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The Colonial Era
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From Gilder-Lehrman “American History in a Box”
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Crossing the Atlantic Ocean
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Imagine saying goodbye to family, friends, and familiar places to take a
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dangerous voyage across thousands of miles of ocean in a small wooden ship. Your
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destination: a strange and often hostile land. Yet, in the 1600’s, thousands of Dutch,
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English, French, and Spanish men and women did just that because of poverty,
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religious persecution, or a hope that a better life lay across the Atlantic Ocean. The
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first settlers arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, eager to find gold and silver.
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Instead they found starvation and disease. Few of them survived. Still, more settlers
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came, and eventually these colonists learned how to survive in their new
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environment. By the middle of the seventeenth century, Virginians had discovered
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that they could make their fortunes growing tobacco and selling this “brown gold.”
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To the north, a group of radical Protestants calling themselves Pilgrims created a
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small colony in 1620 that they named Plimouth Plantations. Although the rocky
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New England soil they farmed could not produce a marketable crop, they were
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thankful to be there. In Britain, they were persecuted for the way they chose to
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worship, but in New England, they were free to worship as they wished.
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English Settlements
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One by one, English colonies sprang up along the east coast of North
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America. Some, like Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, were
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founded to provide religious freedom for those who were not a part of the official
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Church of England. Others, like the Carolinas and Georgia, were settled by colonists
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eager to make a new start. And one, New York, was taken by force from the Dutch
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as part of the long struggle for control of the New World between England and other
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European nations. In the end, thirteen English colonies emerged.
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A visitor to the colonies could distinguish five distinct regions by 1700. To
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the north, New Englanders engaged in shipbuilding, fishing, and trade with England,
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the West Indies, and Africa. In the middle colonies of New York, New Jersey, and
unfriendly
treat unfairly
1600-1699
a settlement ruled by
a company
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Pennsylvania, farmers grew wheat, and merchants and shippers in the ports of New
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York City and Philadelphia loaded ships with flour to send overseas and welcomed
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ships filled with English manufactured goods. In the Chesapeake colonies of
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Maryland and Virginia, tobacco planters made their fortunes, while in the Lower
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South of the Carolinas and Georgia, rice and indigo made colonists rich. And, in the
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western counties of every colony, the struggle to survive and establish communities
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repeated itself, as pioneers claimed the frontier land. In the process, the Native
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Americans, who had long been the farmers and hunters in the area, were driven
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farther west or killed by land-hungry settlers.
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plant used to produce
blue dye
By the 1700’s, wealthy planters, merchants, shippers, and lawyers formed a
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colonial upper class. Middle-class farmers and shopkeepers could be found in every
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colony also, as well as poor and laboring men and women in the port cities and
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tenant farmers in the middle colonies. These less-fortunate men dreamed of success
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– and many achieved it. But there was one group of people who could never expect
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to move up in their society: Africans brought to the colonies as slaves. Like other
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European people, the English engaged in a brutal trade that carried captured Africans
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to the Americas. Here, they worked without pay and with little chance of freedom
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on plantations and farms, on the docks, and as servants and artisans throughout the
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colonies. Although African slaves helped produce the wealth of America, they did
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not share in it.
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People and Politics in the Colonies
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business people
In colonial society, white men had far more freedom than their wives,
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daughters, or sisters. Women had few opportunities for education and could not
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enter most fields of work. When women became wives they lost many of the rights
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we take for granted today. They could not sue or be sued, keep the money they
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earned, or purchase or sell property. They were considered dependents of their
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husbands. Married or single, women could not vote or participate in colonial
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government.
one who farms land
owned by another and
pays rent
skilled workers
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White men who owned property, however, did have political rights. By the
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1700’s, every colony had a lawmaking body called an assembly, chosen by the
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voters, and the colonists expected these political leaders to represent their best
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interests. The British government was happy to leave much of the political power in
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the hands of the assemblies until the need for funds drove King George III and
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Parliament to attempt to take that power away. When they did, American colonists
English governing body
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protested. Their rallying cry of “No taxation without representation” shows how
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accustomed American colonists had become to managing their own lives and
issue of taxing Colonists
without representation in
Parliament
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deciding what was best for their communities. The original Jamestown settlers
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would have been amazed at how prosperous and confident the colonial world had
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become.
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wealthy
Teacher’s Guide
Name of Text: The Colonial Era: From Gilder Lehrman “American History in a Box”
First and Last Names of the Question Composers: Stacy Drum and Michelle Gleason
Standards:
Nevada State: H1.5.5, H1.5.6, H2.5.1, H2.5.4, H2.5.8
CCSS: RI.5.1, RI.5.2, RI.5.4, RI.5.8, RI.5.10
Text Dependent Questions
Teacher Notes and Possible Textual Evidence
for Student Answers
1. According to line numbers 5-6, why would people “take a dangerous voyage
across thousands of miles of an ocean in a small wooden ship” to a “strange and
often hostile land?
7-8: to escape poverty, religious persecution
8: hope that a better life lay across the Atlantic Ocean
9: eager to find gold and silver
2. The author’s title is “The Colonial Era.” Using clues from the text, what is
the time frame and the place of this Era?
Timeframe: 6: 1600’s 12: seventeenth century
Place: 9: Jamestown, Virginia 15: Plimouth Plantations, New England
21: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland
20: The east coast of North America
23: The Carolinas, Georgia
24: New York
25: The New World
29: New York, and New Jersey.
3. On lines 27-38 the author describes “five distinct regions.” Normally when
we learn about the colonies we define three regions.
-What are the five distinct regions?
-Why do you think the author decided to break them into five, rather than
three, regions?
27: “Five distinct regions”
Angela Orr, 2012
-See Chart below for 5 distinct regions
- Answers will vary but should reflect different characteristics of each region
listed below.
Text Dependent Questions
4. Create a Chart:
Using lines 27-38 as evidence, name at least three of the distinct regions
established by the 1700’s. What colonies are identified within these regions?
What are the characteristics of each region?
Teacher Notes and Possible Textual Evidence
for Student Answers
Line #s
21, 28
Region
New England
29-32
Middle Colonies
32-33
Chesapeake
Colonies
Lower South
Western counties
of every colony
33-34
35-36
Colonies
Massachusetts,
Connecticut,
Maryland
New York, New
Jersey,
Pennsylvania
Maryland, Virginia
Carolinas, Georgia
Every colony
Characteristics
shipbuilding,
fishing trade,
religious freedom
grew wheat, loaded
ships with flour to
ship overseas,
imported
manufactured
goods
tobacco
rice and indigo
Pioneers claimed
frontier land,
pushed Native
Americans farther
west or were killed
by land-hungry
settlers.
Upper Class: 39: wealthy planters, merchants, shippers and lawyers
5. According to lines 39-49, there were upper, middle class colonists, poor
colonists, and slaves. What were the differences among these four groups?
Middle Class: 40 farmers and shop keepers in all colonies
The Poor: 41: poor and laboring men and women in port cities and tenant
farmers in the middle colonies
Slaves: 43-44: Africans brought to the colonies as slaves, could never expect to
move up in their society. 46: worked without pay and little chance of freedom
on plantations and farms, on the docks, and as servants and artisans. 48-49:
Slaves helped produce the wealth of America but did not share in it.
Angela Orr, 2012
Text Dependent Questions
Teacher Notes and Possible Textual Evidence
for Student Answers
6. The word “assembly” is used on line 59. What clues can you find to
understand the meaning of this word in this text? What was the job of these
assemblies?
58: reference to political rights
59-60: a law making body called an assembly, chose by the voters
60-61: colonists expected these political leaders to represent their best interests
7. Cite evidence from the text to describe why the power of local assemblies was
challenged and by whom. How did the colonists respond? Why?
Who: 62-63: King George III and Parliament (Great Britain)
Why: 62: The need for funds drove King George to take the power of local
assemblies away
Response: 64: They protested with a rallying cry of “No Taxation without
Representation.”
Why? 65-66: The colonists had become accustomed to managing their own lives
and deciding what was best for their communities.
8. The author breaks the text into three sections: “Crossing the Atlantic Ocean,” Answers will vary but students should identify how each section covers a
“English Settlements,” and “People and Politics in the Colonies.” Why do
different quality of colonial life
authors choose to create distinct sections within their writing? For each section,
construct a sentence that identifies the main idea
Angela Orr, 2012
Writing Prompt: The Colonial Era provided many opportunities. Choose two things you see as opportunities from the text and write 2-3 paragraphs total, citing
evidence from the reading
Possible Answer:
“Crossing the Atlantic” was important because it described where the colonists traveled from and how these new settlers arrived in the Americas. This section
describes why the colonists chose to travel to this unknown world that lied across the Atlantic. It built background for the reader
The “English Settlements” section was included by the author to describe where these English settlers landed and how these early settlers made a living, The author
identifies five distinct regions to show the reader how the colonial land was originally divided, This section also breaks down the people that settled in these colonies.
It identifies the slaves, the poor, wealthy, and middle classes.
The “People and Politics in the Colonies” section describes how not all people were given the same freedoms and opportunities in the Americas. It also explains how
the colonies were not free of the British Parliament when funds were needed
Angela Orr, 2012