Life in early America
Objectives/Standards:
Describe the contributions of geographic and economic
conditions, religion, and colonial systems of
government to the development of American
democratic practices.
Describe the geography, cultures, and economics of the
Southern, Middle Atlantic, and New England Colonies.
Describe interactions (e.g., agricultural and cultural
exchanges, alliances, conflicts) between Native
Americans and European settlers.
Do Now
Brainstorm some push factors
and some pull factors why
colonists may come to the New
World
Colony – What is a colony?
A settlement in a new area.
The first English colonies in North America
were along the eastern coast.
Colonist – What is a Colonist?
An English man or woman that moves to the new world
of North America.
• Some Englishmen came for
religious freedom from the Church
of English.
• They wanted land and wealth that
they couldn’t have in England.
• They wanted freedom from the
King’s rule.
• They wanted a new beginning
• They want adventure.
• They wanted gold and riches.
• Self-rule
• By 1735 there were over
6 million English men
women and children
looking to the 13 English
Colonies here in North
America for a new
beginning.
Each colony was unique in it’s characteristics. However, they
are grouped together based on location, reasons they were
founded, and what types of industries they had.
Directions: each team will be
given a piece of chart paper
and a map of the origional 13
colonies. Group the colonies
in appropriate groups with
your team. You will have 5
minutes!
Closure: create a hashtag for this
image pretending you are on a ship
journeying to the new world
Do Now:
You live in a town near London in the early 1700s.
Some of your neighbors are starting new lives in
the American colonies. You would like to go with
them, but you cannot afford the cost of the trip.
There is one way you can go, though. You can sign
a paper promising to work as a servant for five
years. Then you would be free—and in a new
country!
Would you sign the paper and go to America?
Puritans – Who were they?
The Puritans came to New England to escape the King
who punished them for their religion. They governed a
strict colony that was based around the bible and the
church.
They had elected officials but they were male. No
women could serve in the Puritan government.
The settlers here made a great
deal of money fur trapping.
Other economic
opportunities in New England
were based around the sea:
fishing, shipbuilding, and
whaling.
The soil was rocky and so
the New England Colonies
were not known for their
farms.
People in New England towns
lived, worked, and worshiped
close together.
The meeting house and the
church were the most important
buildings in the town.
The Puritans settled in
Massachusetts. Because they were
so strict some Puritans left
Massachusetts and founded the
other New England Colonies. The
Colonies of New Hampshire,
Connecticut, and Rhode Island
were friendlier more tolerant of
people’s differences.
By 1750, busy cities cropped up around the New England colonies.
Boston became world famous for its shipping port.
One room
One teacher
Very strict,
children were
often whipped for
punishment
The main subject
was reading
Directions: As you read p.78-82
identify the reasons English colonists
came to New England. Pull out key
details
Reasons for coming to New England
Pilgrims
left England in the early
1600s to escape persecution
Puritans
wanted to purify, or reform,
the Anglican Church
Pilgrims
Puritans
What religion was in control of
Massachusetts?
Name three ways in which the
colonies in New
England made a living?
What was the soil like in New
England?
Do Now:
If YOU were there...
A year ago, in 1609, you moved to the colony
of Virginia. Life here has been hard. During
the winter many people died of cold or
sickness. Food is always scarce. Now it is
spring, and a ship has come from England
bringing supplies. In a week it will sail home.
Some of your neighbors are giving up and
returning to England. They ask you to come,
too.
Would you take the ship back to England?
Overseer– What is a overseer?
Someone that was hired to watch slaves as they worked.
Plantation owners hired overseers to watch the slaves and
make sure they did their jobs.
Indigo– What is indigo?
A plant that was used in making blue dye.
The farmers grew indigo plants. Indigo was an important cash
crop for the Southern colonies.
As touching the quality of this country, three things there
be, which in few years may bring this colony to
perfection; the English plow, vineyards, & cattle . . .
All our riches for the present do consist in tobacco,
wherein one man by his own labor has in one year, raised
to himself to the value of 200 pounds sterling; and
another by the means of six servants has cleared at one
crop a thousand pound English. These be true, yet indeed
rare
Primary
Source!
examples, yet possible to be done by others.”
How does this letter indicate the importance of tobacco in Virginia?
The settlers here, for the most
part, wanted to make money.
They brought their families
and the slaves worked the
land.
Many settlers here were rich
and owned large plantations.
A Plantation grows only one
type of crop. Very different
from the farms of the Middle
Colonies.
-almost entirely agricultural
-plantations were abundant
-a large part of the workforce
was African slaves
-plantations grew tobacco,
rice, and indigo
-Slavery was legal
-Children born to slaves
became slaves themselves
-Slaves were imported from
Africa.
-Slave traders made a great
deal of money.
Directions: Pull out key details
defining the political, social, and
economic factors present in the
southern colonies using section 1
in your textbooks
Event
Political
Economic
Social
1.The Foundation of
Jamestown
1. In 1605 a
company of
English
merchants asked
King James I for
the right to
found, or
establish, a
settlement. In
1606 the king
granted the
request of the
company to
settle in a region
called Virginia.
1.The investors in
the new settlement
formed a joint-stock
company called the
London Company.
about 40 miles up
the James River in
Virginia, the
colonists founded
Jamestown
1.Most of the men who
came to Jamestown
were adventurers with
no farming experience
or useful skills such as
carpentry. Jamestown
was surrounded by
marshes full of diseasecarrying mosquitoes.
By the time winter
arrived, two-thirds of
the original colonists
had died
Event
Political
Economic
Social
What problems did the Jamestown colonists face?
The Breadbasket Colonies
A Nickname for the Middle Colonies because they produced so
much grain: Oats, wheat, rye.
Immigrant– What is an immigrant?
A person that comes into a country to start a new life.
People came to America from many different places to start a
new life.
Diversity– What is diversity?
A group of people from very different backgrounds.
The Middle colonies were an interesting place to live because
of the diversity among the people.
The settlements here were
considered a Royal Colonies.
The King send governors
here to watch over the Middle
Colonies.
However it was difficult for
the King to have much power
over the colonies and many
colonies were considered to
be self-rules.
-The Middle Colonies were
based on agriculture; small
farms that produced many
different crops.
-There were also factories
that produced iron.
-Sometimes called the “The Bread
Basket” colonies because they
grew so many crops for making
bread.
-The land was lush and fertile.
- The wagon was invented in
Pennsylvania and used for trade.
-Quiz: what crops grew in the
Middle Colonies? Name
three.
-What was the soil like?
-Name the four Colonies in
the Middle?
-This religion was a big part of life
in the Middle Colonies. Although
other religions were welcome, the
Quakers came to Pennsylvania to
escape persecution by the King of
England.
-Lived in New Jersey, New York,
Pennsylvania