Colonies of America Lesson I

Mrs. Smith Colonies of America
(Lesson 1)


I. Pre Instructional Phase
1. NYS Standards:
SS Standards 1, 2 ,3& 5- Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States.
- use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.
- use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live- national and global- including the distribution of people, places and environments over the Earth’s surface.
- use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the United States and other nations; the United States Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, fights and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.
ELA Standards 1, 3, &4- Students will read, write, listen, and speak for:
- information and understanding.
- critical analysis and evaluation
- social interaction
2. Lesson Objectives: (LWDAT= Learner Will Demonstrate Ability To)
Cognitive:
a) Given the information provided about American colonies and early forms of government, LWDAT critically analyze and describe why the colonies decided to go to war with Great Britain.
b) Given the demonstration, LWDAT discuss mercantilism and how it is helpful to the mother country

Affective:
a) LWDAT to give proper attention and respect to their peers who are participating in the demonstration.
3. Content:
Concept- Students will be learning about the early American colonies. We will discuss why the British government worked and what the Divine Right of Kings, then we will talk about the colonists and why colonies were set up by the major countries. Then, there will be a short demonstration on mercantilism and we will discuss how that economic system helped the mother country, but hurt other countries and the colony. Next, I will teach my students about the Stamp Act, Tea Act, and Intolerable Acts and why these acts upset the colonists. Then, we will take a look at the Declaration of Independence; and discuss why this document was risky for colonists to sign the document and why this document was good for them to sign. Lastly, we will discuss the Articles of the Confederation and how this government is different from today’s government.
Key Vocabulary-
Divine Right of Kings- rule by the will of God
Mayflower Compact- an agreement that was signed by the men aboard the Mayflower that said the colonists would obey any laws that were agreed upon for the general good of the colony. This established the notion of self-government in the American colonies.
Mercantilism- an economic system in which colonies exist to benefit the mother country, so this was the system used by imperialists.
Taxation without Representation- the taxpayer, colonist, had no say in the making of their taxes.
The Declaration of Independence- was a document written and signed by male representatives of the colonies. This document called the British King a tyrant, listed the wrongs that were committed against the colonists, and announced that the colonies were free and independent.
Articles of Confederation- first type of government that the colonies created that gave most of the power to rule to the states and a limited amount of power to the central government.
Task Analysis
- key vocabulary in the students’ notebooks
- make a KWL chart about why colonists came to
America
- read to them a short segment about the colonies and
we will finish the chart
- discuss mercantilism and short demonstration on how
it works
- discuss taxation and why colonists were upset; discuss
specific examples such as: Stamp Act, Tea Act, and
Intolerable Acts
- discuss the Declaration of Independence; hand out a
copy of political cartoon
- in partners write their own government; compare their government to the Articles of the Confederation

4. Instructional Aides/ Resources
- whiteboard markers
- handouts/cartoons
- notebooks
- materials for mercantilism demonstration
- timeline
5. Student Modifications:
- positive reinforcement for students that have classroom disturbance problems
- students working in pairs
- handouts to help students stay organized
- start homework in class
II. Interactive Phase
6A. Set/ Focusing Event:
***Write the vocabulary on the board
“Good morning class, today we will start learning about why countries supported colonies, why would people want to be a colonist in the Americas and what the phrase, “Taxation without Representation”, means and why this became a popular sentiment. Then, we will look at specific examples of colonists being taxed by Great Britain without being represented and how that caused the colonists to be so angry that they wrote the Declaration of Independence. Last, we will look at the Articles of the Confederation and discuss the difference between this type of government and the present day government.
“I want you all to imagine that you are colonists traveling from Great Britain to the new world. Before you get there, you need to agree upon some basic rules that everyone will follow. I am going to ask each person to think about one example and I will write it on the board, then we will compare our classroom agreement to the Mayflower Compact.”

Formative Check:
*** Write the students’ ideas on the board and quickly discuss Mayflower Compact
“The Mayflower Compact was an agreement created in 1620 before the colonists aboard the Mayflower landed in America. This contract allowed the colonists to be governed by local governments that the colonists created. This is known as self-government and is important because this was the opposite of the divine governments of the mother countries. They were governments that were supposed to create laws that were in the best interest of the colony. Soon colonial assemblies were created in each colony. In the Virginia colony in 1619 the House of Burgesses was created which became the first representative lawmaking assembly. After that, other colonies created similar assemblies that were bicameral, which means that they had two legislating bodies. This was similar to the Parliament in Great Britain.

Bridge:
“ Now, that we have started discussing the colonists, we are going to take out our notebooks and put this vocabulary in our notebooks.”
*** write the definition for the vocab. on the board
6B: Implementation:
” Next, we are going to do a KWL chart. These charts are always very useful because they allow us to write down what we already know about a subject, what we want to learn about that subject, and what we have learned after doing some work.
“Our KWL chart will be on the colonists. I want to everyone to copy this chart in your notebooks and set the chart up the way I am writing it on this board. First, I want everyone to stand up. Now, one at a time, tell me something you already know about the early colonists who came to America. After giving me an example, then you can sit down. I will begin this activity by giving you guys an example,”
***Write trying to escape religious persecution, then write all of the students’ examples
“I am going to write some questions about what I want you guys to learn about colonists and I want you to copy these questions into the “W” section of your chart, your chart should look similar to mine.
*** Where did Puritans settle? What colony promoted religious tolerance? What colony was founded by the Quakers? For what reasons were Virginia, Delaware, and New York created? What groups of colonists left to escape governmental persecution? What company was the first to settle in Virginia for the English? What happened to them? Who did the colonists use to work on the farms (two different groups)?
“Now, I am going to read a short section about colonists and why colonists came to the Americas.”
***Handout a copy of the section and read the section.

Formative Check:
***Discuss the answers to the questions and write in the “L” part of the chart.
Bridge:
“Now that we are done with our KWL charts, we can put our notebooks to the side for a minute. The next thing I want to teach you is mercantilism. This can be a difficult concept, but hopefully through this demonstration, you will be able to understand the concept better.

Formative Check:
” Can anyone remember the definition of mercantilism? This was one of our new vocabulary words, so please do no recite the definition I gave you. Instead put mercantilism into your own words.
Implementation:
“I want everyone to stand up and move quietly and quickly to the left side of the classroom.
***Make sure to give enough wait time.
"Now, you three move to the back center and you represent Spain and everyone else represents Great Britain. Now Great Britain is going to send five colonists off to the Americas. You five people are going to work very hard to grow crops and produce raw materials for your mother country. The colony is going to give Great Britain the raw materials and Great Britain is going to give the colonies the finished goods. However, Spain is going to try to get involved and trade with the colonies. Great Britain says “No because that is Britain’s colony. Now everyone sit down and we are going to quickly discuss what we just did.”

Formative Check:
***Discuss mercantilism and how this system affected the mother country, colonies, and other countries. Why does this system best benefit the mother country more than anyone else?
Bridge:
"Now we are going to move on to taxation. A major cause of the American Revolution was because colonists were very angry about the taxes they had to pay when their interests were not being protected in Great Britain. Does anyone know what the common phrase colonists used that we went over in the beginning of class was? Yes, “Taxation without Representation”.
Implementation:
“People that lived in Great Britain had a Constitution that the Parliament and King had to follow before creating new laws and or taxes. Colonists from Great Britain felt that they retained the citizenship of their original country, in other words the colonists felt that they still belonged to the mother country. Due to that, these colonists felt that they should have some type of representation in Great Britain to look out of colonists’ interests, especially when it came to Parliament deciding on an increase in taxes.
“Great Britain tried to levy many different taxes on the colonists; and because the colonists felt this was unfair they did many different things to stop Great Britain from collecting. Does anyone have any ideas about what taxes Great Britain tried to impose and what the colonists did? I am going to hand out a timeline which will have the important taxes, things colonists did to stop the collection, and what all this eventually led to.”

Formative Check:
***Go over the different taxes and what colonists did and answer any questions students have.
Bridge:
“Has anyone heard of the Declaration of Independence? If you have, please raise your hand?”
***Ask for something that each person knows about the Declaration
Implementation:
“The Second Continental Congress created a committee to draft a formal document declaring independence from Great Britain and the tyranny of the British King. Does anyone know what three colonists was part of this committee? Yes, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson were the members of the committee. However, Thomas Jefferson was the person that basically came up with the Declaration of Independence. Can anyone guess what day this Declaration was adopted by the Congress, this day is celebrated in one of the months of the summer? Yes, on July 4th 1776 the United States adopted the Declaration of Independence.
“This document had three basic parts (create chart with Declaration of Independence in the middle on the board and write important parts and ideas around the document) which were the theory of government, a list of wrongs committed by the British government and King, and a formal resolution that declared the United States independent.
“The key ideas are that people have natural born rights that include the right to “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. The government only gets the ability to govern “from the consent of the governed”. This is usually written in a social contract or compact that gives the power to govern in exchange for protection of people’s natural rights. Lastly, when a government stops doing the job of protecting the rights of citizens, then the citizens have the right “to alter or to abolish” that government.
“Some may wonder what the purpose of the formal Declaration of Independence was for. The colonists wanted to announce to the world that the colonies were now a new and independent nation. Also, the colonies wanted to explain and justify the reasons that they had decided to declare independence.”

Formative Check:
***Hand out the cartoon. Analyze and discuss cartoon. Discuss why it might have been a bad idea to sign the Declaration of Independence. Tell them that John Hancock wrote his name so large because he wanted the King to notice his name and his signing was in direct defiance of the King.

Closure:
“Before we end today, I want you to break up into pairs and create your own governments. On the blank sheet of paper I am handing out, I want you to write both of your names on top and create your government below. Think about how much power are you going to give to the central power, are there going to be powers that only the states have, and are there going to be shared powers? Right down the specific powers each section of your government has; do you have a separate legislature, executive, judicial? You can name your sections anything that you want. Also, think about how the majority of the people are represented; is it direct elections like in the senate or electoral elections like in the presidential? Or do people within the government pick and vote for other people like in the Supreme Court?
Do not copy the government that we have now or any other government because this is meant to be creative. There is no right or wrong answer.

Extending Activity:
“For homework, if you haven’t finished your government please finish that and bring your government into class with you. Next class, we will compare these governments to the very first government of the United States called the Articles of Confederation.






Name: Date:
9th US History R colonialism

(US History and Government Review Book 2008)
The Colonists:

Why They Came pg 27
Religious Reasons Some colonies were founded for religious reasons, but the colonists represented different religions and had different motivations. Massachusetts, for example, was founded by Pilgrims, or Separatists, who had left the Church of England, and Puritans who wanted to reform it. Colonies controlled by the Puritans allowed no religious freedom. Rhode Island, on the other hand, permitted all religions including Judaism. Pennsylvania was founded as a refuge for Quakers; Maryland for Roman Catholics.
Economic Reasons Economic motives were a major factor in the founding of Virginia, Delaware, and New Netherlands (later New York), as well as North and South Carolina. Georgia, the last of the colonies to be founded, was settled by debtors.
Political Reasons Separatists and Puritans came to North America after having fallen into political disfavor because of their objections to the established Church of England and the king who headed it. Quakers, Catholics, French Huguenots, and Jews came to escape religious intolerance and even governmental persecution.


(Telescoping the Times1998)
The American Colonies Emerge pg 3-4
An English Settlement at Jamestown The English did not move quickly to create colonies in the New World. Finally, in 1607, a group of investors called the Virginia Company sent 150 colonists aboard three ships to North America. They built a settlement in Virginia that they called Jamestown in honor of King James I.
Spending all their time looking for gold, the settlers neglected to grow food. Many died, and the colony was nearly abandoned. New settlers began to grow tobacco-a Native American crop now in demand in Europe. Virginia farmers grew wealthy as tobacco growers.
As workers on their farms, the colonists first used indentured servants. In return for passage to America, these workers promised to work on the landowner’s farm. After four to seven years, they would be free. Most indentured servants were the English poor, but some were African. By the late 1600s, there were few indentured servants. The planters had mostly slave labor from Africa. . .
Puritan New England
A different group of people settled farther north. Religious dissenters-Puritans-had argued that the Church of England was too close to Roman Catholic beliefs. They hoped to purify the church with further reforms. One such group, the Pilgrims, planted a colony at Plymouth in 1620.
A large body of Puritans decided to move to the New World. They obtained a charter to create a settlement called the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1630, John Winthrop led about 1,000 settlers from England to Boston. They brought the charter them, effectively giving them the right to govern themselves in their colony. In the next ten years, another 20,000 English settlers moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The Puritans wanted to create a moral society-what Winthrop called “a city upon a hill”-that all people would look up to. About 40 percent of the colony’s men-those who were members of the church and owned land-could vote for local officials, an unusually high portion for the time. Church leaders, although unable to hold elective office, were influential in the colony.
These church leaders tolerated no dissent from their views. A minister named Roger Williams preached that the settlers should buy-not take-land from Native Americans. He also said that government officials should not punish those with different religious views. Facing arrest, he fled in 1636 to Narragansett Bay, where he started the colony of Providence. Also moving there was Anne Hutchinson. She, too, had been forced out of Massachusetts Bay by church leaders because she questioned their authority. . . .



Name: Date:
9th US History R Timeline

1764 Sugar Act put a tax on molasses 3cents/gallon and institutes procedures to make sure that it is collected
Currency Act forbids the issuing of any colonial currency
1765 Stamp Act puts a tax on 15 types of documents including: newspapers, pamphlets, legal documents, etc.
Quartering Act requires colonies to provide housing and provisions for troops
1766 Declaratory Act repealed the Stamp Act, however, Parliament has the right to legislate for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever”
1767 Townshend Revenue Act put an import duty on finished goods, such as: lead, paint, glass, paper, and tea in order to raise money from colonies
1770 Boston Massacre several citizens were killed by British soldiers after being hit with snowballs-tension grew from having to quarter four regiments in order to regulate customs
1773 Tea Act Townshend duties removed except on tea, and the British East India Company has monopoly over sale of tea, allowing price to drop
Boston Tea Party Bostonians dumped 90,000 pounds of tea into the Boston Harbor to protest the Tea Act
· Intolerable Acts 1)closed Port of Boston until East India Comp. repaid
2)King appoints the Massachusetts’ Council>town
meetings need written permission of Governor before occurring>Governor will
appoint judges and sheriffs>sheriffs will select juries
3)Governor can send officials and soldiers accused of
capital crimes out of Mass. for trials
4)Troops not quartered in public buildings>now stay in
private homes
-these were meant to punish Mass. and Boston for the
Tea Party
· 1774 First Continental Congress were representatives of the 12 colonies that
met in Philadelphia and call for a boycott of trade with Britain, adopted a
Declaration of Rights, and agreed to meet again in a year