Pennsylvania and
Delaware owed their success to William
Penn.
•Under his guidance, Pennsylvania grew
rapidly. The heart of the colony was
Philadelphia. The city became one of the
thriving centers of colonial America.
• Though the Quakers dominated in Philadelphia,
elsewhere in Pennsylvania others were well
represented. Cottage industries such as weaving,
shoemaking, cabinetmaking and other crafts were
important.
THE SOUTHERN COLONIES
• These colonies were rural southern settlements:
Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina,
and Georgia.
• Charleston, South Carolina, became the leading
port and trading center of the South.
• The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia was dotted
with farms.
•Living on the edge of the Indian
country, frontier families built cabins,
cleared tracts in the wilderness and
cultivated maize and wheat.
Resources
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13 Colonies Map/Quiz Printout
The Thirteen Colonies
A Picture of Daily Life in the Colonies
Colonial Times
The Outline of American History
Colonial America
Writing Assignment:
• Write a letter to a relative in
Europe explaining why you
traveled by ship to settle in
America.