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Colonial America: From Jamestown to Freedom

TEACHER’S RESOURCE GUIDE

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Colonial America:

Colonial America: From Jamestown to Freedom is copyright © 2008 by Knowledge Unlimited®, Inc., P.O. Box 52, Madison, WI 53701. All rights reserved. Teachers and group discussion leaders are hereby granted permission to reproduce any pages in this resource guide for classroom use only. Otherwise, no parts of this book may be reproduced in any way without expressed written permission of Knowledge Unlimited®, Inc. Published in U.S.A.

ISBN 1-55933-318-9

ColoniAl AmeriCA: From JAmestown to Freedom

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Name ___________________________________________________________ Date ________________________


Who am I?Choosing from the list below, write down the name of the person who best fits each of the descriptions below. You may need to do some research on each person before you can answer these questions.

1. I was a popular Puritan leader in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, although I preached ideas that were against those of other colonial Puritan leaders. Local ministers saw my teachings as a threat to their role in society. I was eventually put on trial and banished from the colony. I am __________________________.

2. The first permanent English colony in America was named after me. I am __________________________.

3. I was an English soldier who helped establish the first permanent English colony in America. I successfully gained the respect of the local Native Americans and negotiated trades with them. After I was injured and returned to England, relations between colonists and Native Americans went sour. I am __________________________.

4. I founded Pennsylvania in 1681 as a safe haven for Quakers. People of many religions came to Pennsylvania because of its religious tolerance. I am __________________________.

5. I was a leader in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. I said that I wanted settlers in America to create a “city upon a hill,” by which I meant that my group’s supposedly “pure” form of Christianity would create a perfect society. I am __________________________.

6. As king of England, I imposed a tax on tea in the American colonies which was very unpopular with the colonists. I also passed a series of laws that the colonists called the “Intolerable Acts,” which helped set the stage for the American Revolution. I am __________________________.

7. I was an English clergyman who helped establish the colony of Rhode Island after I was forced to leave Massachusetts because of my beliefs. I was opposed to the forced conversion of Native Americans to Christianity. I am __________________________.

Answers on page 15

John SmithJohn Winthrop

Anne HutchinsonWilliam Penn

Roger WilliamsKing George III

King James I

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Name ___________________________________________________________ Date ________________________


Research and Writing ActivityChoose one of the colonial figures from the list below. Research the life of this person and write a one-page report about his or her life, and how he or she affected colonial America. Include any other interesting information you discover about the person you chose.

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John SmithJohn WinthropAnne Hutchinson

William PennRoger WilliamsKing George III

King James IPocahontasWilliam Bradford

James OglethorpeCotton Mather


Name ___________________________________________________________ Date ________________________


Review Quiz1. The first permanent English settlement in North America was founded

at _________________________________.

2. TRUE OR FALSE: Most of the early colonists came from Eastern Europe.

3. The ____________________ Ocean separates North America from Great Britain.

4. (CHOOSE ONE: Corn, Tobacco) is the crop credited with saving Jamestown and becoming a foundation for the Southern economy.

5. TRUE OR FALSE: At first, many Native American tribes were friendly to the colonists and helped them.

6. Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams were both banished from the ____________________________ Colony.

7. The idea of religious (CHOOSE ONE: persecution, tolerance) grew as a result of disagreements about many religious beliefs in the colonies.

8. In 1763, the British had just won a war in the colonies against (CHOOSE ONE: France, Germany).

9. One of the big differences between the colonies and Great Britain was that Great Britain had a much (CHOOSE ONE: less, more) powerful aristocracy than did the colonies.

10. The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776 in the city of ________________________.

Answers on page 15


Name ___________________________________________________________ Date ________________________


Activities1. From the research and reading you have done on the subject of colonial America,

pick out an individual of that time who especially interests you. Then go to the library and find out as much information as you can about that person. This might include actual biographies of the person, or historical accounts of the entire period. Take notes on what you read, and write an essay about the person you chose.

2. Imagine that the year is 1620 and you are a member of a Native American tribe in the area of what is now Massachusetts. You come face to face with the newly arrived Pilgrims. Would you welcome them, or would you be bothered by their arrival? Try to put yourself in the place of the Native Americans at that time — that is, you have no knowledge of what the future holds for them or for you. Write down what you would say to the Pilgrims, how you would act, and how you think the Pilgrims might respond to you.

3. Ask yourself the question, “Would I want to have lived during the colonial period?” After you answer the question, do some research about everyday life in the colonies. Then draw up two lists — one with all the reasons you might like to have lived back then, and the other with reasons you might not want to have lived back then. Compare the two. Which list is longer? Does the longer list match your original answer to the question? Which list do you think has the strongest reasons? Discuss your list with the rest of the group.

4. Write an essay comparing the New England Colonies, the Middle Colonies, and the Southern Colonies. What were the unique characteristics of each? How were they similar? How much did they differ? How much interaction was there between the people of the different colonies? What was it about each of the three main groups of colonies that made them successful?

5. To put the colonial era into perspective, write an essay describing what was going on elsewhere in the world during the years 1607-1770. Who were the major world leaders? Were any major wars being fought? What advances in science were being made? Who were the important artists, writers, and composers of the time? Did any of these people, events, scientific, or artistic achievements have any bearing on life in the colonies? If so, how?


Name ___________________________________________________________ Date ________________________


Map ActivityOn the map of Africa below, find and label these places in Africa that North American slaves came from.

1000 Km

1000 Mi.

1. Angola2. Benin3. Cote D’Ivoire4. Gabon

5. Ghana6. Liberia7. Mauritania

8. Republic of the Congo9. Senegal10. Sierra Leone


Name ___________________________________________________________ Date ________________________


Choosing Your LivelihoodRead the following descriptions. Choose one or more of the options presented here, and write a description of what business or profession you would go into if you were in that situation.

1. You live in the northern part of New York, near the Hudson River. The area is heavily wooded and is populated by deer, bear, beavers, and many other animals.

2. You live in the port city of Charleston in South Carolina. You own a large area of coastal farmland.

3. You live in colonial Philadelphia in the early 1700s.

4. You are among the first colonists to arrive in 1607.

5. You live near the Appalachian Mountains, away from any navigable rivers.

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Make A Persuasive PosterImagine you are given the responsibility of attracting new settlers from Europe to the American colonies. Your job is to create a poster illustrating why Europeans should travel to the New World. Create such a poster in the space below, or use a larger piece of paper if necessary.


Name ___________________________________________________________ Date ________________________


Map ActivityLabel the colonial-era locations on the map below. Then shade the New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies in three different colors.

1. Atlantic Ocean2. Boston3. Charleston4. Connecticut5. Delaware6. Georgia7. Hudson River

8. Lake Erie 9. Lake Huron 10. Lake Ontario11. Maryland12. Massachusetts13. New Hampshire14. New Jersey

15. New York16. New York City17. Norfolk18. North Carolina19. Ohio River20. Pennsylvania21. Philadelphia

22. Rhode Island23. Savannah24. South Carolina25. Virginia


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APPRENTICESHIP — The process of learning a trade from a skilled employer.

ARISTOCRACY — A group of people who are born into positions of power, and often, great wealth.

BOSTON TEA PARTY — A violent protest in 1773 by American colonists. Colonists boarded ships in Boston harbor and threw crates of tea into the water.

CLASS — In this case, a group of people who are alike in some way, usually having to do with income or ownership of wealth.

COLONISTS — Residents of a colony, a land controlled by another nation; in this case, the residents of the American colonies.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE — The document signed in 1776 in which the North American colonies declared that Great Britain would no longer control them.

DEMOCRATIC — A society in which individuals have many freedoms and can elect their own leaders.

DROUGHT — A long period of abnormally low rainfall.

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR — North American war between France and Great Britain from 1754 to 1763.

HUGUENOTS — French Protestants of the 16th and 17th centuries who suffered severe persecution in France and immigrated to the American colonies.

IMMUNITY — In this case, a natural ability to resist a particular disease.

INDIVIDUALISM — In this case, the idea that people should rely on themselves individually, not on others, in working to better themselves.

INTOLERABLE ACTS — Name given by outraged colonists to a series of laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774.

NAVIGABLE — Able to be traveled by boat or ship.

PARLIAMENT — In this case, the name of a group that makes Great Britain’s laws.

PERSECUTE — To mistreat or harass; in this case because of one’s religious beliefs.

PILGRIMS — Early colonists who came to America seeking the freedom to worship as they chose.

PLANTATION — An estate on which crops are cultivated by resident labor.

POST RIDERS — Early colonial postal carriers who delivered mail on horseback.

PURITANS — An English religious group in the 1500s and 1600s, many of whom settled in New England.

QUAKERS — Members of a Christian movement founded in 1650 and devoted to peaceful principles.

RESOURCES — In this case, available supplies of something that can be used when needed, such as food, wood, and water.

SALEM WITCH TRIALS — A series of trials in Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693 in which more than 150 people were accused of witchcraft.

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE — The idea that religion and government should be separate, and not interfere with each other’s affairs.

TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION — Colonial slogan that summarized the colonists’ grievances against Great Britain for not providing them direct representation in the British Parliament.

TOBACCO — The prepared leaves of a special kind of plant, used to create cigarettes and other products to be smoked.

UNEMPLOYMENT — To not have a job.

VIKINGS — Scandinavian pirates and traders who raided and settled in parts of northwest Europe.

Glossary


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JAMESTOWNIn 1607, a group of 104 men and boys began a long, dangerous voyage from England across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World. They arrived five months later on May 14, and began building what would be the first permanent English colony in America. They named their settlement Jamestown, for their English king, James the first.

The English were not the first European settlers to arrive in America. In the 11th century, Viking explorers from Scandinavia tried to establish a settlement in North America, but it was quickly disbanded. Beginning in the mid-1500s, the Spanish built a vast colonial empire that stretched across Central and South America. The French established trading posts in parts of present-day Canada and along the Mississippi River. The French and Spanish settlers were mainly soldiers and traders, interested in sending valuable goods back to Europe. They had little interest in staying permanently in the New World.

The Jamestown settlers also wanted to send goods back to Europe. They were sponsored by the Virginia Company of London. The Virginia Company, and other companies, tried to attract settlers to America with posters like this one. The company paid for the settlers’ voyage in hopes that they could build successful colonies and allow the company to make a profit off the seemingly unlimited resources this new land had to offer. But the Jamestown colony barely survived its first few years, due to food shortages, disease, and other hardships. Food was so scarce that the winter of 1609-1610 was known as the “starving time.” Only 60 of the first 214 settlers survived.

The Jamestown colony had not intended to grow all its own food. Instead, they expected to get regular supplies shipped from England, and trade with Native Americans for the rest. But storms delayed their supply ships, and severe drought killed what few crops they had. Captain John Smith, an English soldier who helped establish the Jamestown colony, had succeeded in gaining the respect of the local Native Americans and negotiating trades with them. But when Smith was injured and had

to return to England, relations with the Indians soured, and trade with them came to an end. Desperate to survive, the colonists resorted to eating dogs, cats, horses, and even rats. But the settlement did survive, and began to produce a profitable tobacco crop. Married men sent for their wives to join them from England. The Virginia Company sent young women to Jamestown to marry the single men and start families there, and soon whole families began arriving as well, looking to start new lives. These people were coming to the New World to stay.

THE PILGRIMSThe success of Jamestown helped pave the way for the second permanent settlement, Plymouth. Unlike the Jamestown settlers, the Plymouth settlers came to the New World for religious reasons — they had broken off from the Church of England, which had persecuted them for their beliefs. This group, known as the Puritans, wanted a place where they could worship without interference. Their ship, the Mayflower, arrived on the shores of Massachusetts in 1620, where they built the Plymouth Colony.

The Plymouth settlers, known as Pilgrims, settled on the coast of modern-day Massachusetts, in an empty Indian village that had been wiped out by a disease epidemic. Like the Jamestown settlers, the first winter took a heavy toll on the Plymouth settlers. With the lifesaving help of the neighboring Wampanoag Indians, the Pilgrims learned to grow corn and other crops. The following autumn, the two groups joined in a harvest celebration that became known as the first Thanksgiving.

Although the Jamestown and Plymouth settlers came to the New World for different reasons, they shared many of the same challenges and goals. At first, most colonists hoped to build a newer, better version of what they had left back in Europe. In attempting to create a new life, they relied on what was familiar to them. This explains why settlements had names like New England, New Netherland, and New Sweden.

Colonial America: From Jamestown to Freedom

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THE 13 COLONIESOver the next 150 years, these people permanently changed the landscape of their new homeland. They founded 13 successful colonies along the eastern seaboard, which became the foundation of the United States. Historians usually divide these colonies into three groups: the Northern, or New England, Colonies; the Middle Colonies; and the Southern Colonies. The Northern Colonies included: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. The Middle Colonies included New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The Southern Colonies included Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia.

In general, people in the Northern Colonies made a living from fishing, selling timber, and small farms. Colonists in the Middle Colonies were able to grow grains such as wheat on larger farms. In the Southern Colonies, colonists grew tobacco and rice. The warm climate and good soil allowed them to develop huge farms known as plantations. These plantations required large numbers of workers to run them. To fill this need, West Africans were kidnapped and brought to America as slaves. During the 1700s, the slave trade grew as the colonies grew.

THE COLONIES GROWThe very first permanent colonists to arrive in the New World were mainly concerned with surviving the winter and building their communities. They considered themselves Europeans who had moved away from Europe. A generation later, the colonists’ outlook had changed. They had become “Americans.” By 1763, the colonists were starting to protest the British government’s effort to strengthen its control over them. By then, they had come to accept many ideas that would have been unthinkable to the early colonists.

One major factor contributing to this change in attitude was America’s physical environment — its geography. For one thing, America was isolated. It was about 2,500 miles from the nearest European ports.

America’s immense landscape, with its open coastlines, rivers, lakes, and dense forests, gave the colonists a sense of hope. They had come from crowded countries where resources and opportunities were scarce, and unemployment was high. But the New World seemed

to offer land that stretched out forever, and was brimming with seemingly limitless resources. Hundreds of bays suitable for harbors dotted the East Coast. Many navigable rivers flowed from deep inland to the sea. Timber, wildlife, minerals and rich farmland were plentiful, and the ocean was full of fish.

Of course it took hard work to turn these resources into successful colonies. But eventually, the colonists’ hard work paid off. Establishing 13 successful colonies in America helped create a spirit of “rugged individualism” — an attitude that became a defining American characteristic. The colonists developed their own communities and even began moving further westward into unexplored territory. As they did this, they also grew accustomed to relying mainly on themselves. But this struggle to survive also gave the colonists a sense of community and cooperation.

Farmers needed the services of craftspeople and shopkeepers to provide farming equipment, as well as the furniture, fabric, dishes, and other items necessary for the colonists’ homes. Ports were constructed to house New England’s growing fleet of fishing vessels. Soon, the colonists were building things for themselves that weren’t strictly necessities, such as inns and restaurants. The colonial settlements were developing into towns and cities, with many of the same facilities as European cities and villages.

Yet America was becoming something very different from the Europe the colonists had left behind, perhaps without the colonists even realizing it. Unlike Europe, the colonies had no royal families, and no aristocracy. In England, people born into the lower class of society were generally stuck there for life. In the colonies, this wasn’t necessarily true. There were wealthy and poor, but it was possible for people to work their way up from the lower class.

However, slaves had no such options. During the earliest days of the colonial era, there were relatively few African slaves in the colonies, and many of them were granted freedom after working for a set period of time. But as the population of the colonies grew, so did the need for labor, especially on plantations. The number of Africans brought to America as slaves increased, and the entire plantation system became dependent on slave labor. African slaves brought to plantations faced a life of hard labor and misery, or the risk of being beaten or put to death if they tried to escape. Colonial society viewed


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slaves as less than human, and as not deserving of full human rights. Racism became another defining characteristic of the developing nation, permanently scarring its future in ways no one could foresee.

COLONISTS AND NATIVE AMERICANSThe first European settlers in America were soon aware that they were not its only inhabitants. Native Americans immediately made contact with the colonists, and most of this early contact was friendly. The Indians taught the colonists the best ways to plant corn and tobacco. Sharing their food and their knowledge of local crops helped the first colonists survive. And teaching the Jamestown colonists to grow tobacco allowed that colony to become a financial success. The Native Americans benefited from this relationship too — they were often eager to trade with the colonists.

Over time, the Native American tribes realized that the colonists planned to drive them off their lands. The colonists signed many peace treaties with them, and usually offered them money or goods in exchange for Native American-held lands. Often, the Native Americans believed that they were only letting the settlers use — not own — the land. The Native Americans expected to share the land, which their ancestors had lived on for centuries. This clash of views would cost the Indians dearly over the course of history.

At first, some Indians did not mind sharing land with the settlers. There was widespread belief among Native Americans that the colonies would soon fail. But as the new settlers kept arriving and the settlements expanded, many Native Americans became increasingly hostile. Soon, attacks by both sides broke out in many places. Many fierce battles took place between Native Americans and the colonists.

Between these battles, colonists and Native Americans learned to live with an uneasy but productive peace. Each side learned from and affected the other in many ways. When the first colonists arrived, they knew little about the land and how to live off it. It was often the Native Americans who taught them. European traders who spent a lot of time in Indian villages often took on their habits and customs. Marriages between colonial men and Native women were not uncommon. Some runaway slaves, and even some white colonists, chose to join Native tribes and live among them.

The first settlers arriving in the New World communicated with the Native Americans using simple hand signals. But in order to have more complicated conversations, the language barrier had to be broken. Many Indians and colonists learned at least some of the other’s language. Colonists often adopted Indian words, or their own versions of these words, for things that had no English names yet. These included animals like raccoon, moose, and skunk, and Indian foods like hominy and succotash.

Colonists also benefited from learning the ways Indians used native roots and herbs to treat sickness or injury. Native American doctors frequently offered their services to nearby colonial settlements. Unfortunately, the health of the Native Americans suffered as a result of their exposure to the colonists. The Indians had no natural immunity to many European diseases, including deadly smallpox. Even nonfatal diseases like chickenpox and whooping cough were deadly to Native Americans, without any natural immunity. As a result, historians estimate that 80 percent or more of the Native population died out in the first century of colonization.

The Native American population was also devastated by the introduction of alcohol by the settlers, in the form of trade. The Indians had no experience with the effects of alcohol, and were therefore susceptible to abusing it. Alcoholism became a serious problem in many Native American communities during the colonial era.

Native Americans did benefit from other trade with the European settlers. European metal pots and kettles made daily life easier, and the Indians were also eager to trade for European rifles and woven fabrics. In a short time, most Native American communities were full of European items gotten in trade. However, the introduction of guns contributed to an increase in warfare between tribes.

To satisfy their demand for European goods, Native Americans needed to hunt more animals for the pelts they traded to the settlers. This, combined with the colonists’ own hunting, led to a severely decreased population of some animals.

The colonists saw the Native Americans as culturally inferior “savages” who needed to be shown a better way to live. They believed it was their duty to convert the Native Americans to Christianity, and also to convert them to the traditional European ways of living. One of




the first ways they did this was through school. At first, colonists and Native Americans had a kind of student exchange program, in which a chosen colonial male would live for a period of time with the Indians while a young Indian male would live in a colonial settlement and go to a colonial school. This program was designed for the benefit of the colonists, to help them get along with the nearby Indians and learn their language, while the Natives learned theirs.

Soon, though, the colonists began using forced education as a way to try to convert young Native Americans — often the sons of chiefs — to their way of life. However, the colonists found only limited success in getting the Native Americans to give up their long-held traditions. Some Native Americans did choose to become Christians and take on the customs of the settlers. In general, though, Native Americans adopted the colonial culture only as much as they had to in order to survive.

RELIGION IN THE NEW WORLDReligion, which played such an important role in bringing many settlers to the New World, also helped determine how the colonies changed and developed over time. John Winthrop, a leader in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, once said that he and his followers were in America to create a “city upon a hill.” What he meant was that his group’s supposedly “pure” form of Christianity would lead it to create a perfect society — one that could be an example to the rest of the world. The followers of this “pure” form of Christianity were called Puritans.

The Puritans were not the only colonists who were sure that their way was the only right way. Other persecuted religious groups fled Europe to start new lives in the colonies. These groups included the Baptists, the Huguenots, the Quakers, and others.

Religion was at the center of life in the colonies, and churches were a powerful force. Church leaders were also leaders in the community, and handled many of the duties that were later handled by the government. Churches kept the records of births and deaths in the community, as well as caring for the poor. In many ways, the local church was the center of the community, because it also served as a school and public meeting place. Many of the colonies also had laws to enforce religious rules, such as the banning of work or recreation from sundown on Saturday to sundown on Sunday, and requiring church attendance.

Inevitably, religious differences and disagreements arose within the various religious groups in the colonies. These groups, who came to the colonies in search of religious freedom, often did not allow such freedom for those who disagreed with them.

Anne Hutchinson, for example, lived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s. Between 1636 and 1638, she held religious meetings at her house where she preached ideas that were against those of the colony’s Puritan leaders. She preached that people shouldn’t need the Bible or ministers in order to communicate with God. Local ministers, who claimed that they were the only ones who could correctly interpret the Bible, saw her teachings as a threat to society. They also believed that women should not be allowed to teach religion at all. But many people did support Hutchinson, and this deeply divided the colony. After a trial, she and a group of her followers were banished from the colony.

Followers of the Quaker religion were often punished in the colonies as well, because their religion forbade them from serving in the military or swearing oaths to the government. In the mid-1600s, many Quakers were imprisoned or beaten as punishment. However, some colonies, including Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Delaware were tolerant of Quakers and offered them a safe haven. Pennsylvania was founded by a Quaker, William Penn, as a safe haven for Quakers.

One of the worst instances of the harsh religious rule of law in the colonies is the Salem Witch Trials. Many colonists held the same superstitions as their European ancestors. One such superstition was that certain people — mainly women — communicated with demons and had evil powers. These powers were thought to include the ability to cast spells on their enemies. Superstitious colonists thought these “spells” explained things like mysterious illnesses or crop failures. Practicing witchcraft was one of the worst crimes a colonist could be accused of, and it was punishable by death. In 1692, almost 200 people, both women and men, were put on trial in Salem, Massachusetts, for witchcraft. In total, 20 people — 14 women and six men — were put to death, and more than 100 others were imprisoned.

People had been executed in the colonies for witchcraft before the Salem Witch Trials, and many more had been executed in Europe. Salem’s trials were the biggest, and last, major witchcraft trials to take place in the colonies. Public opinion turned against the


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accusers, and those still in prison in the spring of 1693 were released.

It soon became clear that rigid intolerance would not prevent disagreements in the colonies. Slowly, the idea of religious tolerance began to take hold in colonial culture. Many colonists came to accept the right of different religious groups to live side by side. Roger Williams was an English clergyman who arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, and became pastor of a church in Salem. In 1635, he was forced to leave Massachusetts Bay Colony because of his beliefs and teachings, which included the separation of Church and State, and freedom of religion. He also opposed the forced conversion of Native Americans to Christianity. Williams went on to help establish the colony of Rhode Island, in which government and religion were to operate separately from each other — one of the founding ideals of the United States.

COLONIAL EDUCATIONEducation was also important to the colonists. This was especially true in New England, where Puritans valued reading for the purposes of Bible study. By the mid-1600s, most New England towns had elementary schools, attended by both boys and girls. In the Southern colonies, which were more rural, schools were scarcer. Wealthy children were often taught by private tutors, while poorer children were often taught by their parents. In larger colonial cities like Boston or Philadelphia, wealthier boys could go to secondary school to prepare for college. Daughters of wealthy urban families went to so-called “finishing schools” where they were taught things like needlework, music, and dance.

Outside of the public school system, many colonial children gained their education in the form of apprenticeships. Young boys were sent to live with a professional craftsman or businessman, where they learned the trade, in addition to basic reading, writing, and religious lessons. Young apprentices were also given food and housing, in return for working for their employer for a period of time. Girls were sometimes also given apprenticeships, often as servants, cooks, and housekeepers.

COLONIAL GOVERNMENTThe structure of the colonial government was modeled after England’s Parliament. Each of the 13 colonies had some kind of legislature, usually called an Assembly. Except for Pennsylvania, all the Assemblies had two sections, an upper house and a lower house. And each colony had a governor, often appointed by England’s king. Laws passed by a colony’s Assembly had to be approved by England. Members of a colony’s Assembly were elected by the colony’s eligible voters. Voting requirements varied from colony to colony, but it always excluded women. In most of the colonies, only white males who owned property could vote. In some colonies, only men who belonged to certain religions could vote. In general, Catholics and Jews were not allowed to vote.

COMMUNICATION IN COLONIAL TIMESThe earliest settlers were very isolated from the rest of the world, and had to rely on word of mouth to get any outside news. Often the best source of news they had was from people arriving on ships from Europe. There was no formal postal system yet in the colonies, so colonists sent letters with travelers, and had to hope their letter would reach its destination. Soon, the colonies set up a system of “postriders” — people who traveled by horseback to deliver the mail more regularly. These postriders also gathered the latest news and spread it from town to town. In many villages, it was the job of the town crier to stand on the street corner and announce the latest news to people. Eventually, people began to publish their own colonial newspapers. Boston was the first city to publish its own paper, beginning in 1704.

A NEW SOCIETYBy the mid-1700s, the colonies no longer resembled the tiny settlements that had been built 150 years earlier. How had colonial society changed by that time? For one thing, it had become much more democratic than Great Britain. The colonists now expected to elect their own leaders rather than obey only leaders chosen in Great Britain. And freedom to worship was greater in the colonies than almost anywhere else in the world.

The population of the colonies was also growing faster than anyplace else in the world. The population of the colonies jumped from 250,000 people in 1700 to more than 1 million in 1750. In the next 20 years, it doubled to over 2 million. By the mid-1700s, the standard of living in the colonies was equal to — or better than — anywhere in Europe. It was a long way from the vast wilderness where the first settlers had struggled to survive the winter.

From 1689 to 1763, the French and the British battled each other over land claims in the colonies. Both sides were supported by groups of Native Americans. The last of these wars, known in the colonies as the French and Indian War, ended in 1763, with France losing nearly all its territory in North America, and Great Britain deep in debt from the cost of the war.

Since the war was fought to protect its British colonies, Great Britain decided to tax the colonists to pay for it. The colonists strongly resisted the idea of being taxed without having any say in it — an idea they called “taxation without representation.” But Great Britain’s King George the third was eager to regain control of the colonies after the long war.

The two sides were headed for a major conflict. In Boston, mobs of colonists attacked the tax collectors. There also, a group of colonists angry about a British-imposed tax on tea, carried out what became known as the Boston Tea Party. Disguised as Native Americans, they boarded three British ships and dumped hundreds

of crates of British tea into the water. Similar incidents happened in other colonies, and eventually a widespread boycott of British tea took hold. Throughout the colonies, pictures and statues of King George were torn down.

In response, Great Britain passed a series of laws the colonists called the “Intolerable Acts.” One was to close the Boston harbor until the cost of the destroyed tea was paid. Another basically eliminated the local elected government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, allowing the British king to appoint all officers. Public meetings could be held only with royal approval, and British soldiers could stay in colonial homes against the homeowners’ wishes.

The British hoped that these laws would suppress any thoughts of independence in the colonies. But they backfired, causing the colonists to unite against the British. In many ways, the colonists no longer considered themselves Europeans; they considered themselves Americans, even though the United States didn’t even exist yet. They might not have realized it at the time, but the colonists were in the process of creating a new nation. The Declaration of Independence, written in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776, declared the colonists’ intention to break Great Britain’s hold over them. But to win their independence, the colonists would have to fight for it. That long — and, in the end, successful — war lay just ahead.

Answers to Who am I? (pg. 3)1-Anne Hutchinson; 2-King James I; 3-John Smith; 4-William Penn; 5-John Winthrop; 6-King George III; 7-Roger Williams

ANSWERS TO REVIEW QUIZ (pg. 5)1-Jamestown; 2-FALSE; 3-Atlantic; 4-Tobacco; 5-TRUE; 6-Massachusetts Bay; 7-tolerance; 8-France; 9-more; 10-Philadelphia




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