Founding of the American Colonies
Handouts, Homework and Final Assessment
Kristen Borges
Johann Knets
Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School
HANDOUT #1
The Pilgrims: Stuff of Myths
By CHARLES HILLINGER
November 22, 1990
PLYMOUTH, Mass. — In Jennie Brownscombe's popular painting of the First
Thanksgiving, somber Pilgrims in Victorian clothes sit down to pray with half-naked
Indians.
What's wrong with this picture? Plenty, says Laurence Pizer, director of Pilgrim Hall.
"America's perceptions of the First Thanksgiving are historically inaccurate," said Pizer,
44, as he looked at Brownscombe's 1914 interpretation of that first holiday. "This
painting is a symbol of Thanksgiving for most Americans," but it's based more on
whimsy than fact, he said.
"Pilgrims didn't wear black-and-white Victorian clothing. They dressed in the
conventional style of that day, in trousers, shirts and dresses of various colors. We know
Elder William Brewster (who, in the painting, leads the group in prayer) had a red vest
and a purple vest. And, the Indians certainly didn't go around in the chilly New England
autumn half-naked."
Hanging from the walls here in Pilgrim Hall, one of the nation's oldest museums, are
other paintings that give misleading pictures of Pilgrims and the way they lived. There
are paintings that show the Pilgrims embarking for the New World from Delfthaven,
Holland, the Mayflower crossing the Atlantic, the landing at Plymouth Rock on Dec. 21,
1620, and the First Thanksgiving at Plymouth the following fall.
"These paintings make up the American myth about the Pilgrims," said Pizer. "We all
grew up with the story illustrated in these depictions. (But) the paintings are better known
for their romantic charm, rather than historical accuracy."
Most of the paintings are 19th Century, the earliest, "The Landing of the Pilgrims" by
Michael Felice Corne, from 1803. He was among the first artists to interpret the story of
the Pilgrims. Corne shows Pilgrims stepping off the Mayflower onto Plymouth Rock.
"The rugged coastline, feather-headdressed natives on shore and the variously garbed
Pilgrims, some in British naval uniforms and others in French Revolution caps, are all
products of Corne's imagination," said Pizer.
Some paintings show Pilgrims disembarking from the Mayflower wearing breast plates.
"Hardly believable. Breastplates were incredibly heavy," said Pizer. "Indians are pictured
greeting Pilgrims when they arrived at Plymouth Rock. Not true. It was three months
before Indians came out to visit."
Pizer said popular books have always had accounts much like the paintings, what writers
fancied, inconsistent with history. Nowhere is there mention in Pilgrims’ journals of
turkey being eaten at the harvest feast.
"At that time of the year, geese would have been plentiful. They probably ate goose.
They also ate deer provided by the Indians," Pizer added.
Pizer walked a visitor through the stately Greek Revival granite mansion that is Pilgrim
Hall. "This was the cradle that rocked Peregrine White, who was born on the Mayflower
shortly after the ship anchored in Provincetown harbor," he said. In his journal "Of
Plimoth Plantation," William Bradford describes Peregrine White as the "first of the
English that was borne in these parts."
It was in 1820, the bicentennial of the landing at Plymouth Rock, that the Pilgrim Society
was organized in Plymouth "to exhibit and interpret the history of the Pilgrims and the
colony and town they founded." The museum opened to the public in 1824.
"Our aim as a scholarly institution is seeking anything that reveals the situation of the
Pilgrims--pieces of furniture, books, manuscripts, anything they owned, telling us what
life was like, what they were like," said Pizer.
The only known likeness of any of the Mayflower passengers hangs in Pilgrim Hall. It is
a portrait of Edward Winslow, painted when he visited England in 1651. No one knows
what the other Pilgrims looked like.
Pizer lifted a huge iron cooking pot off the museum floor. "This came over on the
Mayflower. In all likelihood, it was used at the First Thanksgiving," he said.
In one exhibit case is a sampler made by Myles Standish’s daughter, Loara, when she
was a teen-ager in 1653. It is the earliest known American sampler. Her verse reads:
"Loara Standish is my name Lorde guide my hart that I may doe thy will, also My hands
with such Convenient skill as may Conduce virtue void of Shame and I will give The
Glory to thy name."
Myles Standish's razor and sword are here, as are John Alden's and Gov. William
Bradford's Bibles. There are chairs, dinnerware, tables, pewter, a cloak, a bead purse, a
slipper and tools--a hoe, an ax, a hand saw--that belonged to Pilgrims.
There is a model of the Mayflower here, made in England in 1925, but it does little to
answer any of the Mayflower mysteries. "There are so many mysteries about the
Pilgrims. The Mayflower is one of them," said Pizer. "We do not know what the
Mayflower looked like. We can only guess.
"We know that it was an old ship, that it was 90 feet long and was like a taxi, hired by the
Pilgrims for the voyage to the New World."
Pilgrim Hall also has on display the remains of a 17th-Century vessel that carried
transatlantic passengers from Europe to the New World, the 40-foot Sparrow-Hawk.
The Sparrow-Hawk carried 20 passengers and crew. It sank in 1626 at Orleans, 50 miles
southeast of Plymouth on Cape Cod.
A great storm uncovered the wreck in 1862. The Pilgrim Society acquired the ribs, floor
pieces and sides of the Sparrow-Hawk in 1889.
"We are still collecting Pilgrim items from descendants, purchased through dealers and at
auctions. One of our most recent acquisitions is a silver wine cup that belonged to
William Bradford," said Pizer.
Pilgrim Hall, which is on Court Street in downtown Plymouth (population 41,000), has
the largest collection of books, manuscripts and other written material about the Pilgrims.
This museum of Pilgrim treasures is three blocks from Plymouth Rock, the 5-foot-long,
2-foot-tall rock the Pilgrims stepped on from their small boat when they first came ashore
here. Today, the rock is protected by a portico of granite.
"The story of the Pilgrims is just as fascinating today as it was in the past. They were a
band of brave pioneers who accomplished incredible things, including the mere fact of
survival," said Pizer.
Of the 104 who made the voyage to Plymouth, 53 perished the first winter from
exposure, starvation, and disease. It was the 51 who made it through that first cruel winter
who held the harvest festival in the fall of 1621 that became this nation's First
Thanksgiving.
Handout #2
Abrams, Ann Uhry. The Pilgrims and Pocahontas:
Rival Myths of American Origins. Boulder:
Westview Press, 1999.
The following is a summary of Chapter 5 Landing of the
Forefathers. The book can be easily accessed online
through Google Books.
Nineteenth-century New Englanders viewed the landing of
the Pilgrims as a seminal event that determined the future
United States. The image of the the Pilgrim’s landing gave
New Englanders a sense of unity. Beginning in the 1820s, when it first reached America,
until well into the twentieth century, a poem entitled “The Landing of the Fathers” by
Felicia Hemans was very popular among New Englanders.
The breaking waves dash’d high,
On a stern and rock-boundcoast;
And the woods, against a stormy sky
Their giant branches tost;
And the heavy night hung dark
The hills and waters o’er,
When a band of exiles moored their bark
On the wild New England shore.
Not as the conqueror comes,
They, the true-hearted came,
Not with the roll of stirring drums,
And the trumpet, that sings fame,
Ay call it holy ground,
The soil, where they first trod!
They have left unstained what there they foundFreedom to worship God!
Felicia Hemans
Felicia Hemans was an English woman who never set foot in America. She admittedly
knew nothing about the Pilgrims until one day she happened to read a crumpled
newspaper that wrapped a parcel announcing an address delivered at Plymouth on some
anniversary. She was so inspired by the oratory that she immediately wrote the poem.
From that day thousands in the Old Pilgrim Church at Plymouth sang her words in a
hymn every Forefathers Day.
New England’s enchantment with Hemans’s poem was easy to understand. Her Pilgrims
were courageous fighters conquering the ravages of nature to gain religious freedom.
Such phrase as “stern and rock-bound coast” and “holy ground” captured the mystique of
the Pilgrim legend. For many New Englanders the landing inspired a sense of security an
pride in the accomplishments of their legendary regional ancestors.
The impulse to attach significance to the Pilgrim’s arrival- even though there is no
documentation attesting to the actual stepping ashore- sparked a number of tales during
the early national period. For example, descendants of John Alden and offspring of Mary
Chilton each claimed that its ancestor had been the first to leap onto Plymouth Rock.
Also, for a time the actual date of that first step was also disputed.
By the early nineteenth century, pictures of that first step had become an accepted venue
for illustrating European civilization’s westward migration. Many maps included a
cartouche that showed submissive Native Americans startled that their territory ad been
“discovered” by Europeans. Many of the images of the landing highlighted a rugged
coast. This hardly represented the placid inlet of Plymouth Bay. The rugged landscape
came to symbolize the hardships endured by the forefathers. Also, the Pilgrims were
often dressed in late eighteenth century costumes rather than the Jacobean clothing of the
Pilgrim’s own time. The contemporary clothing worn by the people in the images
associated the Bostonians attending Forefather’s Day celebrations with the people they
were commemorating.
Michele Felice Corne’s Landing of the Pilgrims adds a dramatic quality. The snowy
landscape pictures a rowboat entering from the left filled with passengers wearing early
nineteenth-century costumes, a crew member near the center tying the vessel to the rocks
and Native Americans viewing the scene from the right. He painted this scene more than
twenty times in the early nineteenth century. However, each time he made slight
variations. Corne expanded the contemporary relevance of the scene by each time
introducing several elements that may reflect his own preoccupations. He often boasted
of his own flight from Naples to Salem, MA to elude Napoleon’s recruiters. In one
depiction he included in the approaching rowboat a British redcoat, an officer in a blue
uniform holding a white flag , and men wearing broad-brimmed black hats and tightfitting waistcoats of the artist’s mercantile contemporaries. With no documentary
evidence to explain such inclusions, one can only speculate whether it suggest Corne’s
own experiences or specific wishes of his patrons. Until the 1860s, the image of Pilgrims
stepping ashore would grace artwork, literature, and oratory to justify everything from
political conventions to religious beliefs.
HANDOUT #3
Painting Analysis Worksheet
Step One: Observation
1. Study the image for two minutes
a. Form an overall impression
of the painting and then
examine individual items.
2. Next, divide the painting into quadrants
and study each section to see what
details become visible.
a. Use the chart below to list People, Objects, and Activities in the painting
Quadrant #
People
Objects
Activities
Step Two: Make Inferences
1. Based on what you have observed above, make three inferences about the
meaning(s) of the painting. Consider the following: (some of these Q’s may not
apply)
a. Which objects are acting as symbols?
b. How would the subject of the painting like to be seen?
c. How has the time in which the painting was created affected it?
Step Three: Question
1. What questions does this painting raise in your mind? (Consider factors related to the
painting, time period, and the author)
2. Where could you find answers to them?
HANDOUT # 4
Background:
In 1561, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés commanded the great Armada de la
Carrera (Spanish treasure fleet) on their voyage from Mexico to Spain.
When he had delivered the treasure fleet to Spain, he asked permission to
go back in search of one lost vessel. This was the vessel on which he had
lost his son, other family members, and friends. After a lengthy delay, his
request was granted on the condition that he would explore and colonize
La Florida as King Philip II's adelantado (military title granted directly by
the Monarch the right to become leader of a specific region, which they
charged with conquering, in exchange for funding and organizing the
initial explorations, settlements and pacification of the target area on behalf of the Crown.)
Mendez fitted out an expedition for this purpose, personally bearing the associated expenses.
When Menéndez was about to sail, orders came to him from King Philip II, commanding him to
"hang and burn the Lutherans" he might find in Florida (at the time, "Lutheran" was a catchall
term for Protestant).
Excerpts from Pedro Menéndez de Aviles to King Philip II of Spain,
(October 15, 1565)
“I sent on shore with the first 200 soldiers, two captains, Juan Vincent a brother of the
Captain Juan Vicente,and Andres Lopez Patino, both old soldiers, in order to throw up a
trench in the place most fit to fortify them selves in, and to collect there the troops that
were landed so as to protect them from the enemy if he should come upon them. They did
this so well that when I landed on Our Lady’s Day to take possession of the country in
your Majesty’s name, it seemed as if they had had a months time, and if the had had
shovels and other iron tools, they could not have done it better, for we have none of these
things, the ship laden with them not having yet arrived. I have smiths and iron, so that I
can make them with dispatch, as I shall. When I go onshore we shall seek out a more
suitable place to fortify ourselves in, as it is not fit where we are now. This we must do
with all speed, before the enemy can attack us, and if they give us eight days more time,
we think we shall do it.”
"…(Spanish will be) free to implant the Gospel in these parts, enlighten the natives, and
bring them to allegiance to Your Majesty…I hope in Our Lord that He will give me
success in everything, that I and my descendants may give these kingdoms to Your
Majesty free and unobstructed, and that the people thereof may become Christians; for
this is what particularly interests me, as I have written to Your Majesty; and we shall gain
much reputation with the Indians…"
Menéndez discussing his conversation with a French prisoner about the fate of his
comrades:
"I answered that we had taken their fort and killed those in it,…because they were
implanting their evil Lutheran sect in these Your Majesty's provinces…"
List of Passengers and Provisions Requested by Menéndez
100 farmers
100 sailors
300 soldiers
12 priests or religious men
100 horses
200 calves
400 hogs
400 sheep
a year's supplies to be followed by:
500 settlers, including:
women and children
skilled tradesmen
Pedro Menendez de Aviles translated by Henry Ware “Letters of Pedro Menendez de Aviles”,
Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings VIII:419-425.
Primary Source Questions
1. How can we describe Pedro Menéndez de Aviles?
2. What is the Menéndez’s main purpose in writing the letter?
3. What can we say about Menéndez’s intended audience?
4. How is the message shaped to appeal to his audience?
HANDOUT # 5
Chapter 10 Florida: Fountains of Youth, River of
Blood from A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony
Horwitz
Please answer the following questions on a
separate piece of paper. All answers must be
supported with specific evidence from the
reading.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Describe the Huegenots.
Why was Florida of interest to the French? the Spanish?
Describe the early encounter between the French and the Timucua
of Florida.
What qualities did Jean Ribault have as a leader? How did he lose
his position?
What qualities did Rene Goulane de Laudonniere have as a leader?
How does Hoirowitz describe modern day Fort Caroline? Why is
it referred to as Fort Fake-ee?
Why does the park ranger say American history is incomplete
unless you know what happened at Fort Caroline?
Menéndez spared some French. Who were they, and why did he
decide not to kill them?
Horowitz says Menéndez was as efficient a colonizer as he was a
killer. Explain what he meant by this.
What did the director of heritage tourism in St.Augustine mean
when he said “…history- real history is a loser in this town.”?
Why did city of St. Augustine create a historical fact finding
commission?
Identify the controversies that surround many of the historical
interpretations that center on the settlement of St. Augustine.
HANDOUT #6
Document A:
There is no commonwealth at this day in Europe, where in there is not a great store of poor
people, and those necessarily to be relieved by the wealthier sort, which otherwise would starve
and come to utter confusion. With us the poor is commonly divided into three sorts, so that some
are poor by impotencies, as the fatherless child, the aged, the blind and lame, and the diseased
person that is judged to be incurable: the second are poor by casualty, as the wounded soldier,
the decayed householder, and the sick person visited with grievous and painful diseases: the
third consisteth of the thriftless poor, as the rioter that hath consumed all, the vagabond that will
abide no where...and finally the rogue and strumpet....
For the first two sorts...which are the true poor in deed, and for whom the word doth bind us to
make some daily provision: there is order taken through out every parish in the realm, that weekly
collection shall be made for their help and sustentation....The third sort...are often corrected with
sharp execution, and the whip of justice abroad....
Some also do grudge at the great increase of people in these days, thinking a necessary brood of
cattle far better than a superfluous augmentation of mankind.
William Harrison, 1586
Document B:
We, for all the statutes that hitherto can be devised...cannot deliver our commonwealth from
multitudes of loiterers and idle vagabonds. Truth it is, that through our long peace and seldom
sickness...we are growing more populous than ever heretofore; so that now there are...so many,
that they can hardly live one by another....and often fall to pilfering and thieving and other
lewdness....These petty thieves might be condemned for certain years in the western parties....in
sawing and felling of timber...in the burning of the fires and pine trees to make pitch, tar, rosen,
and soap ashes; in beating and working of hemp for cordage; and in the more southern parts, in
setting them to work in mines....in planting of sugar canes...in dressing of vines....
This enterprise may stay the Spanish King from flowing over all the face of that land of
America....How easy a matter may it be to this realm, swarming at this day with valiant youths, to
abate the pride of Spain and of the support of the great Antichrist of Rome....
Richard Hakluyt, 1584
1. Why were the English interested in overseas colonization?1
2. What do these quotations indicate about English attitudes toward the poor?
1
Documents A and B and Questions 1 and 2 were taken from the Digital History website.
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/us2.cfm
HANDOUT # 7
Background:
Richard Hakluyt was one of the earliest and indefatigable
proponents of English colonization. This document was written
to convince Queen Elizabeth I to support the colonization
schemes of Sir Walter Raleigh, and to encourage English
merchants and gentry to invest in those enterprises.
Richard Hakluyt, A Discourse Concerning Western Planting
(1584)
A particular discourse concerning the great necessity and manifold [many] commodities
[goods] that are like to grow to this Realm of England by the Western discoveries lately
attempted, Written In the year 1584 by Richard Hakluyt of Oxford at the request and
direction of the right worshipful Sir Walter Raleigh (excerpts)
A brief collection of certain reasons to induce (convince) her Majesty and the state to
take in hand the western voyage and the planting there:
That this western discovery will be greatly for the enlargement of the gospel of Christ. . .
That this western voyage will yield unto us all the commodities (goods) of Europe,
Africa, and Asia, as far as we were wont to travel, and supply the wants of all our
decayed trades.
That this enterprise will be for the manifold (multiple) employment of numbers of idle
men,…and for utterance of the great quantity of the commodities of our Realm. . . .
That the Spaniards have executed most outrageous and more then [than] Turkish cruelties
in all the west Indies, whereby they are every where there, become most odious (hateful)
unto them [Natives], who would join with us or any other most willingly to shake of [off]
their most intolerable yoke, and have begun to do it already in divers (many) places
where they were Lords heretofore.
That the passage in this voyage is easy and short, that it cutteth not near the trade of any
other mighty Princes, nor near their Countries, that it is to be performed at all times of the
year, and needeth but one kind of wind. . . .
That hereby the Revenues and customs of her Majesty both outward and inward shall
mightly [mightily] be enlarged by the toll, excises (taxes), and other duties (taxes on
imports) which without oppression may be raised.
That this action will be greatly for the increase, maintenance and safety of our Navy, and
especially of great shipping which is the strength of our Realm, and for the support of all
those occupations that depend upon the same.
That special planting in divers [many] places is most necessary upon these lucky western
discoveries for fear of the danger of being prevented by other nations which have the like
intentions. . . .
That by these Colonies the Northwest passage to China may easily, quickly, and perfectly
be searched out as well by river and overland, as by sea
That the Queen of England's title to all the west Indies, or at the least to as much as is
from Florida to the Circle artic, is more lawful and right than the Spaniards or any other
Christian Princes.
Primary Source Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
How can we describe Richard Hakluyt?
What is the Hakluyt’s main purpose in writing the letter?
What can we say about Hakluyt’s intended audience?
How is the message shaped to appeal to his audience?
List five motivating factors/reasons for the English to colonize according to
Hakluyt.
List 4 reasons that Hakluyt gives for planting colonies in America.
Which is the strongest reason? Explain.
Which is the weakest reason? Explain.
Will you pay the financial support of the new colonies? Explain.
HANDOUT #8
Decision Making Outcome for Queen Elizabeth
(That is…What Happened?)
Queen Elizabeth decided to allow Hakluyt to start colonies with the
blessing of the government, but she did not give financial support
to the new colonies. She told Hakluyt to get private investors to put
up the money for the colonies. She felt that large government
programs, such as establishing colonies, led to corruption. People
getting government money often cooked the books and
overcharged the government. They appointed relatives to key
positions (patronage), and engaged in bribery and stealing. Further,
she judged that England could get almost all of the benefits of colonies if the settlements
were privately financed. For example, England would still benefit by getting raw
materials and a big market if the colonies were established by private companies. Why
pay a fortune and risk taxpayer money when England was threatened with war at home
with Spain? Her decision may have slowed the start of colonies by England, but it
accomplished her goals without risking a lot of money during a time of war.
The Queen judged that Hakluyt was loyal to England, so he wouldn’t go to another
country with his ideas for colonies. She judged correctly. Hakluyt got investors in
England to risk their money to support his colonial ventures (we call these people venture
capitalists today).
Connection to Today:
Queen Elizabeth’s decision regarding government financial support raises
similar questions about the role of government today.
When, if ever, should the government use taxpayer money to promote
national goals (ie. better transportation, improved medicine, improved
education), rather than allow private investors to decide whether to support
these goals?
HANDOUT # 9
The year is 1607 and you are a merchant in London. The Virginia
Company has received a charter (government permission) from
the English king, James I, to set up a colony and make money
from the riches of North America in an area called Virginia, north
of Spanish colonies and south of French colonies. The company’s
directors are selling shares in the Virginia Company. People who
buy shares become part owners of the company who make (or
lose) money as the company does.
Will you invest in the Virginia Company?
Reasons to invest
Final Decision: Explain your rationale.
Reasons not to invest
The year is 1609 and you are poor, unemployed and living in
London. The area where you live in London is dirty and the crime
rate is high. You and many people in your area of London often
get money by begging. Even if you could find work, the wages
would be less than your costs for food, clothing and shelter, so
you’d still be poor. However, there is a way out of poverty. If you
become an indentured servant in the Virginia colony, you’ll have
to work for someone else for seven years in exchange for the
cost of sailing to America (which is about one year’s wages). You are promised
land and money after you serve your time.
Will you become an indentured servant in the Virginia Company?
Reasons to become an
indentured servant
Final Decision: Explain your rationale.
Reasons not to become an
indentured servant
HANDOUT # 10
Go To:
Jamestown Settlement Website
http://historyisfun.org/
Click on:
Videos and Podcasts
then, click on:
Discovering Jamestown Educational Videos
Group One Please watch:
Discovering Jamestown: The English (full length)
Group Two Please watch:
Discovering Jamestown: Voyage to Virginia (full length)
Group Three Please watch:
Discovering Jamestown: Legacy (full length)
As you watch please list the motivating factors/reasons for
colonization.
Then, compare those reasons to those of the Spanish in Florida. Identify TWO
similarities and TWO differences.
HANDOUT #11
“The Starving Time”: John Smith Recounts the
Early History of Jamestown, 1609
The organizers of the first English settlement at Jamestown,
Virginia, in 1607 had visions of easy wealth and abundant
plunder. The colonists, a group with little agricultural experience
and weighted with gentry, instead found a swampy and diseaseridden site. The local Indians were unwilling to labor for them.
Few survived the first difficult winters. Captain John Smith had
been a soldier, explorer, and adventurer. With the colony in near
chaos, he took over the government of the colony in 1608 and
instituted a policy of rigid discipline and agricultural cultivation. When a gunpowder
accident forced his return to England in 1608, the colonists faced a disastrous winter
known as “starving time.”
The day before Captaine Smith returned for England with the ships, Captaine Davis
arrived in a small Pinace, with some sixteene proper men more: To these were added a
company from James towne, under the command of Captaine John Sickelmore alias
Ratliffe, to inhabit Point Comfort. Captaine Martin and Captaine West, having lost their
boats and neere halfe their men among the Salvages, were returned to James towne; for
the Salvages no sooner understood Smith was gone, but they all revolted, and did spoile
and murther all they incountered. Now wee were all constrained to live onely on that
Smith had onely for his owne Companie, for the rest had consumed their proportions, and
now they had twentie Presidents with all their appurtenances: Master Piercie our new
President, was so sicke hee could neither goe nor stand. But ere all was consumed,
Captaine West and Captaine Sickelmore, each with a small ship and thirtie or fortie men
well appointed, sought abroad to trade. Sickelmore upon the confidence of Powhatan,
with about thirtie others as carelesse as himselfe, were all slaine, onely Jeffrey Shortridge
escaped, and Pokahontas the Kings daughter saved a boy called Henry Spilman, that
lived many yeeres after, by her meanes, amongst the Patawomekes. Powhatan still as he
found meanes, cut off their Boats, denied them trade, so that Captaine West set saile for
England. Now we all found the losse of Captaine Smith, yea his greatest maligners could
now curse his losse: as for corne, provision and contribution from the Salvages, we had
nothing but mortall wounds, with clubs and arrowes; as for our Hogs, Hens, Goats,
Sheepe, Horse, or what lived, our commanders, officers & Salvages daily consumed
them, some small proportions sometimes we tasted, till all was devoured; then swords,
armes, pieces, or any thing, wee traded with the Salvages, whose cruell fingers were so
oft imbrewed in our blouds, that what by their crueltie, our Governours indiscretion, and
the losse of our ships, of five hundred within six moneths after Captaine Smiths
departure, there remained not past sixtie men, women and children, most miserable and
poore creatures; and those were preserved for the most part, by roots, herbes, acornes,
walnuts, berries, now and then a little fish: they that had startch in these extremities,
made no small use of it; yea, even the very skinnes of our horses. Nay, so great was our
famine, that a Salvage we slew, and buried, the poorer sort tooke him up againe and eat
him, and so did divers one another boyled and stewed with roots and herbs: And one
amongst the rest did kill his wife, powdered her, and had eaten part of her before it was
knowne, for which hee was executed, as hee well deserved; now whether shee was better
roasted, boyled or carbonado’d, I know not, but of such a dish as powdered wife I never
heard of. This was that time, which still to this day we called the starving time; it were
too vile to say, and scarce to be beleeved, what we endured: but the occasion was our
owne, for want of providence, industrie and government, and not the barrennesse and
defect of the Countrie, as is generally supposed; for till then in three yeeres, for the
numbers were landed us, we had never from England provision sufficient for six
moneths, though it seemed by the bils of loading sufficient was sent us, such a glutton is
the Sea, and such good fellowes the Mariners; we as little tasted of the great proportion
sent us, as they of our want and miseries, yet notwithstanding they ever over-swayed and
ruled the businesse, though we endured all that is said, and chiefly lived on what this
good Countrie naturally afforded; yet had wee beene even in Paradice it selfe with these
Governours, it would not have beene much better with us; yet there was amongst us, who
had they had the government as Captaine Smith appointed, but that they could not
maintaine it, would surely have kept us from those extremities of miseries. This in ten
daies more, would have supplanted us all with death.
But God that would not this Countrie should be unplanted, sent and Sir Thomas Gates,
and Sir George Sommers with one hundred and fiftie people most happily preserved by
the Bermudas to preserve us: strange it is to say how miraculously they were preserved in
a leaking ship, as at large you may reade in the insuing Historie of those Ilands.
Source: John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England & The Summer
Isles (Glasgow, Scotland: James MacLehose and Sons, 1907), Vol. 1: 203–05
Primary Source Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
How can we describe John Smith?
What is the Smith’s main purpose in writing the letter?
What can we say about Smith’s intended audience?
How is the message shaped to appeal to his audience?
Why do you think the people starved? What do you think they could have
done to prevent starvation?
Why does the Smith think the people starved? What does he think would
have changed the situation?
Do you think the fact that this appeared in John Smith's book affected the
way it was written?
Optional Handout: The following article focuses on recent
controversy surrounding the cause of death in Jamestown.
Case File: Death at Jamestown
Clues and Evidence
During the winter of 1609-1610, nearly 90 percent of the residents of the Jamestown
colony perished in an episode now called "the starving time." But did the starving time
actually have anything to do with starvation? A maverick pathologist says no. His theory:
the deaths were the result of arsenic poisoning, perhaps at the hands of an operative of
the Spanish government, which was intent on getting rid of the English colony.
Arsenic has been used as a poison for centuries. The element, a heavy metal like lead and
mercury, attacks the body's energy production machinery -- specifically, the
mitochondria, the tiny power generators in cells. Every cell in the body is affected by
exposure to arsenic, and so every system in the body -- cardiovascular, neurological,
gastrointestinal, etc -- is damaged. "Arsenic poisoning works like pulling a circuit breaker
in your house," says the pathologist, Frank Hancock, medical director of Laboratory Corp.
of America in Burlington, North Carolina, "with the tissues shutting down as cells run out
of energy. Eventually, the body's systems shut down completely." And then, you die.
Because arsenic affects every part of the body, it could account for the wide range of
symptoms experienced by Jamestown's settlers, Hancock says. He has pored through the
historical accounts of those symptoms, and found striking parallels with the effects of
arsenic poisoning. "I found six or seven categories of illness that fit with arsenic," Hancock
says. For example, the settlers reported "bloody flux" -- bloody diarrhea -- extreme
weakness, and delirium. All are symptoms of arsenic poisoning. Some of the ill suffered
from strange skin peeling -- which, Hancock says, can also be caused by arsenic
poisoning. In addition, the historical records contain accounts of sudden death. "People
went to bed at night in adequate health and were dead in the morning. Arsenic poisoning
will cause cardiac arrhythmias," Hancock says, which can lead to sudden, fatal, heart
attacks.
The Jamestown colonists did, in fact, have ratsbane -- arsenic trioxide -- to control their
burgeoning rat population. But those rats might offer another explanation for the deaths,
says archeologist Bill Kelso, head of the Jamestown Rediscovery Project, which is
excavating old Jamestown. "It could have been the plague," says Kelso. "One thing we've
found are the remains of black rats, in with the food remains. They were being eaten.
Black rats are common only in Europe. They are not an American species. And they are
also the big carrier of plague. So that could have been brought over here, and been the
real culprit. Certainly Jamestown's leaders, who were trying to promote the place and get
people to come, wouldn't have said 'hey come on over and catch the plague.'"
Kelso's team has so far unearthed more than 70 skeletons from the early 1600s. Many
appear to have been buried in a hurry, by people anxious to avoid contact with the bodies
-- which suggests the presence of some contagious agent. He and his colleagues plan
forensic studies of 50 or so skeletons. The examinations could, in theory, reveal signs of
plague, Kelso says, "but I'm not promising anything."
The dangers of the plague could have been multiplied by the desperate conditions at
Jamestown. The colony was located in a swampy peninsula; if the settlers ingested its
brackish waters, some researchers have speculated, they could have become ill with salt
poisoning. The early settlers also suffered through an extreme drought. In 1998, an
analysis of tree rings from bald cypress trees growing in swamps near Jamestown
revealed that at the same time that Jamestown was colonized the area was hit with the
worst episode of drought in nearly 800 years. In addition to destroying crops and possibly
contributing to nutritional diseases like pellagra and scurvy, the drought could have
intensified the already difficult relations the colonists had with the native Algonquians.
Unfortunately, forensic tests can't prove -- or disprove -- Frank Hancock's arsenic theory.
The heavy metal can be detected in urine (if ingested recently), hair, or fingernail
samples. But it does not get deposited in bone -- and bone is all that remains of the fallen
at Jamestown.
SECRETS OF THE DEAD is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York.
© 2004 Educational Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
HANDOUT #12
Excerpts from The General Historie of Virginia by John Smith
Smith discussing the illness of the preacher and the reactions of the other travellers:
"…although he were but twenty myles from his habitation and notwithstanding the stormy
weather, nor the scandalous imputations (of some few, little better then Atheists, of the greates
rank amongst us) suggested against him, all this could never force from him so much as a
seeming desire to leave the businesse, but preferred the service of God, in so good a voyage,
before any affection to contest with his godlesse foes, whose disasterous designes had even then
overthrowne the businesse, so many discontents did then arise, had he not with the water of
patience, and his godly exhortations quenched those flames of envie, and dissention."
Smith discussing the religion of the Indians:
"There is yet in Virginia no place discovered to be so Savage, in which they have not a
Religion…All things that are able to do them hurt beyond their prevention, they adore with their
kinde of divine worship; as the fire, water, lightning, thunder…But their chiefe God they worship
is the Devill."
Passengers and Provisions
105 men, including:
a large group of gentlemen (businessmen)
about 10 laborers
1 preacher
several tradesmen
very few soldiers
QUESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS
1.
Based upon the above primary source excerpts, what were the motives of the
Jamestown settlers
2.
How does this account differ or compare to that of the Spanish?
HANDOUT # 13
Interview with historian
Karen Ordahl Kupperman,
author of The Jamestown
Project
Captain John Smith's 1607 voyage to
Jamestown was not his first trip abroad. He had traveled
throughout Europe, been sold as a war captive in Turkey,
escaped, and returned to England in time to join the Virginia
Company's colonizing project. In Jamestown migrants,
merchants, and soldiers who had also sailed to the distant
shores of the Ottoman Empire, Africa, and Ireland in search of
new beginnings encountered Indians who already possessed
broad understanding of Europeans. Experience of foreign environments and cultures had
sharpened survival instincts on all sides and aroused challenging questions about human
nature and its potential for transformation.
GO to:
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/KUPJAM.html
Click on:
Listen to a short interview with Karen Ordahl Kupperman
Please answer the following questions
1. According to Kupperman, why does Jamestown often take a “backseat” to
Plymouth?
2. What is the myth about the encounter between Native Americans and Europeans?
3. Why did Powhatan think the Europeans could be useful to Native Americans?
HANDOUT # 14
Background
John Winthrop was selected as governor of the Massachusetts
Bay Company in 1629, and he was given the task of leading a
fleet of Puritan settlers to establish a community of their own
in New England the following year. The speech was given to
his fellow travelers on board the Arbella, the flagship of this
fleet, as they prepared to sail from their native England.
Excerpt from John Winthrop A Modell of Christian Charitie
(1630)
A Modell hereof.
God Almighty in his most holy and wise providence, hath soe disposed of the condition
of mankind, as in all times some must be rich, some poore, some high and eminent in
power and dignitie ; others mean and in submission.
The Reason hereof.
1 Reas. First to hold conformity with the rest of his world, being delighted to show forth
the glory of his wisdom in the variety and difference of the creatures, and the glory of his
power in ordering all these differences for the preservation and good of the whole ; and
the glory of his greatness, that as it is the glory of princes to have many officers, soe this
great king will haue many stewards, counting himself more honoured in dispensing his
gifts to man by man, than if he did it by his owne immediate hands.
2 Reas. Secondly that he might haue the more occasion to manifest the work of his Spirit:
first upon the wicked in moderating and restraining them: soe that the riche and mighty
should not eate upp the poore nor the poore and dispised rise upp against and shake off
theire yoake. In the regenerate, in exerciseing his graces in them, as in the grate ones,
theire love, mercy, gentleness, temperance &c., in the poore and inferior sorte, theire
faithe, patience, obedience &c.
3 Reas. Thirdly, that every man might have need of others, and from hence they might be
all knitt more nearly together in the Bonds of brotherly affection. From hence it appears
plainly that noe man is made more honourable than another or more wealthy &c., out of
any particular and singular respect to himselfe, but for the glory of his creator and the
common good of the creature, man. Therefore God still reserves the propperty of these
gifts to himself as Ezek. 16. 17. he there calls wealthe, his gold and his silver, and Prov.
he claims theire service as his due, honor the Lord with thy riches &c.—All men being
thus (by divine providence) ranked into two sorts, riche and poore ; under the first are
comprehended all such as are able to live comfortably by their own meanes duely
improved ; and all others are poore according to the former distribution. There are two
rules whereby we are to walk one towards another: Justice and Mercy….
…Thus stands the cause betweene God and us. We are entered into Covenant with Him
for this worke. Wee haue taken out a commission. The Lord hath given us leave to drawe
our own articles. Wee haue professed to enterprise these and those accounts, upon these
and those ends. Wee have hereupon besought Him of favour and blessing. Now if the
Lord shall please to heare us, and bring us in peace to the place we desire, then hath hee
ratified this covenant and sealed our Commission, and will expect a strict performance of
the articles contained in it ; but if wee shall neglect the observation of these articles which
are the ends wee have propounded, and, dissembling with our God, shall fall to embrace
this present world and prosecute our carnall intentions, seeking greate things for
ourselves and our posterity, the Lord will surely breake out in wrathe against us ; be
revenged of such a [sinful] people and make us knowe the price of the breache of such a
covenant.
Now the onely way to avoyde this shipwracke, and to provide for our posterity, is
tofollowe the counsell of Micah, to doe justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our
God. For this end, wee must be knitt together, in this worke, as one man. Wee must
entertaine each other in brotherly affection. Wee must be willing to abridge ourselves of
our superfluities, for the supply of other's necessities. Wee must uphold a familiar
commerce together in all meekeness, gentlenes, patience and liberality. Wee must delight
in eache other ; make other's conditions our oune ; rejoice together, mourne together,
labour and suffer together, allwayes haueving before our eyes our commission and
community in the worke, as members of the same body. Soe shall wee keepe the unitie of
the spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us,
as his oune people, and will command a blessing upon us in all our wayes. Soe that wee
shall see much more of his wisdome, power, goodness and truthe, than formerly wee
haue been acquainted with. Wee shall finde that the God of Israeli is among us, when ten
of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies ; when hee shall make us a prayse
and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, "the Lord make it likely that of
New England." For wee must consider that wee shall be as a citty upon a hill. The eies of
all people are uppon us. Soe that if wee shall deale falsely with our God in this worke
wee haue undertaken, and soe cause him to with- drawe his present help from us, wee
shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. Wee shall open the mouthes of
enemies to speake evill of the wayes of God, and all professors for God's sake. Wee shall
shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause theire prayers to be turned
into curses upon us till wee be consumed out of the good land whither wee are a
goeing…
Primary Source Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
How can we describe John Winthrop?
What is the Winthrop’s main purpose in writing the letter?
What can we say about Winthrop’s intended audience?
How is the message shaped to appeal to his audience?
According to Winthrop, what kind of world did God create, and why did he
create it that way?
What is the relationship between God and the Puritan migrants?
How should the Puritans live?
HANDOUT # 15
Puritanism
Calvinism Institutes of the Christian Religion
 Predestination.
Good works could not save those predestined for hell.
No one could be certain of their spiritual status.
Gnawing doubts led to constantly seeking signs of “conversion.”
Puritans:
 Want to totally reform [purify] the Church of England.
 Grew impatient with the slow process of Protestant Reformation back in
England.
 “Covenant of Grace” between Puritan communities and God.
 “Social Covenant” between members of Puritan communities with each
other.
 Required mutual watchfulness.
 No toleration of deviance or disorder.
 No privacy.
Pilgrim Separatists
Separatist Beliefs:
 Puritans who believed only “visible saints” [those who could demonstrate
in front of their fellow Puritans their elect status] should be admitted to
church membership.
 Because the Church of England enrolled all the king’s subjects, Separatists
felt they had to share churches with the “damned.”
 Therefore, they believed in a total break from the Church of England.
The Mayflower
 1620 a group of 102 people [half Separatists]
 Negotiated with the Virginia Company to settle in its jurisdiction.
 Non-Separatists included Captain Myles Standish.
Plymouth Bay
 way outside the domain of the Virginia Company.
 Became squatters without legal right to land & specific authority to
establish a govt.
Leader: William Bradford
 Self-taught scholar.
 Chosen governor of Plymouth 30 times in yearly elections.
 Worried about settlements of non-Puritans springing up nearby and
corrupting Puritan society.
Puritans
1629 non-Separatists got a royal charter to form the MA Bay Co.
 Wanted to escape attacks by conservatives in the Church of England.
 They didn’t want to leave the Church, just its “impurities.”
 1630 1,000 people set off in 11 well-stocked ships



Established a colony with Boston as its hub.
“Great Migration” of the 1630s
Turmoil in England [leading to the English Civil War] sent about 70,000
Puritans to America.
 Not all Puritans came to New England.
20,000 to New England
50,000 to Chesapeake
20,000 to West Indies
Leader: John Winthrop
 Well-off attorney and manor lord in England.
 Became 1st governor of Massachusetts.
 Believed that he had a “calling” from God to lead there.
 Served as governor or deputy-governor for 19 years.
HANDOUT #16
Mayflower Compact, 1620
IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names
are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread
Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of
Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of
the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God,
and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the
Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the
first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by
these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and
combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation,
and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such
just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be
thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all
due Submission and Obedience. IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names
at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of
England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini;
1620.
John Carver
William Bradford
Edward Winslow
William Brewster
Isaac Allerton
Miles Standish
John Alden
Samuel Fuller
Christopher Martin
William Mullins William White
James Chilton
John Craxton
John Billington
Richard Warren
John Howland
Peter Brown
Richard Clark
John Allerton
Edward Doten
John Goodman
Steven Hopkins
Edward Tilly
John Tilly
Francis Cook
Thomas Rogers
Thomas Tinker
John Rigdale
Edward Fuller
John Turner
Francis Eaton
Moses Fletcher
Digery Priest
Thomas Williams
Gilbert Winslow
Edmond Margeson
Richard Bitteridge
Richard Gardiner
Thomas English
Edward Liester
George Soule
QUESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS
1. What was the purpose of the colony, according to this document?
2. Why is it important that they combine into a “civil body politic”?
3. Why do you think only men signed this document?
HANDOUT #17
President Bush Delivers Graduation Speech at West Point
United States Military Academy West Point, New York
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, General
Lennox. Mr. Secretary, Governor Pataki, members
of the United States Congress, Academy staff and
faculty, distinguished guests, proud family members,
and graduates: I want to thank you for your
welcome. Laura and I are especially honored to visit
this great institution in your bicentennial year.
In every corner of America, the words "West Point"
command immediate respect. This place where the
Hudson River bends is more than a fine institution of
learning. The United States Military Academy is the
guardian of values that have shaped the soldiers who have shaped the history of the world.
A few of you have followed in the path of the perfect West Point graduate, Robert E. Lee, who
never received a single demerit in four years. Some of you followed in the path of the imperfect
graduate, Ulysses S. Grant, who had his fair share of demerits, and said the happiest day of his
life was "the day I left West Point." (Laughter.) During my college years I guess you could say I
was -- (laughter.) During my college years I guess you could say I was a Grant man. (Laughter.)
You walk in the tradition of Eisenhower and MacArthur, Patton and Bradley - the commanders
who saved a civilization. And you walk in the tradition of second lieutenants who did the same,
by fighting and dying on distant battlefields.
Graduates of this academy have brought creativity and courage to every field of endeavor. West
Point produced the chief engineer of the Panama Canal, the mind behind the Manhattan Project,
the first American to walk in space. This fine institution gave us the man they say invented
baseball, and other young men over the years who perfected the game of football.
You know this, but many in America don't -- George C. Marshall, a VMI graduate, is said to have
given this order: "I want an officer for a secret and dangerous mission. I want a West Point
football player." (Applause.)
As you leave here today, I know there's one thing you'll never miss about this place: Being a
plebe. (Applause.) But even a plebe at West Point is made to feel he or she has some standing in
the world. (Laughter.) I'm told that plebes, when asked whom they outrank, are required to
answer this: "Sir, the Superintendent's dog -- (laughter) -- the Commandant's cat, and all the
admirals in the whole damn Navy." (Applause.) I probably won't be sharing that with the
Secretary of the Navy. (Laughter.)
West Point is guided by tradition, and in honor of the "Golden Children of the Corps," -(applause) -- I will observe one of the traditions you cherish most. As the Commander-in-Chief, I
hereby grant amnesty to all cadets who are on restriction for minor conduct offenses. (Applause.)
Those of you in the end zone might have cheered a little early. (Laughter.) Because, you see, I'm
going to let General Lennox define exactly what "minor" means. (Laughter.)
Every West Point class is commissioned to the Armed Forces. Some West Point classes are also
commissioned by history, to take part in a great new calling for their country. Speaking here to
the class of 1942 -- six months after Pearl Harbor -- General Marshall said, "We're determined
that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world
as a symbol of freedom on the one hand, and of overwhelming power on the other." (Applause.)
Officers graduating that year helped fulfill that mission, defeating Japan and Germany, and then
reconstructing those nations as allies. West Point graduates of the 1940s saw the rise of a deadly
new challenge -- the challenge of imperial communism -- and opposed it from Korea to Berlin, to
Vietnam, and in the Cold War, from beginning to end. And as the sun set on their struggle, many
of those West Point officers lived to see a world transformed.
History has also issued its call to your generation. In your last year, America was attacked by a
ruthless and resourceful enemy. You graduate from this Academy in a time of war, taking your
place in an American military that is powerful and is honorable. Our war on terror is only begun,
but in Afghanistan it was begun well. (Applause.)
I am proud of the men and women who have fought on my orders. America is profoundly grateful
for all who serve the cause of freedom, and for all who have given their lives in its defense. This
nation respects and trusts our military, and we are confident in your victories to come.
(Applause.)
This war will take many turns we cannot predict. Yet I am certain of this: Wherever we carry it,
the American flag will stand not only for our power, but for freedom. (Applause.) Our nation's
cause has always been larger than our nation's defense. We fight, as we always fight, for a just
peace -- a peace that favors human liberty. We will defend the peace against threats from
terrorists and tyrants. We will preserve the peace by building good relations among the great
powers. And we will extend the peace by encouraging free and open societies on every continent.
Building this just peace is America's opportunity, and America's duty. From this day forward, it is
your challenge, as well, and we will meet this challenge together. (Applause.) You will wear the
uniform of a great and unique country. America has no empire to extend or utopia to establish.
We wish for others only what we wish for ourselves -- safety from violence, the rewards of
liberty, and the hope for a better life.
In defending the peace, we face a threat with no precedent. Enemies in the past needed great
armies and great industrial capabilities to endanger the American people and our nation. The
attacks of September the 11th required a few hundred thousand dollars in the hands of a few
dozen evil and deluded men. All of the chaos and suffering they caused came at much less than
the cost of a single tank. The dangers have not passed. This government and the American people
are on watch, we are ready, because we know the terrorists have more money and more men and
more plans.
The gravest danger to freedom lies at the perilous crossroads of radicalism and technology. When
the spread of chemical and biological and nuclear weapons, along with ballistic missile
technology -- when that occurs, even weak states and small groups could attain a catastrophic
power to strike great nations. Our enemies have declared this very intention, and have been
caught seeking these terrible weapons. They want the capability to blackmail us, or to harm us, or
to harm our friends -- and we will oppose them with all our power. (Applause.)
For much of the last century, America's defense relied on the Cold War doctrines of deterrence
and containment. In some cases, those strategies still apply. But new threats also require new
thinking. Deterrence -- the promise of massive retaliation against nations -- means nothing against
shadowy terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to defend. Containment is not possible
when unbalanced dictators with weapons of mass destruction can deliver those weapons on
missiles or secretly provide them to terrorist allies.
We cannot defend America and our friends by hoping for the best. We cannot put our faith in the
word of tyrants, who solemnly sign non-proliferation treaties, and then systemically break them.
If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long. (Applause.)
Homeland defense and missile defense are part of stronger security, and they're essential
priorities for America. Yet the war on terror will not be won on the defensive. We must take the
battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans, and confront the worst threats before they emerge.
(Applause.) In the world we have entered, the only path to safety is the path of action. And this
nation will act. (Applause.)
Our security will require the best intelligence, to reveal threats hidden in caves and growing in
laboratories. Our security will require modernizing domestic agencies such as the FBI, so they're
prepared to act, and act quickly, against danger. Our security will require transforming the
military you will lead -- a military that must be ready to strike at a moment's notice in any dark
corner of the world. And our security will require all Americans to be forward-looking and
resolute, to be ready for preemptive action when necessary to defend our liberty and to defend our
lives. (Applause.)
The work ahead is difficult. The choices we will face are complex. We must uncover terror cells
in 60 or more countries, using every tool of finance, intelligence and law enforcement. Along
with our friends and allies, we must oppose proliferation and confront regimes that sponsor terror,
as each case requires. Some nations need military training to fight terror, and we'll provide it.
Other nations oppose terror, but tolerate the hatred that leads to terror -- and that must change.
(Applause.) We will send diplomats where they are needed, and we will send you, our soldiers,
where you're needed. (Applause.)
All nations that decide for aggression and terror will pay a price. We will not leave the safety of
America and the peace of the planet at the mercy of a few mad terrorists and tyrants. (Applause.)
We will lift this dark threat from our country and from the world.
Because the war on terror will require resolve and patience, it will also require firm moral
purpose. In this way our struggle is similar to the Cold War. Now, as then, our enemies are
totalitarians, holding a creed of power with no place for human dignity. Now, as then, they seek
to impose a joyless conformity, to control every life and all of life.
America confronted imperial communism in many different ways -- diplomatic, economic, and
military. Yet moral clarity was essential to our victory in the Cold War. When leaders like John F.
Kennedy and Ronald Reagan refused to gloss over the brutality of tyrants, they gave hope to
prisoners and dissidents and exiles, and rallied free nations to a great cause.
Some worry that it is somehow undiplomatic or impolite to speak the language of right and
wrong. I disagree. (Applause.) Different circumstances require different methods, but not
different moralities. (Applause.) Moral truth is the same in every culture, in every time, and in
every place. Targeting innocent civilians for murder is always and everywhere wrong.
(Applause.) Brutality against women is always and everywhere wrong. (Applause.) There can be
no neutrality between justice and cruelty, between the innocent and the guilty. We are in a
conflict between good and evil, and America will call evil by its name. (Applause.) By
confronting evil and lawless regimes, we do not create a problem, we reveal a problem. And we
will lead the world in opposing it. (Applause.)
As we defend the peace, we also have an historic opportunity to preserve the peace. We have our
best chance since the rise of the nation state in the 17th century to build a world where the great
powers compete in peace instead of prepare for war. The history of the last century, in particular,
was dominated by a series of destructive national rivalries that left battlefields and graveyards
across the Earth. Germany fought France, the Axis fought the Allies, and then the East fought the
West, in proxy wars and tense standoffs, against a backdrop of nuclear Armageddon.
Competition between great nations is inevitable, but armed conflict in our world is not. More and
more, civilized nations find ourselves on the same side -- united by common dangers of terrorist
violence and chaos. America has, and intends to keep, military strengths beyond challenge -(applause) -- thereby, making the destabilizing arms races of other eras pointless, and limiting
rivalries to trade and other pursuits of peace.
Today the great powers are also increasingly united by common values, instead of divided by
conflicting ideologies. The United States, Japan and our Pacific friends, and now all of Europe,
share a deep commitment to human freedom, embodied in strong alliances such as NATO. And
the tide of liberty is rising in many other nations.
Generations of West Point officers planned and practiced for battles with Soviet Russia. I've just
returned from a new Russia, now a country reaching toward democracy, and our partner in the
war against terror. (Applause.) Even in China, leaders are discovering that economic freedom is
the only lasting source of national wealth. In time, they will find that social and political freedom
is the only true source of national greatness. (Applause.)
When the great powers share common values, we are better able to confront serious regional
conflicts together, better able to cooperate in preventing the spread of violence or economic
chaos. In the past, great power rivals took sides in difficult regional problems, making divisions
deeper and more complicated. Today, from the Middle East to South Asia, we are gathering broad
international coalitions to increase the pressure for peace. We must build strong and great power
relations when times are good; to help manage crisis when times are bad. America needs partners
to preserve the peace, and we will work with every nation that shares this noble goal. (Applause.)
And finally, America stands for more than the absence of war. We have a great opportunity to
extend a just peace, by replacing poverty, repression, and resentment around the world with hope
of a better day. Through most of history, poverty was persistent, inescapable, and almost
universal. In the last few decades, we've seen nations from Chile to South Korea build modern
economies and freer societies, lifting millions of people out of despair and want. And there's no
mystery to this achievement.
The 20th century ended with a single surviving model of human progress, based on nonnegotiable demands of human dignity, the rule of law, limits on the power of the state, respect for
women and private property and free speech and equal justice and religious tolerance. America
cannot impose this vision -- yet we can support and reward governments that make the right
choices for their own people. In our development aid, in our diplomatic efforts, in our
international broadcasting, and in our educational assistance, the United States will promote
moderation and tolerance and human rights. And we will defend the peace that makes all progress
possible.
When it comes to the common rights and needs of men and women, there is no clash of
civilizations. The requirements of freedom apply fully to Africa and Latin America and the entire
Islamic world. The peoples of the Islamic nations want and deserve the same freedoms and
opportunities as people in every nation. And their governments should listen to their hopes.
(Applause.)
A truly strong nation will permit legal avenues of dissent for all groups that pursue their
aspirations without violence. An advancing nation will pursue economic reform, to unleash the
great entrepreneurial energy of its people. A thriving nation will respect the rights of women,
because no society can prosper while denying opportunity to half its citizens. Mothers and fathers
and children across the Islamic world, and all the world, share the same fears and aspirations. In
poverty, they struggle. In tyranny, they suffer. And as we saw in Afghanistan, in liberation they
celebrate. (Applause.)
America has a greater objective than controlling threats and containing resentment. We will work
for a just and peaceful world beyond the war on terror.
The bicentennial class of West Point now enters this drama. With all in the United States Army,
you will stand between your fellow citizens and grave danger. You will help establish a peace
that allows millions around the world to live in liberty and to grow in prosperity. You will face
times of calm, and times of crisis. And every test will find you prepared -- because you're the men
and women of West Point. (Applause.) You leave here marked by the character of this Academy,
carrying with you the highest ideals of our nation.
Toward the end of his life, Dwight Eisenhower recalled the first day he stood on the plain at West
Point. "The feeling came over me," he said, "that the expression 'the United States of America'
would now and henceforth mean something different than it had ever before. From here on, it
would be the nation I would be serving, not myself."
Today, your last day at West Point, you begin a life of service in a career unlike any other.
You've answered a calling to hardship and purpose, to risk and honor. At the end of every day
you will know that you have faithfully done your duty. May you always bring to that duty the
high standards of this great American institution. May you always be worthy of the long gray line
that stretches two centuries behind you.
On behalf of the nation, I congratulate each one of you for the commission you've earned and for
the credit you bring to the United States of America. May God bless you all. (Applause.)
END 10:05 A.M. EDT
QUESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS
Is America still a “City on a Hill”?
Do Americans believe it is?
Do people from other countries believe it is?
HANDOUT # 18
Obama Holds Town Hall in Strasbourg, France
Friday, April 3, 2009; 11:52 AM
PRESIDENT OBAMA: (Extended cheers and
applause.) Hey! Thank you! Thank you so
much. Good afternoon. Bon apres-midi -(cheers, applause) -- and guten tag.
It is a great honor for me to be here in Europe,
to be here in Strasbourg. I want to make just a
few acknowledgments. I want to thank the
president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, for being such a terrific friend. I want to thank his wife,
Madame Sarkozy. They just hosted us at the palace and could not have been more gracious.
I want to thank the charge d'affaires, Mark Pekala, and his wife, Maria, who are helping to
organize this; Vincent Carver, who's the consul general in Strasbourg. And I want to thank the
mayor of Strasbourg, Roland Ries, for his hospitality. (Cheers, applause.)
It is wonderful to be here with all of you and to have an opportunity not only to speak to you but
also to take some questions. You know, oftentimes during these foreign trips, you see everything
from behind a window. And what we thought was important was for me to have an opportunity to
not only speak with you, but also to hear from you, because that's ultimately how we can learn
about each other.
But before I take some questions, I hope you don't mind me making a few remarks about my
country and yours, the relationship between the United States and the relationship between
Europe.
Strasbourg has been known throughout history as a city at the crossroads. Over thousands of
years you've straddled many kingdoms and many cultures. Two rivers are joined here. Two
religions have flourished in your churches. Three languages comprise an ancient oath that bears
the city's name. You've served as a center of industry and commerce, a seat of government and
education, where Goethe studied and Pasteur taught, and Gutenberg imagined his printing press.
So it's fitting, because we find ourselves at a crossroads as well, all of us, for we've arrived at a
moment where each nation and every citizen must choose at last how we respond to a world that
has grown smaller and more connected than at any time in its existence.
You know, we've known -- we've known for a long time that the revolutions in communications
and technology that took place in the 20th century would help hold out enormous promise for the
21st century, the promise of broader prosperity and mobility, of new breakthroughs and
discoveries that could help us lead richer and fuller lives. But the same forces that have brought
us closer together have also given rise to new dangers that threaten to tear our world apart,
dangers that cannot be contained by the nearest border or the furthest ocean.
Even with the Cold War now over, the spread of nuclear weapons or the theft of nuclear material
could lead to the extermination of any city on the planet. And this weekend in Prague I will lay
out an agenda to seek the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. (Cheers, applause.)
We also know that the pollution from cars in Boston or from factories in Beijing are melting the
ice caps in the Arctic, and that that will disrupt weather patterns everywhere. The terrorists who
struck in London and New York plotted in distant caves and simple apartments much closer to
your home. And the reckless speculation of bankers that has now fueled a global economic
downturn that's inflicting pain on workers and families -- is happening everywhere, all across the
globe.
The economic crisis has proven the fact of our interdependence in the most visible way yet. Not
more than a generation ago, it would have been difficult to imagine that the inability of somebody
to pay for a house in Florida could contribute to the failure of the banking system in Iceland.
Today, what's difficult to imagine is that we did not act sooner to shape our future.
Now, there's plenty of blame to go around for what has happened. And the United States certainly
shares its -- shares blame for what has happened. But every nation bears responsibility for what
lies ahead, especially now. For whether it's the recession or climate change or terrorism or drug
trafficking, poverty or the proliferation of nuclear weapons, we have learned that, without a
doubt, there's no corner of the globe that can wall itself off from the threats of the 21st century.
The one way forward -- the only way forward -- is through a common and persistent effort to
combat fear and want wherever they exist. That is the challenge of our time, and we cannot fail to
meet it together.
We take for granted the peace of a Europe that's united, but for centuries Strasbourg has been
attacked and occupied and claimed by the warring nations of this continent. Now, today in this
city, the presence of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe stand as symbols of a
Europe that is united, peaceful and free. (Applause.)
Now, we take this peace and prosperity for granted, but this destination was not easily reached,
nor was it predestined. The buildings that are now living monuments to European union -- unity
were not drawn from simple blueprints. They were born out of the blood of the first half of the
20th century and the resolve of the second. Men and women had to have the imagination to see a
better future and the courage to reach for it. Europeans and Americans had to have the sense of
common purpose to join one another, and the patience and the persistence to see a long twilight
struggle through.
It was 61 years ago this April that a Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe helped to deliver hope to a
continent that had been decimated by war. Amid the ashes and the rubble that surrounded so
many cities like this one, America joined with you in an unprecedented effort that secured a
lasting prosperity not just in Europe but around the world, on both sides of the Atlantic.
One year later, exactly 60 years ago tomorrow, we ensured our shared security when 12 of our
nations signed a treaty in Washington that spelled out a simple agreement: an attack on one would
be viewed as an attack on all.
Without firing a single shot, this alliance would prevent the Iron Curtain from descending on the
free nations of Western Europe. It would lead eventually to the crumbling of a wall in Berlin and
the end of the communist threat.
Two decades later, with 28 member nations that stretch from the Baltic to the Mediterranean,
NATO remains the strongest alliance that the world has ever known.
At the crossroads where we stand today, this shared history gives us hope, but it must not give us
rest. This generation cannot stand still. We cannot be content merely to celebrate the
achievements of the 20th century or enjoy the comforts of the 21st century. We must learn from
the past to build on its success. We must renew our institutions, our alliances. We must seek the
solutions to the challenges of this young century. This is our generation. This is our time. And I
am confident that we can meet any challenge, as long as we are together. (Applause.)
Now, such an effort is never easy. It's always harder to forge true partnerships and sturdy
alliances than to act alone, or to wait for the action of somebody else. It's more difficult to break
down walls of division than to simply allow our differences to build and our resentments to fester.
So we must be honest with ourselves. In recent years, we've allowed our alliance to drift. I know
that there have been honest disagreements over policy, but we also know that there's something
more that has crept into our relationship.
In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world. Instead of
celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges,
there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.
But in Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual but can also be insidious.
Instead of recognizing the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times
where Europeans choose to blame America for much of what's bad.
On both sides of the Atlantic, these attitudes have become all too common. They are not wise.
They do not represent the truth. They threaten to widen the divide across the Atlantic and leave us
both more isolated. They fail to acknowledge the fundamental truth that America cannot confront
the challenges of this century alone, but that Europe cannot confront them without America.
So I've come to Europe this week to renew our partnership, one in which America listens and
learns from our friends and allies, but where our friends and allies bear their share of the burden.
Together, we must forge common solutions to our common problems.
So let me say this as clearly as I can: America is changing, but it cannot be America alone that
changes. We are confronting the greatest economic crisis since World War II. The only way to
confront this unprecedented crisis is through unprecedented coordination.
Over the last few days, I believe that we have begun that effort. The G-20 summit in London was
a success of nations coming together, working out their differences and moving boldly forward.
All of us are moving aggressively to restore growth and lending. All of us have agreed to the
most substantial overhaul of our international financial system in a generation. No one is exempt.
No more will the world's financial players be able to make risky bets at the expense of ordinary
people. Those days are over. We are ushering a new era of responsibility. (Applause.) And that is
something we should all be proud of. (Applause continues.)
As we take these steps, we also affirm that we must not erect new barriers to commerce, that trade
wars have no victors. We can't give up on open markets, even as we work to ensure that trade is
both free and fair. We cannot forget how many millions that trade have -- has lifted out of poverty
and into the middle class. We can't forget that part of the freedom that our nation stood for
throughout the Cold War was the opportunity that comes from free enterprise and individual
liberty.
I know it can be tempting to turn inward, and I understand how many people and nations have
been left behind by the global economy.
And that's why the United States is leading an effort to reach out to people around the world who
are suffering, to provide them immediate assistance and to extend support for food security that
will help them lift themselves out of poverty.
All of us must join together in this effort, not just because it is right, but because by providing
assistance to those countries most in need, we will provide new markets, we will drive the growth
of the future that lifts all of us up.
So it's not just charity. It's a matter of understanding that our fates are tied together, not just the
fates of Europe and America, but the fate of the entire world.
And as we restore our common prosperity, we must stand up for our common security. As we
meet here today, NATO is still embarked on its first mission overseas in Afghanistan, and my
administration has just completed a review of our policy in that region.
Now I understand that this war has been long. Our allies have already contributed greatly to this
endeavor. You've sent your sons and daughters to fight alongside ours, and we honor and respect
their service and sacrifice.
And I also know that there are some who have asked questions about why are we still in
Afghanistan. What does this mean? What's its purpose?
Understand we would not deploy our own troops if this mission was not indispensable to our
common security.
As president, I can tell you there's no decision more difficult, there's no duty more painful, than
signing a letter to the family of somebody who's died in a war. So I understand that there's doubt
about this war in Europe. There's doubt at times even in the United States. But know this: The
United States of America did not choose to fight a war in Afghanistan. We were attacked by an al
Qaeda network that killed thousands on American soil, including French and Germans. Along the
border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, those terrorists are still plotting today. And there -- if there is
another al Qaeda attack, it is just as likely, if not more, that it will be here in Europe, in a
European city.
So I've made a commitment to Afghanistan, and I have asked our NATO partners for more
civilian and military support and assistance. We do this with a clear purpose: To root out the
terrorists who threaten all of us; to train the Afghan people to sustain their own security; and to
help them advance their own opportunity; and to quicken the day when our troops come home.
We have no interest in occupying Afghanistan. We have more than enough to do in rebuilding
America. (Applause.)
But this is a mission that tests whether nations can come together in common purpose on behalf
of our common security. That's what we did together in the 20th century. And now we need an
alliance that is even stronger than when it brought down a mighty wall in Berlin.
That's why we applaud France's decision to expand and deepen its participation in NATO, just as
we support a strong European defense. That's why we welcome Croatia and Albania into the fold.
And that is why we must ensure that NATO is equipped and capable of facing down the threats
and challenges of this new age. This is one of our central tasks.
We also know that in the 21st century, security is more complex than military power. This is the
generation that must also stop the spread of the pollution that is slowly killing our planet, from
shrinking coastlines and devastating storms to widespread misery of famine and drought. The
effects of climate change are now in plain sight.
Europe has acted with the seriousness of purpose that this challenge demands. And in the last few
months I'm proud to say that America has begun to take unprecedented steps to transform the way
that we use energy. We've appointed a special envoy to help us lead a global effort to reduce the
carbon that we send into the atmosphere.
But we all know that time is running out. And that means that America must do more. Europe
must do more. China and India must do more.
Rolling back the tide of a warming planet is a responsibility that we have to ourselves, to our
children and all of those who will inherit God's creation long after we are gone. So let us meet
that responsibility together. I am confident that we can meet it, but we have to begin today.
(Applause.)
And -- and let us resolve that when future generations look back on ours, they will be able to say
that we did our part to make this world more peaceful. It's perhaps the most difficult work of all
to resolve age-old conflicts, to heal ancient hatreds, to dissolve the lines of suspicion between
religions and cultures and people who may not look like us or have the same faith that we do or
come from the same place.
But it's -- just because it's difficult does not make the work any less important. It does not absolve
us from trying. And to that end, America will sustain our effort to forge and secure a lasting peace
between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
I've sent a clear message to the leaders and peoples of Iran that, while we have real differences,
we also have mutual interests and we seek new engagement based on mutual respect.
And it is in that spirit that America and Europe must reach out to the vast majority of Muslims in
our nations, and in all nations, who seek only hope of peace and partnership and the opportunity
of a better life.
We cannot simply solve these conflicts militarily. We have to open our minds and we have to
open our hearts to the differences among us and the commonalities between us. With every threat
that we face, a new day is possible. We can't get there alone. As it was in the darkest days after
World War II, when a continent lay in ruins and an atomic cloud had settled over the world, we
must make the journey together.
We know that transformational change is possible. We know this because of three reasons.
First, because, for all our differences, there are certain values that bind us together and reveal our
common humanity: the universal longing to live a life free from fear and free from want, a life
marked by dignity and respect and simple justice. Our two republics were founded in service of
these ideals. In America it is written into our founding documents as life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness. In France, liberte -AUDIENCE MEMBER: Egalite.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Absolutely -- (laughter, cheers, applause) -- egalite, fraternite.
Our moral authority is derived from the fact that generations of our citizens have fought and bled
to uphold these values in our nations and others. And that's why we can never sacrifice them for
expedience's sake. That's why I've ordered the closing of the detention center in Guantanamo
Bay. (Cheers, applause.)
That's why I can stand here today and say without equivocation or exception that the United
States of America does not and will not torture. (Cheers, applause.)
The second way that we can turn challenge into opportunity is through our persistence in the face
of difficulty. In an age of instant gratification, it's tempting to believe that every problem can and
should be solved in a span of a -- a week. When these problems aren't solved, we conclude that
our efforts to solve them must have been in vain. But that's not how progress is made. Progress is
slow. It comes in fits and starts, because we try and we fail, and then we try something else.
And when there are setbacks and disappointments, we keep going. We hold firm to our core
values and we hold firm to our faith in one another.
The third reason we know that we can change this world is because of men and women like the
young people who are here today. Each time we find ourselves at a crossroads, paralyzed by worn
debates and stale thinking, the old ways of doing things, a new generation rises up and shows the
way forward.
As Robert Kennedy once told a crowd of students in South Africa, it is a revolutionary world that
we live in and, thus, it is young people who must take the lead -- (applause) -- because young
people are unburdened by the biases or prejudices of the past. That is a great privilege of youth.
But it's also a tremendous responsibility, because it is you who must ultimately decide what we
do with this incredible moment in history.
We've just emerged from an era marked by irresponsibility. And it would be easy to choose the
path of selfishness or apathy, of blame or division, but that is a danger that we cannot afford.
The challenges are too great.
It is a revolutionary world that we live in, and history shows us that we can do improbable,
sometimes impossible things. We stand here in a city that used to stand at the center of European
conflict, only now it is the center of European Union. We did that together.
Now we must not give up on one another. We must renew this relationship for a new generation,
in a new century. We must hold firm to our common values, home -- firm to our faith in one
another. Together, I am confident that we can achieve the promise of a new day.
Thank you very much. (Cheers, applause.) Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you!
QUESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS
Is America still a “City on a Hill”?
Do Americans believe it is?
Do people from other countries believe it is?
HANDOUT #19
FINAL ASSESSMENT
Founding of the American Colonies
Creative Assignment
In this unit on the founding of the American Colonies, we have specifically focused on
TWO main groups and their involvement in the early colonization period: Spanish, and
English. Your task is to demonstrate your understanding of this time period and the issues
covered through a creative project centered on a theme. The theme of the project is:
DILEMMAS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN LEADERSHIP
(This assignment will be worth 100pts.)
Do ONE of the following creative projects centered on TWO
LEADERS that we have studied. Explain in a minimum of 400
words in a typed paper how your project relates to the theme.
Use the materials studied in class, plus THREE outside sources,
cited in proper MLA form at the end of your paper. (Two people
can work together, with a minimum of six outside sources and a
600 word explanation).
a. Visual (drawing, poster, collage, painting)
b. Creative newspaper report
c. Children’s book
d. Creative diary/journal entry
e. Pamphlet
f. Media (not just Power Point slides)
g. A series of 4 political cartoons
The project must also contain THREE or more of the following elements:
1. Motives/goals behind colonization (seeking fortune, religious freedom, getting out
of debt, etc.)
2. What role did historical and immediate context play in choices that were made?
3. How did leaders deal with the various challenges, obstacles, and dilemmas that arose?
4. What role did geography play in shaping the colonial society that was created?
5. What role did culture play in shaping the colonial society that was created?
You will be evaluated for the creative project by these criteria:
1. Understanding of the topic
2. Analysis of the three elements listed above
3. Explanation of how your project connects to the theme of “Dilemmas and
Opportunities”
4. Elaboration
5. Creativity/originality/insight
6. Effort
7. Proper citations and strength of sources