“I’ll take Manhattan"-U.S. History lesson
(Adapted from History of US Vol. 2, Joy Hakim written by master teachers Barbara Dorff and Tamala Gnikpingo)
Essential Question
Why did free enterprise develop in the colonies?
Enduring Understanding
The American colonists borrowed the idea of private property from the English to establish the New World.
During colonization free enterprise developed in the United States when the British acquired fertile and
mineral rich land through conquest and purchase, and a large inexpensive and unskilled labor supply helped
the American colonial economy grow. 8.15a
Instructional Activities
Hook: Have students brainstorm ways a family can make money at home. (This could be for a purpose like
raising money to help victims of hurricane Katrina.) What can they do or sell to make money? They might
think of lemonade stand, sewing, washing windows, washing cars, dog sitting, baby sitting, bake or cook,
yard work, fix cars, grow a garden, raise chickens and eggs, garage sale, etc.
Teacher explanation to students: In the United States citizens are allowed to make money in creative
ways beyond a salary or job. We call this free enterprise. Free enterprise means that people can own land,
invent, create new products or services, and sell them for profit. Free enterprise has four components
(parts): Land, Labor, Capital, Entrepreneurship
The free enterprise system stresses private, rather than state, ownership of businesses and the importance
of entrepreneurs in promoting economic growth and freedom.
I. Vocabulary Acquisition: free enterprise, entrepreneur, land, labor, capital, merchant, harbor
Vocabulary Activity 1: Visual Discovery V1
Guided Practice: Teacher will demonstrate using the word Land to explain the “big idea” of the
picture and how it relates to land.
Independent Practice: Divide class into six groups. Give one vocabulary word to each group.
Students will use the plantation picture to explain the “big idea” of the picture and how it relates to
the vocabulary word.
Vocabulary Activity 2: Frayer Model (divide students into four groups.)
Guided Practice: Teacher will demonstrate using the Frayer Model using one of the vocabulary
words
Independent Practice: Each group will fill out the Frayer Model for one of the words and then
using the model, teach the word to the class using a skit or act-it-out, as well.
Vocabulary Activity 3: Visual Discovery-Checking for Understanding
II. Reading
Reading Activity 1: Anticipation Guide (see attached)
.
Reading Activity 2: Students read “The Dutch Do Manhattan”. Students will “ratiocinate” the
reading sentence by sentence using highlighter markers. (one color for land, another color for
labor, another color for capital, another for entrepreneurship). Compare answers in pairs, then
groups, then as a class.
III. Critical Thinking: Picture comparison
IV. Debriefing Activity:
Define free-enterprise and the terms: land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship.
Complete the chart to apply free-enterprise to the colonies.
Visual Discovery
V-8 Frayer Model (Doty, 2003)
Modeling: The teacher will provide an example such as the one below as a model of what the students
are expected to do to complete the assignment.
Definition
Characteristics
A place filled with goods and supplies
needed for survival. The owner would
10 camps
locations
buy,
trade ororsell
goods. set aside to
place families of Japanese Americans
during World War II. They could only
take a few possessions. It did not
matter how loyal they were to the
United States.
A place filled with various needed goods,
usually situated on a river bank or harbor,
or near transportation where people can
easily come to trade goods.
Trading Post
Examples
(from your own life)
Grocery store or Wal-Mart store , or downtown
Farmer’s Market
Non examples
(from your own life)
A church or home where things are not for
sale or trade.
Frayer Model
Visual Discovery: Check for understanding
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Brainstorm: What aspects of free enterprise do you observe in this picture?
When was the picture? (during Exploration and Colonization of America…the 1600’s)
Where was the picture? (in the American colonies)
What was going on in the picture? (the Dutch were bartering with the Native Americans)
How are the people dressed?
What did each group have that the other group wanted? (land—trinkets)
How did they figure out what to bring to the trade? (entrepreneurship)
Who probably got the best deal? Why do you think that?
In the picture do you find evidence of land? Labor? Capital? Entrepreneurship? Explain your
answers.
I’ll Take Manhattan
Before Reading
Statement
After Reading
Agree
Disagree
On Manhattan Island the Dutch built walls
for protection from Native Americans.
True
False
Agree
Disagree
In 1626, the West India Company bought Manhattan
Island, now called New York City, for $24.
True
False
Agree
Disagree
The Dutch believed furs were about as valuable as
American gold.
True
False
Agree
Disagree
The Dutch merchants hoped to get rich in the new .
world.
True
False
Agree
Disagree
The Dutch did not believe in slavery.
True
False
Agree
Disagree
According to the Native Americans, people could not
own land.
True
False.
I’ll Take Manhattan
Adapted from Joy Hakim, “Silvernails and Big Tub”
In 1609, Henry Hudson, an Englishman sailing on behalf of the Netherlands
(Holland), traveled up a river which is now named the “Hudson River”. Because of that
voyage, Holland claimed a large hunk of American land. It was wedged between the stern
Puritans in the North and the Anglican tobacco planters in the South. Today that land is
two states called New York and New Jersey.
In 1626 entrepreneurs in the Dutch West India Company made what may be the most
famous real-estate deal in history. For capital they used beads and goods said to be
worth $24, it bought Manhattan Island (now the center of New York City) and Long Island
(both just off the coast of New York state) from the Native Americans who lived there.
Since the Native Americans did not think people could own land, they many have thought
they were outsmarting the white men.
By this time, the Dutch had decided that American furs might be almost as good as
American gold, so they set up some trading posts. People in Europe were eager to by
American furs. Beaver, bear, fox and other fur pelts could be made into spectacular hats,
coats, and blankets. This was capitalism, or free-enterprise at work. The Dutch
merchants hoped to get rich in the New World.
On Manhattan Island the people from Holland built a town called New Amsterdam. At
one end they put a wall mostly to protect themselves from wolves, but also because cities
in Europe had walls. Outside the wall were farms, which the Dutch called “bouweries”.
Today a famous street nearby that old wall in New York is called “the Bowery.” It does not
look much like a farm today.
Because of its great harbor, New Amsterdam was soon a sailor’s town, bustling with
people who arrived on ships from faraway places. It was said that you could hear eighteen
different languages being spoken in the city of New Amsterdam. Right away, in 1626, the
Dutch brought slaves to New Amsterdam. You could buy a slave for about the same
amount it would coast to pay a worker one year’s salary. Some people thought it made
good sense to own slaves to use as labor force. It was an economic, or money, decision.
Write two things that are similar and two things that are different about each picture.
Explain how both pictures show free enterprise.
http://www.alexslemonade.org/gallery
Debriefing Activity:
Define free-enterprise and the terms: land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship. Fill out the chart
below to show how free-enterprise applies to the American Colonies.
Settlement
Land
(who owns it?)
Labor
(who works?)
Capital
(whose money?)
Entrepreneurship
(whose ideas?)
New England
Colonies
Middle Colonies
Southern Colonies
Main Idea
I. Answer:
Who?____________________________________________________________________
What?___________________________________________________________________
When?___________________________________________________________________
Where?__________________________________________________________________
Why?____________________________________________________________________
II. Complete Sentence: (format: When, who what where because why…)
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Example: In 1865 [when], the south [who] seceded from the Union [what] in the United States [where]
over the issue of states’ rights, tariffs and slavery [why].