Unit 2: Colonizing America

Unit Description

In this unit, students explore the establishment and development of colonies in the present-day United States during the 17th century. People from thousands of miles away risked everything in search of freedom, riches, and adventure. Students will see that Europeans were also influenced greatly by the geography and environment of the regions in which they settled. They will continue to examine how cultures interact with one another, particularly how European settlement pushed out Native Americans and changed the land forever.

The foundations for American culture, religion, politics, and government were formed during this time period. The America we know today, for better or worse, was made during this time. Students will critically examine how individual and group’ identities shape the beliefs, values, and actions of people. This sets the stage for the unit to follow where students explore colonial interactions with the wider Atlantic World focusing on the Columbian Exchange (spiraled from unit 2) and the origins and development of African slavery in the Americas.

Essential Question

How are civilizations established?

Themes

    • Historians must challenge the dominant historical narrative because it is often told from the perspective of the oppressor.
    • Humans use the environment to support settlement and civilization.
    • Nations expand their land in order to increase power and improve their lives, which often has negative consequences on the lives of oppressed people.
    • Economic greed and limited resources may result in the urge to explore and colonize foreign land and conquer indigenous people.
    • A government starts as written agreement within a society that creates rules and establishes order in societies.
    • The beliefs and values of a society shape the decisions they make and how they use political and economic power.
    • Societies enter conflicts to increase their power and defend their way of life.
    • Human societies must determine how they use their technological developments and power they acquire.

Standards Addressed

    • 5.2.4 – Explain the course and consequences of the Columbian Exchange, including its cultural and political impact on Europe, the Americas, and West Africa
    • 5.3.1 – Compare and contrast the convergence of trade, cultural diffusion, and innovation in the Western Hemisphere after 1492
    • 5.3.2 – Describe the cooperation and conflict among Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans
    • 5.3.3 – Identify the major European powers that colonized North America and explain their goals, challenges, and achievements
    • 5.3.4 - Compare and contrast religious groups and examine the role of religion in colonial communities
    • 5.3.5 - Evaluate the motives that led to the establishment of the thirteen colonies
    • 5.5.1 - Describe the ways in which location and environment influenced settlements and land use
    • 5.5.2 - Identify natural resources used by people of colonial America and describe the impact of human action on the physical environment
    • 5.6.1 - Compare and contrast the different types of government in colonial America that influenced the development of the United States
    • 5.6.2 - Summarize the key ideas that influenced the development of colonial governments and their influence on the growth of American democracy
    • 5.8.1 - Cite evidence of the economic motivations for exploration and settlement in the Americas using economic concepts such as supply/demand, scarcity
    • 5.9.1 – Describe trade between the Americas, Western Europe, and Western Africa during the colonial period
    • 5.9.2 - Analyze the differences in the economics of the New England colonies, Middle colonies, and the Southern colonies

Unit Outcomes

Students will know:

    • What countries began colonizing in North America and their initial geographic boundaries
    • Why the settlers came to the colonies
    • How the climate and landscape shaped the economies of the colonies
    • What life was like for colonists and Native Americans
    • The nature of the relationships between the Colonists and the Native Americans
    • How the colonies were governed
    • How religion affect government and actions within the colonies
    • How and why the triangular trade route worked to create interdependence of Europe, America, and Africa
    • What the experiences of Africans on the Middle Passage were like
    • How slave auctions worked and what they were like for enslaved Africans
    • What life was like for enslaved Africans
    • Characteristics of the art, culture, and religion of enslaved Africans
    • Different ways individuals and groups resisted the control of their masters

Students will be able to:

Historical Thinking:

    • Annotate documents
      • Use the different steps for different types of documents when analyzing their contents
    • Source documents
      • Identify author’s point of view/position on a historical event
      • Identify author’s purpose in producing the document
      • Consider the source’s audience
    • Contextualize sources
      • Understand how context influences content of the document
      • Recognize documents are products of particular points in time
    • U1: Strong body paragraphs
      • TOSEEC
      • Topic Sentences
      • 2 types of evidence
    • U2: Strengthening evidence
      • Context
      • Extended Response
      • Introducing Text Evidence

Unit Vocabulary

  1. push factor - a negative reason that a group of people would want to leave a location
  2. religious persecution- mistreatment of an individual or group because of their religious beliefs
  3. poverty - being extremely poor
  4. pull factor - a positive reason that a group of people would want to move to a new location
  5. religious freedom - ability to practice any religion
  6. colony – a country or area under the full or partial control of another country (typically a distant one)
  7. geography- the physical features of the earth
  8. economy- how money is made and used within a particular country or region
  9. New England Colonies- northern colonies with cold winters, shipbuilding, and Puritans
  10. Middle Colonies- colonies with mild winters, wheat farming, and Quakers
  11. Southern Colonies- colonies with warm winters, cash crop farming, and slavery
  12. fertile soil- soil that is good for farming
  13. Roanoke Colony- 1st English colony attempt; it mysteriously disappeared
  14. Jamestown Colony- 1st successful English colony; succeeded thanks to tobacco farming
  15. Plymouth Colony- established by the Pilgrims; created the Mayflower Compact
  16. government –an organized institution that creates rules in order to establish order in societies
  17. democracy - a type of government where citizens participate through voting
  18. The Mayflower Compact - government established by the Pilgrims in Plymouth colony; the earliest example of democracy and self-governance in America.
  19. self-governance - citizens govern themselves
  20. Church of England- religion found in England; the only religion people in England could Practice
  21. Separatists- person who supports leaving the Church of England
  22. Pilgrims- Separatists who established the Plymouth Colony in a search for religious freedom
  23. Puritans- established the Massachusetts Bay Colony; were strictly religious
  24. Quakers- Middle Colony religious group that focused on tolerance
  25. Treaty of Massasoit- Plymouth and Wampanoag Natives peace treaty; helped Pilgrims survive
  26. scarcity- when there is not enough of something
  27. demand- the amount that people need or want
  28. economic opportunity- chance to make money off of something
  29. cash crop- crops grown and sold for a profit
  30. King Philip’s War- war between colonists and Native Americans in New England
  31. chattel slavery- a cruel system where individuals become the personal property of another and can be bought, sold or traded as such; associated with people of African descent
  32. enslaved person - a person who was the property of another person (we use “enslaved person” instead of just “slave” because it humanizes people)
  33. humanize- make more humane or civilized
  34. dehumanize - deprive of (take away) positive human qualities
  35. interdependent- rely on each other (ex: countries rely on their ability to trade with each other)
  36. The Triangular Trade - trading pattern in the 18th and 19th centuries that involved trade between Britain, Africa, and the Americas; contributed to the establishment of the unjust system of slavery in the colonies
  37. Transatlantic Slave Trade- segment of the global slave trade that transported 12 million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas from the 16th - 19th century
  38. profit- money made
  39. The Middle Passage- the forced voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas in densely packed ships with horrific conditions
  40. resistance- the refusal to accept or comply with something; the attempt to prevent something by action or argument