American Colonies

American Colonies A fifth grade history lesson By: Sue Rossen

Standards • This lesson is based on the following California history standards: • 5.4.1 Understand the influence of location and physical setting on the founding of the original colonies. • 5.4.2 Identify the major individuals and groups responsible for the founding of the various colonies and the reasons for their founding. • 5.4.3 Describe the religious aspects of the earliest colonies.

Lesson Plan 

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Students will view the PowerPoint Presentation and take notes on the teacher’s analysis. Students will read the history unit on the early American colonies. Students will complete a chart that will organize each group of colonies according to their geography and resources, leaders, religious groups, and economic activities. The students will use this chart to write a five paragraph summary for each group of colonies. These summaries will include information about geography and resources, leaders, religious groups, and economic activities. Students will then draw pictures illustrating life in the colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Students will also draw maps of each set of colonies showing which current states were part of the colonies. These summaries, pictures, and maps will be bound to form a book for each student.

The English Colonies In America PowerPoint Presentation

Southern Colonies Current States Maryland  Virginia  Georgia  North Carolina  South Carolina 

The Southern Colonies Resources: The land was beautiful with fertile soil and navigable rivers. Fish and timber were some of the available resources. Cash crops included tobacco, rice, and indigo.

HARDSHIPS Jamestown was established in 1607, but less than half the settlers survived the first year. 

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Mosquitoes in the swampland carried germs that spread malaria, yellow fever, and other deadly diseases. It was difficult to farm in swampland.

NEW LEADERSHIP • John Smith became the new leader. • He stated that only people who worked would get food. • Settlers began working together and using the area’s resources to build homes. • In 1612, the colonists planted their first successful tobacco crop.

NEW PLANS Some colonists became rich through tobacco rather than gold and silver. The warm moist climate of the Southern Colonies was excellent for farming tobacco, which did not grow well in the cool English climate. Farmers could sell tobacco for six times the price of wheat.

Tobacco Problems: Growing tobacco was not easy.  The work was difficult and strenuous.  Southern farmers began buying African slaves.  Between 1570 and 1870, about 12 million Africans were sold into slavery. 

WHY THE COLONISTS CAME: 

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Virginia and the Carolinas (later separated into North and South Carolina) were founded as corporate colonies. People hoped to get rich. James Oglethorpe founded Georgia to give English debtors a new start in life as farmers. Lord Baltimore founded Maryland as a place for Catholics who were persecuted in England.

MIDDLE COLONIES Current States • • • •

New York New Jersey Delaware Pennsylvania

The Middle Colonies RESOURCES:  Fertile soil  Navigable rivers  Timber, iron  Animal furs  Mild, rainy climate

WHY THE COLONISTS CAME ► New

York and New Jersey were first claimed by Netherlands and Sweden in 1624 for the fur trade. ► In 1664, England captured the colonies to control the resources. ► The king gave a large part to his brother, James, the Duke of York. ► The king also gave a large area of what is now Pennsylvania to William Penn because he owed Penn money.

William Penn and the Quakers • William Penn established Pennsylvania as a “Holy Experiment” where people of all religions could live together in freedom. • He published the benefits of his colony. • In addition to the Quakers, people came from all over Europe for religious freedom and economic opportunities. • They also cooperated with the Native Americans.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES   

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Trapping Fur Trading Farming Mining Cattle Ranching Shipping

NEW ENGLAND COLONIES Current States  

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Connecticut Rhode Island Massachusetts (included Maine) New Hampshire

NEW ENGLAND COLONIES Resources:    

Timber Fish Wildlife Clean rivers and streams

WHY THE COLONISTS CAME 

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John Winthrop, and the Puritans, wanted to purify their religion. They had been persecuted in England. They came to the colonies to find religious freedom. Other groups that came included the Separatists (Pilgrims)

EARLY LEADERS     

William Bradford John Winthrop Thomas Hooker Roger Williams Anne Hutchinson

RELIGION 

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Religion was the center of life in the New England Colonies. Life was harsh, but the Puritans felt blessed by God to be in the colonies. The Puritans had come for religious freedom, but they did not extend that freedom to people of other religions.

 People who did not agree with the Puritan

leaders, left Massachusetts.  Thomas Hooker founded the colony of Connecticut.  Roger Williams disagreed and founded Rhode Island.  Ann Hutchinson also moved to Rhode Island.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES    

Farming Trade Forestry Fishing