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Kristen Borges

Johann Knets

Hamilton-WenhamRegionalHigh School

Founding of the American Colonies

Historical Context and background

The focus four our unit is the motivation behind the founding of the American colonies. This seven day series of lesson plans is the first unit in an Advance Placement US History class. Starting in the late 16th century, the Europeans who settled the New World were from Spain, Portugal, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and the various German states. These settlers were inspired by a variety of motives. This unit emphasizesthe particular European leaders who helped establish these settlements in North America.Some were adventurers seeking fortune; others were Christians seeking to establish their religion. Convicts, debtors, indentured servants and political and religious exiles all sought new opportunities in the New World. Many sought to escape hardships in their country of origin. For example, the people of late 16th century England suffered from costly European wars, religious strife, and the harsh economic transformation of the countryside. Because students will have completed a summer reading assignment, they will already have a general understanding of the enclosure movement and the worldwide demand for wool. England also had a group of ambitious leaders who participated in the colonization of Ireland. Part of the attraction of the new world to the English was its contrast to its own troubled land. Students will recognize the impact the enclosure movement and Irish colonization had on Tudor England prior to class.

The question of labor was central to the newly founded settlements. News of the many risks facing the European settlers made it difficult to attract enough workers to keep up with the expanding colonial economies. Therefore, Europeans relied heavily on forced labor. First Native Americans were used; however, many were rebellious, susceptible to disease, or escaped. Europeans then turned to the African slave trade for their labor needs. This began a trans-Atlantic slave trade that would bring millions of Africans to the Americas.

A central idea of this unit is to examine this time period in the context of the “Atlantic World”. The idea of the Atlantic World focuses on the connections between Western Europe, Africa and the Americas. The expansion of commerce and travel intimately connects the three continents. Religion and intellectual life also connected the three continents. Instead of thinking of early American history as the story of thirteen colonies along the Atlantic seaboard, the idea of the “Atlantic World” encourages students to think of early American history as a pattern of exchange and interactions. The mixture of peoples, cultures, and ecosystems from the continents of Africa, Europe and North America led to a distinctive American colonial society. The economies that emerged were diverse and dependent upon the various geographical regions of North America. As the original settlements grew into prosperous colonies, the transplanted Europeans created political systems and social institutions to manage the growth.

The leaders of the New World had to respond to the major challenges found in the new environments. Often their goals crashed into harsh realities. Imperial rivalries in the New World led to costly wars that proved to be devastating. Many of the leaders faced dilemmas over alliances and trade relations. Leaders seized opportunities to consolidate power and accommodate for new systems and institutions. This unit highlights the following specificleaders:Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Jean Ribault, Rene de Laudonniere, Richard Hakluyt, John Smith, William Bradford and John Winthrop. Their leadership will be examined within the historical context of the characteristics of the permanent settlements established by Spain, and Great Britain. Particular attention will be paid to the goals and motives behind colonization and the relationship between the settlers and Native Americans during the early 17c. Thus a comparison will be drawn between the Spanish and British settlements.

A follow up unit will focus more specifically on European encounters with Native Americans. Native American cultures were profoundly affected by the arrival of peoples from Europe and Africa. Native Americans were more than passive victims; many became trading partners, allies, and formidable enemies of the new arrivals. The interaction between Europeans, Native American and Africans was complex and will be examined more specifically in a separate unit.

Written Narrative

  • If you worked on this with a partner, how was the work divided in creating this unit?

All of the planning was done collaboratively as a partnership. We planned the overall ideas of the unit, scope and sequence, final assessment,and daily lesson plans. We divided up small tasks such but everything was reviewed together. The types of activities that were done separately includedtyping specific directions for lesson plans, gathering images for Power Point presentations and the development of worksheets.

  • When and how do you plan to teach this unit during the academic year?
  1. This unit of study will be the first unit in the 12th Grade Advance Placement United States History curriculum at HamiltonWenhamRegionalHigh School. We will connect this in-depth study of early colonial leadership, motivations behind colonization and interactions between Native Americans and Europeans to the founding of the United States and its political systems and social institutions. It will fit in perfectly with part of the summer reading assignment which was Chapters 2 - 4 from their Advance Placement United States History textbook. The textbook we use is:

Boyer, Paul S.. The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People.Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.

Students also were required to read Founding Myths by Ray Raphael as part of their summer reading. Although this book focuses on the American Revolution era, it will help the students in their analysis of Plymouth and the landing of the Pilgrims.

  • What did you add to this unit that you would not have thought of if you hadn’t participated in TAH?

There are a number of components added to this unit from the content of the TAH summer institute. For starters, the focus on leaders such as Pedro Menéndez de Aviléswould not have been incorporated if not highlighted during Professor Sean Congdon’s module during the summer institute. Far too often United States history begins with the arrival of the English, when in actuality they were late comers to the New World. We chose to expand our unit on the founding colonies to emphasize the role the Spanish played particularly in Florida. We also adapted the National Archives visual analysis sheet as provided for us during Professor Pat Fontaine’s module. When assigning primary sources, we used the primary document questions provided by Professor Sean Congdon. These are questions that can be asked of any primary source; and are questions that we have both already incorporated into our classrooms since the first year of the grant. The fact we emphasized leadership is also a product of the TAH grant. Further examples of applications from the TAH grant are various items of content. There are a number of leaders and specific content details from different presenters that are utilized within our unit. The variety of information that we have learned and received during the TAH grant has in many ways supplemented our existing knowledge and enhanced it with new material.

  • What did you want your students to understand about leadership in terms of dilemmas and opportunities?

Over the course of our unit we focused on a number of different leaders and the dilemmas and opportunities that they faced. One of the major themes within our unit includes the idea of motivating factors for the different entities involved. By focusing on these ideas, we want students to evaluate the decisions made by the leaders within our unit. We would like our students to be able to analyze and evaluate the dilemmas and opportunities faced by leaders such asPedro Menéndez de Avilés, Jean Ribault, Rene de Laudonniere, Richard Hakluyt, John Smith, William Bradford and John Winthrop. Therefore, we tried to create a unit that encourages students to think critically about the issues the leaders faced during the time period. We have also tried to stress the complexities that existed within this time period. In particular, we asked that students focus on the complex relations and interactions that existed between leaders and settlers and as well as imperial rivalries particularly between Spain and England.

  • Which historical thinking standards did you find were essential in developing an understanding of your topic?

Although each of the five historical thinking standards could be applied in some way to our unit, standards 2, 3, and 5 were especially important in developing understanding of our topic. Historical Standard 2, Historical Comprehension, involves important skills that are essential to understanding the many primary documents used in our unit. For example, items within this standard included the following: recognizing historical interpretation, understanding of central questions, considering perspectives, and drawing upon visual sources. These types of skills played a key role in understanding the material in our unit. In addition, Historical Standard 3, Historical Analysis and Interpretation, also fit well into understanding of our unit. Items within this standard that played a central role in our unit included the following: comparing and contrasting different sets of ideas, considering of multiple perspectives, and analysis of cause and effect relationships. It was especially important to incorporate the idea of comparing and contrasting differing sets of ideas as a major focus of our unit was the different motivating factors behind colonization. Finally, Historical Thinking Standard 5, Historical Issues-Analysis and Decision Making, was essential to understanding of our unit for a number of reasons. We incorporated the use of skills including each of the following: evaluate alternative courses of action, the formulation of a position or course of action on an issue, and the evaluation of implementation of a decision. These three aspects of this standard were essential to understanding our unit because we focused in particular on the dilemmas and opportunities faced by the different leaders involved in the founding of the Colonies.

Goals of Unit:

Students will understand…

  • the motivations for settlement and how that shaped the future of the colonies.
  • Spanish, French, and English areas of conquest and the interaction with native groups.
  • the emergence of “cash crops” (tobacco).
  • the challenges of a labor system.
  • the Puritan foundation.
  • the impact of the environment and indentured servitude on the economic, social, political, and cultural development of the American colonies.

Essential Questions for Unit:

  1. What were the motives/goals behind colonization (seeking fortune, religious freedom, getting out of debt, etc.)?
  2. What role did historical and immediate context play in decisions and choices made by early colonial leaders?
  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?
  6. How are historical interpretations developed?
  7. What do historical interpretations say about the time period in which they emerge?

Lesson Plan Day One

Unit Name: The Founding of the American Colonies

School District:Hamilton-WenhamRegionalSchool District

Date:Summer Institute Project 2009

Class and Grade:Advance Placement United States History,12th Grade

State framework standard:

5.7 Identify some of the major leaders and groups responsible for the founding of the original colonies in North America. (H, C)

Historical thinking standard:

Historical Comprehension

B. Identify the central question(s) the historical narrative addresses and the purpose, perspective, or point of view from which it has been constructed.

D. Evidence historical perspectives--the ability (a) to describe the past on its own terms, through the eyes and experiences of those who were there, as revealed through their literature, diaries, letters, debates, arts, artifacts, and the like; and (b) to "present-mindedness," judging the past solely in terms of present-day norms and values.

Historical Analysis and Interpretation

C. Differentiate between historical facts and historical interpretations, but acknowledge also that the two are related: that the facts the historian reports are selected and reflect therefore the historian's judgment of what is most significant about the past.

Leadership:No specific leader for this lesson.

Enduring understandings:

Students will …

understand myths that surround early European settlement of North America.

recognize how these myths evolved.

determine whether there is bias in the traditional interpretations.

Essential Questions:

How are historical interpretations developed?

What do historical interpretations say about the time period in which they emerge?

Development and selection of activities and resources:

  1. Students are assigned Chapters 2 - 4 from their Advance Placement United States History textbook as part of their summer reading. The textbook we use is:

Boyer, Paul S.. The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People.Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.

This reading assignment gives students a solid background on the colonial era.

  1. Ask students to pair up with each other and brainstorm words or ideas they associate with early European settlement in the New World.
  1. Have students share their lists with the rest of the class. Look for similarities between lists and write those on the board. Save this list so that students can go back to it throughout the unit.
  1. Assign the class two articles. Half the class should read the article “The Pilgrims: The Stuff of Myths”(Handout #1), and the other half should readan excerpt from the book “The Pilgrims and Pocahontas: RivalMyths of American Origin”(Handout #2). As they read the articles, have them focus on the essential questions.

How are historical interpretations developed?

What do historical interpretations say about the time period in which they emerge?

  1. Students then form groups of four with two students representing each article. In a small group discussion, compare articles and answers to the essential questions.
  1. Give each group one image fromDebunking Myths: Images of English ColonizationPower Point.(Power Point #1)
  1. Have students complete the Painting Analysis worksheet (Handout #3)as they examine the image.
  1. Direct students back to their original list. What words or ideas from the list reinforce some of the historical myths they learned about?

Content:

Historical Interpretations of PlymouthPlantation

Homework Assignment:

  1. Students are to read Chapter 1The Lost Century from A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz.

Horwitz, Tony. A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2008.

Questions to accompany reading:

  1. What does Horwitz say about historical interpretations of the early American colonies?
  2. What is the significance of the title of this chapter?

Lesson Plan Day Two

Unit Name: The Founding of the American Colonies

School District:Hamilton-WenhamRegionalSchool District

Date: Summer Institute Project 2009

Class and Grade: Advance Placement United States History, 12th Grade

State framework standard:

5.5 Describe the goals and extent of the Spanish settlements in Florida. (H)

5.6 Explain the early relationship of the settlers to the indigenous peoples, or Indians, in North America, including the differing views on ownership or use of land and the conflicts between them (e.g., the Pequot and King Philip’s Wars in New England). (H, G, E)

5.7 Identify some of the major leaders and groups responsible for the founding of the original colonies in North America. (H, C)

Historical thinking standard:

Historical Comprehension

A. Reconstruct the literal meaning of a historical passage by identifying who was involved, what happened, where it happened, what events led to these developments, and what consequences or outcomes followed.

B. Identify the central question(s) the historical narrative addresses and the purpose, perspective, or point of view from which it has been constructed.

D. Evidence historical perspectives--the ability (a) to describe the past on its own terms, through the eyes and experiences of those who were there, as revealed through their literature, diaries, letters, debates, arts, artifacts, and the like; and (b) to "present-mindedness," judging the past solely in terms of present-day norms and values.