United States History – Reflections
COLONIES UNIT
Unit 2, Chapter 4 Building the First Colonies (pp. 149 – 183)
Lesson 1: The Spanish Colonies (pp. 154 – 158)
 colony: land ruled by another country
 plantations: large farms
 slavery: practice of holding people against their will and making them carryout
orders
Lesson 2: The Virginia Colony (pp. 160 – 166)
 raw material: a resource that can be used to make a product
 cash crop: a crop that people grow to sell
 indentured servant: a person who agreed to work for another person without pay
for a certain length of time in exchange for passage to North America
 legislature: a lawmaking branch of government
 represent: to speak for
 established church: a church supported by the government
 royal colony: colony owned by the king
 governor: person picked to help run a colony
Roanoke – in 1584 100 colonists were sent to Roanoke Island by Walter Raleigh in an
area named Virginia. They did not stay long as they ran out of food. In 1587 John
White led another group of settlers to Roanoke and they also ran low on food. White
returned to England to get food and supplies – he did not return until 3 years later.
When he got there all the settlers were gone. What happened to them remains a
mystery.
Jamestown – Despite the failure of the settlements in Roanoke, English merchants
wanted to start a new colony in Virginia. King James I let them set up the Virginia
Company. The Virginia Company sent settlers up the James River where they chose a
spot to settle and called it Jamestown. The location was a poor choice for a settlement
because the land was swampy. Captain John Smith became the leader of Jamestown
and saved the settlement from being another Roanoke. He made the rule that
everyone must work to eat and got colonists planting gardens, building shelters, and
protecting themselves from Indian attacks. Tobacco, which was grown as a cash crop,
finally made Jamestown successful.
House of Burgesses – Virginia’s legislature was the first representative assembly in the
English colonies. Colonists could elect members to represent them. Only men who
owned property could become members.
READING CHECK
One of the reasons England wanted to start colonies in North America was that
England wanted to gain new wealth.
John Smith contributed to the survival of the Jamestown settlement by making sure all
of the colonists worked for their food, shelter, and safety.
Slavery was introduced into Virginia because growing tobacco required more workers.
Lesson 3: The Plymouth Colony (pp. 170 – 175)
 pilgrim: a person who makes a journey for religious reasons
 compact: an agreement
 Mayflower Compact: document signed by the men aboard the Mayflower that
said that fair laws would be made for the good of the colony.
 self-government: a system of government in which people make their own laws
 majority rule: if more than half the people agree to a law or decision, then
everyone had to follow it
Plymouth – Pilgrims left England in 1620, heading for Virginia. The ship went off
course and ended up at Cape Cod in what is now Massachusetts. Men aboard the
ship wanted to keep order and signed a document called the Mayflower Compact.
This was a step toward self-government. The settlers chose a place on a harbor to set
up their colony called Plymouth. The colony prospered from farming, fishing, and fur
trading.
READING CHECK
The Pilgrims wanted to go to North American to build their own society, where they
would be free to worship as they chose.
The Mayflower Compact was important because it meant that colonists would govern
themselves.
The relationship between the Indians and the colonists changed because at first the
two groups cooperated, but they later stopped helping each other.
Lesson 4: The French and the Dutch (pp. 176 – 183)
 allies: partners
 proprietary colony: whole colony was given to one person to own
READING CHECK
The French explorers advanced the king’s aims by claiming new lands for France.
It was hard for the French to control land in North America because the French claimed
large areas but had few colonists to settle their lands.
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UNIT 3, Chapter 5 Settling the Colonies
Lesson 1: Settling New England (pp. 206 – 213)
 charter: an official paper in which certain rights are given by a government to a
person, group or business
 dissent: a difference of opinion
 expel: to force to leave
 consent: agreement
 sedition: speech or behavior that causes other people to work against a
government
 frontier: the land beyond settled areas
READING CHECK
Thomas Hooker was a Puritan Minister who left Massachusetts because he disagreed
with the way its leaders ruled. He founded the settlement of Hartford, which became
part of the Connecticut Colony.
In 1639, the leaders of the Connecticut Colony wrote the Fundamental Orders – a plan
of government. These orders allowed voters to elect leaders.
The Puritans founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony because they wanted a place
where they could live by their religious beliefs and start farms and businesses.
In 1630, John Winthrop led the 2nd group of Puritans to settle in the Massachusetts Bay
Colony. Later he was elected governor of the colony.
Roger Williams disagreed with Puritan leaders on many issues. He was expelled and
wished to start a new settlement because he wanted to start a colony with greater
religious freedom. He founded the settlement of Providence, which became part of the
Rhode Island Colony.
Anne Hutchinson’s actions also angered the Puritan leaders. She led followers to an
island near Providence after being expelled from the Massachusetts Colony for
sedition. Her settlement later joined Williams’ settlement.
Metacomet, known to the English as King Philip, was the leader of the Wampanoag
Indians. When settlers moved onto Indian lands, he decided Indians had to unite
against them, and this led to war.
Farmers settled in the Connecticut River Valley because they were in search of better
farmland than the poor soil they had found on the New England coast.
Lesson 2: Life in New England (pp. 214-221)
 common: an open area where sheep and cattle graze, village green
 town meeting: an assembly in the New England Colonies in which the male land
owners could take part in government
 public office: a job a person is elected to do
READING CHECK
The religious beliefs of the Puritans affected how they lived, worked and spent their
free time.
Town meetings were important to New England Colonies because they gave the
colonists a voice in how their colony was governed.
Women contributed to New England communities by preparing and storing food and
making other essential items, such as clothing, butter, soap and candles.
Education was important for the Puritans because they thought everyone should be
able to read the bible.
Lesson 3: New England’s Economy (pp. 222-227)
 free market: an economic system where people are free to choose the goods and
services they buy and provide
 industry: all the businesses that make one kind of product or provide one kind of
service
 naval stores: a product that is used to build and repair a ship
 export: a product that leaves a country
 import: a product brought into a country
 triangular trade routes: a shipping route that linked England, the colonies and the
west coast of Africa.
 middle passage: the travel of enslaved Africans from Africa to the West Indies
READING CHECK
Farmers sold or traded their surplus goods for other goods.
The colonists used the lumber from the forests in New England to build houses, barns,
churches, and ships. They sold the rest to people in other colonies or Europe.
Fishing and whaling become important industries in colonial New England because
most of New England is near the ocean, which had large numbers of fish and whales.
Chapter 6 Middle Colonies (pp. 235 – 261)
Lesson 1: Settling the Middle Colonies (pp. 240 – 246)
 refuge: a safe place
 proprietor: owner
 trial by jury: people accused of breaking laws have the right to have a group of
fellow citizens decide their guilt or innocence
 justice: fairness
READING CHECK
The Middle Colonies produced so many crops used in making bread (wheat, corn, and
rye) that they came to be called the “breadbasket” colonies.
What attracted settlers to the Middle colonies were fertile land, large harbors, and deep
rivers, religious freedom, and escape from wars.
King Charles II of England wanted to control New Netherland because he wanted to
control the entire Atlantic coast of North America.
The Quakers were often mistreated by those who did not share their beliefs because
they refused to fight in wars or swear loyalty to any king or country.
In 1682, William Penn wrote the Frame of Government of Pennsylvania, a plan of
government that set up a legislature called the General Assembly which would make
laws for the colony. It gave citizens of Pennsylvania freedom of speech, freedom of
religion, and the right to a fair trial by jury.
Penn’s treatment of the Indians related to Quaker beliefs because the Quakers believe
that all people are equal.
Lesson 2: Life in the Colonies (pp. 250 – 255)
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diversity: differences, such as those among different people
immigrant: a person who comes into a country to make a new home there
Great Awakening: a religious movement
religious toleration: acceptance of religious differences
militia: a volunteer army
READING CHECK
Immigrants came to the Middle Colonies to escape war, for religious freedom, and for
better opportunities.
The Great Awakening was a religious movement that brought together people of
different beliefs.
The Middle Colonies differed from the New England colonies because there were
many different religious groups in the Middle Colonies.
Lesson 3: Busy Farms and Seaports (pp. 256 – 261)
 prosperity: economic success
 artisans: craft workers
 apprentice: a person who learns a trade by living with the family of a skilled
worker and training for several years
READING CHECK
Geography affected the Middle Colonies’ economy because the rich land and good
climate helped farmers prosper.
New York and Philadelphia were good locations for ports because they were on rivers
that colonists could use for floating goods downriver to the ports.
People learned to be artisans because artisans first served as apprentices
Chapter 7 The Southern Colonies (pp. 272 – 295)
Lesson 1: Settling the South (pp. 272 – 279)
 constitution: a written plan of government
 debtor: people who owe money
 back country: the land between the costal plain and the Appalachian mountains
READING CHECK
The Maryland colony was founded mainly as a religious refuge but people were able to
make money there by growing tobacco in the fertile soil.
Unlike Virginia. Maryland welcomed many different religions. In 1649, the Maryland
assembly passed the Toleration Act, which allowed religious freedom on the colony to
all Christians.
Maryland and Virginia have the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River in common.
James Oglethorpe founded the Georgia Colony to defend England’s claim to it’s
southern lands and to give debtors a new start.
The Carolina Colony’s leaders wrote a constitution that allowed free make colonists to
elect some leaders and make some laws.
When the settlers moved into the colonies many Native Americans (Indians) were
killed or captured. Many were also forced to move further west.
Lesson 2: Life in the South (pp. 282-289)
 institutionalize: to make part of life
 planter: plantation owners
 overseer: watched the slaves in the field as they worked
READING CHECK
Laws institutionalized slavery by making slavery legal. Children of enslaved people
were automatically considered slaves.
Plantations were like small villages because they had many buildings, crop fields and
people.
Much of the Southern economy depended on large plantations. However, most
Southern colonists lived and worked on small farms.
Some enslaved Africans were able to escape slavery by buying their freedom. Others
were able to escape to Spanish Florida.
Lesson 3: The Southern Economy (pp. 290-295)
 indigo: a blue dye that was used in the cloth making process
 interdependence: depending on others for goods and services
 broker: a person who is paid to buy and sell for someone else
READING CHECK
Some of the cash crops in the southern colonies were tobacco, rice and indigo.
The relative location of Charlestown affected its growth because it was located deep in
the harbor. It was a good place for ships to bring and trade goods. This trade attracted
more people.
Industries of the southern economy were based on the region’s natural resources.