| United States Colonial History
Europeans first came to America for many different reasons. A few were
looking for the northwest passage or other routes and were hoping to find
great riches on the new continent. Some were looking for adventure. Many
came because of their religious beliefs and to avoid persecution in their
former countries. Some came because of lack of opportunities and because
of poor economic conditions in their former countries. Many arrived in
America for the promise of land and profit.
The first permanent English settlement was founded at Jamestown in 1607.
Then the inhabitants of the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620.
By 1733, the British Empire in the New World consisted of 13 colonies
along the Atlantic coast of North America.
In the early 1700s, the Spanish also made vast claims on the North American
continent including what is now California, most of what is now the southwest
states, Mexico, and Florida.
The French claimed an enormous tract of land from the Gulf of Saint Lawrence
in Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and westward to the Rocky Mountains.
The area that became the Thirteen Colonies was also home to more than
500,000 Indians. The story of American colonization is their story, too.
Sample some of the following activities to learn more about the colonial
years in America.
Places To Go | People To See | Things To Do | Teacher Resources | Bibliography
Places To Go
The following are places to go (some real and some virtual) to find out
the colonial years in America.
Plimoth
on the Web
Visit this virtual 1627 pilgrim village to learn about early American
settlements. This is part of the Plimoth
Plantation site which also contains a great exhibit about a Wampanoag
Indian homesite.
Savannah
Visit Savannah, Georgia. "Savannah, located in the last of the 13 original
colonies, had its beginnings when General James Edward Oglethorpe and
120 weary travelers from the English ship Ann ended their journey at Yamacraw
Bluff in 1733. Oglethorpe is credited with creating the first "planned"
city in the United States."
Jamestown
Visit Jamestown,
Virginia. It was established in 1607 and was the first permanent English
settlement in North America. It was settled 13 years before the Plymouth
Massachusetts colony.
The
Colonies One by One
Virtually visit the original
13 colonies. They came in to the union in this order:
- Delaware
- Pennsylvania
- New Jersey
- Georgia
- Connecticut
- Massachusetts
- Maryland
- South Carolina
- New Hampshire
- Virginia
- New York
- North Carolina
- Rhode Island
Sulgrave
Manor
Travel to Sulgrave Manor. It's the ancestral home in England of George
Washington's family. In 1656, John Washington, great-grandfather of George
Washington came to America.
Hopsewee Plantation
Travel to the birthplace and preserved home of Thomas Lynch, Jr., one
of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The home is in South
Carolina and was built in 1725.
Colonial Williamsburg
Virtually visit Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, a preserved slice of
colonial life. It was settled in 1632.
Middleton Place
Visit this 18th-century plantation. It was the home of many generations
of Middletons, beginning with Henry Middleton, President of the First
Continental Congress; his son Arthur, a signer of the Declaration of
Independence;
his grandson Henry, Governor of South Carolina and an American Minister
to Russia; and his great-grandson Williams, a signer of the Ordinance
of Secession. 
People To See
Virginia
Dare
Meet Virginia Dare. She was the first child born of English parents in
the new world. She was born on August 18, 1587 on Roanoke Island. Her
parents were Eleanor and Ananias Dare. Her grandfather was Governor John
White of Virginia.
Caleb
Johnson's Mayflower Webpage
Meet the original 101 people who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620.
America's
First Families
Meet about 16,000 of the first European settlers in America.
William Penn
Get to know William Penn. He was from England, and he was a Quaker. His
father was an English sea captain and friend of King Charles II. In 1611,
in payment of a debt owed his father, Penn obtained from King Charles
II a vast tract of land called Pennsylvania (named by the king for Penn's
father). William Penn called his colony his “holy experiment,”
and claimed that it would be a colony where religious and political freedom
could flourish.
Ethan Allen
Spend time with Ethan
Allen. He was a member of the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont. The
Green Mountain Boys were armed groups of men in the 1770s who were trying
to keep Vermont from becoming part of New York. The British had given
the Vermont area to New York. One of the reasons that Allen was so adamant
about not having Vermont be part of New York was because he owned a great
deal of land in Vermont that he might have lost control of. After the
outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Ethan Allen made the Green Mountain
Boys into an independent patriot organization to fight the British. Find
out about how Vermont almost became part of Canada.
John
Alden
Meet John Alden. He came to America on the Mayflower in 1620 and became
prominent in the early government of Plymouth colony. He supposedly had
a rivalry with Miles Standish over a young woman named Rebecca Mullin.
John Alden was the one who won her hand. Read The Courtship of Miles Standish
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and then do some research and find out if
the rivalry between the two men was real.
Blackbeard
There were pirates in colonial times! Meet Blackbeard. He was an English
pirate who preyed upon settlements on the Atlantic coast of North America--particularly
around Virginia and North Carolina. He even shared some of his "booty"
with the crooked governor of North Carolina. Blackbeard was killed killed
in 1718 by an English naval officer.
Roger
Williams
Meet Roger
Williams. He came to the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1631 from England.
He was a clergyman but got in trouble with the Puritan leadership and
was asked to leave. So he went and founded Rhode Island in 1636 on land
that he purchased from the Narragansett Native Americans. Providence,
Rhode Island, and its surrounding villages became havens for people seeking
religious freedom.
John Singleton
Copley
Acquaint yourself with John
Singleton Copley. He was a colonial portrait painter born in 1738.
Henry Hudson
Meet Henry Hudson. He was English, but he sometimes worked for the Dutch
East India Company. In 1609, while looking for the Northwest Passage,
he explored Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and New York Bay. He was the
first European to sail down the Hudson River, which is named for him.
These explorations of 1609 gave the Dutch claim to these regions. (The
Dutch named certain areas in New Amsterdam : Haerlem, Breukelyn, and Bronck,
Jonkheers, and Scheaenhechstede. Sound familiar?) Hudson also explored
for the English in 1610 and claimed the Hudson Bay region for them. Find
out how Henry Hudson's life ended.
Anne
Hutchinson
Get to know Anne Hutchinson. She came to American in 1634 to the Massachusetts
Bay colony. In 1638, she was expelled from the colony for preaching.
James
Edward Oglethorpe
Chat with James Edward Oglethorpe. He founded the colony of Georgia for
an unusual purpose. Mr. Oglethorpe was a member of the House of Commons
in England. He was interested in finding a better solution--other than
putting them in debtor's prison--for dealing with people who fell on hard
times and couldn't pay their debts. So the English government gave him
and several other men a tract of land that became the Georgia colony,
and Oglethorpe was the first governor. The purpose of the colony was to
provide a place for poor English people who were in debt. He founded Savannah
on February 12, 1733.
Benjamin
West
Meet Benjamin
West. He was born in 1738 in Pennsylvania and went to England, made
friends with the King of England, George III, and was appointed historical
painter to the king.
Captain
John Smith
Get to know John Smith. He was a member of the governing council of the
Jamestown settlement. He established trade relations with the local Native
Americans and began a comprehensive map of Virginia. He was never (in
spite of what Disney movies may lead you to believe) married to Pocahontas.
Benjamin
Franklin : Glimpses of the Man
Visit with this scientist, inventor, statesman, printer, philosopher,
musician, and economist.
Charles
Willson Peale
Meet Charles
Willson Peale. He was an artist and naturalist, born in 1741. He
drew
many of the natural wonders of the new country. He established a museum
of natural history in Philadelphia and even exhumed and reassembled a
mastodon.
In his early career, he was also a portrait painter. Of his17 children,
four sons became well-known painters themselves : Titian Peale, Rubens
Peale, Raphaelle Peale, and Rembrandt Peale.
Things To Do
The
History Place - Early Colonial Era
Check out this timeline of colonial history. It begins about 1000 A.D.
and goes to 1700. In 1497, John Cabot of England explored the Atlantic
coast of Canada, claiming the area for the King Henry VII. In 1565, the
first permanent European colony in North America was founded at St. Augustine,
Florida by the Spanish. On November 9, 1620, the Mayflower ship landed
at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with 101 colonists. Have students choose from
the dozens of dates and events in the timeline and then research what
was happening elsewhere in the world (in Asia, in Europe, in South America,
etc) at that time. It's interesting to know that at the time that the
early colonies were developing in America, Rembrandt was painting in Amsterdam
and the Ming Dynasty was in decline in China. The timeline continues with
the later colonial period from 1700
to 1763.
Colonial
Currency
The first printed
currency among the new American colonies occurred in Massachusetts
in 1690 and was issued by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The money was
used to pay soldiers who were fighting a war against Quebec. Before then,
colonists had used a variety of European currencies. View images and descriptions
of currency from among many of the early colonies. Have students compare
these bills to early currency from the territory of Utah.
Virginia
Reel
Teach students to do the Virginia Reel. One of the oldest dances enjoyed
in the New World by the colonists.
Crossroads
: A K-16 American History Curriculum
Find information, lesson plans, and support materials geared to elementary
school, middle school, high school, and post-secondary students.
Colonial
Life in Virginia
Learn about some of the reasons why the English first came to America.
Many of the reasons had to do with unfavorable economic conditions in
Europe. Have students find out what primogeniture is and how this related
to the influx of English settlers to America.
The
American Colonist Library : A Treasury of Primary Documents
Find several hundred full text documents of historical works which contributed
to the formation of American politics, culture, and ideals.
Learn about hornbooks and primers and other aspects of colonial
education. Try using slates in your classroom for a day and ask for student feedback.
Mayflower
Compact
Read through the Mayflower compact. The original colonists signed it on
November 11, two days after they landed at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It
was signed by the 41 men aboard the Mayflower, establishing a form of
local government in which the colonists agreed to abide by majority rule
and to cooperate for the general good of the colony. The Compact set the
precedent for other colonies as they set up governments.
Colonial
North America 1492 - 1763
For this time period in North America, learn about the history of the
indigenous peoples, about European colonization, and about how Africans
comprised one of three groups in the New World (along with Europeans and
American Indians) whose interaction fundamentally shaped the colonial
experience in North America.
Dutch
Colonies
Learn about Dutch settlements in early America. Dutch settlers established
New Netherlands, a series of trading posts, towns, and forts up and down
the Hudson River that laid the groundwork for towns that still exist today
such as Albany, New York City, and Kingston.
Poor
Richard's Almanac
Using the pen name of Richard Sauders, Benjamin Franklin published the
first issue of Poor Richard's Almanac. This annual publication continued
for many years and was widely known for its wit and wisdom.
Chronicling
Black Lives in Colonial New England
Africans were a part of America from its very beginning. Learn how even
the earliest of settlers owned slaves or indentured servants.
The
Fundamental Orders
Learn how the Fundamental Orders of three towns in Connecticut was possibly
the prototype of the U.S. Constitution.
Gilbert
Stuart
Learn about Gilbert Stuart. He painted that famous portrait of George
Washington. Have students browse through the National
Portrait Gallery Hall of Presidents and research other artists who
painted the official portraits of presidents.
18th
Century Clothing Resources
For colonial snappy dressers, the wig was the item that tied everything
together. Wigs and hairpieces were available in either horse, goat, yak,
or human hair. Wigs were fashioned into the latest coiffures from London.
Wigs and hairstyles were often powdered to give them a more formal air.
From this site, find out about wigs and dozens of other clothing items.
What is a pannier?
Economic
Aspects of Tobacco during the Colonial Period 1612-1776
Learn how important tobacco was to the economy of early America. Tobacco
was cured and then shipped in barrels--mostly to England. Tobacco had
been used for medicinal purposes for centuries. However, its use for personal
smoking pleasure greatly increased in the 1600s, causing high demand and,
therefore, also high profits for the colonial farmers. Colonists used
tobacco like money. It was common for individuals in colonial times to
pay their debts with tobacco.
Plymouth
Rock
Virtually stand where the pilgrims landed in Massachusetts.
Wampum
Learn about wampum.
From the menu of this site, select "History of Wampum". Native Americans
found on the shores of the Atlantic, small, round clamshells and spiral-shaped
snail shells and other small mollusks. They drilled holes in these the
strung them together as neck ornaments and belts. They were traded among
Native Americans as money. The Algonquian peoples called the shells wampompeag
which means "string of white". The colonists shortened this word to wampum.
Many different tribes made and traded wampum, and early colonists used
it in their dealing with Native Americans as well.
A
Colonial Family and Community
Be a history detective. Go back in time and investigate the daily lives
of the Daggetts, a colonial family from northeastern Connecticut. Collect
clues to uncover answers to 7 questions about colonial life in the 1700s.
Salem Witch
Museum
Find out about the history of the Salem
witch trials of 1692.
Gardens
Discover some of the decorative and food plants that early settlers planted
in their kitchen
gardens and try your hand at planting a few of them in a schoolyard
garden. Plant skirrets and leeks and tansy.
Colonial
America
Find lots of links.
As
American As Apple Pie: A Short Pie History
The early colonists cooked their pies in long narrow pans called "coffins."
The early crusts were frequently inedible and tough designed more to hold
the filling together during baking than to be actually eaten. Try baking
a colonial pie in maybe a long bread pan, and then make succotash and peanut
soup to go with it.
From
British Influence to American Style - A Survey of Colonial Furniture
Colonial furniture "encompasses rustic country furniture as well as styles
that originated in Europe but were transformed by the environment, much
like the settlers themselves." Find out more.
Colonial
Soap Making. Its History and Techniques
Learn how the early settlers made their soap. Then use this site to find instructions on how to make soap and candles today.
Colonial
Kids
Learn more about what life was like in colonial times by exploring this
site!
Teacher Resources
Online activities are a listing of internet
sites with fun, interesting, and educational tasks attached to each one.
(You can learn how to use this WWW
Activities tool created by UEN for Utah educators).
Lesson Plans/Webquests
Bibliography
- Banks, Joan. Peter Stuyvesant : Dutch Military Leader. Philadelphia
: Chelsea House Publishers, c2000.
- Brownstone, David M. Historic Places of Early America. New York :
Aladdin Books, 1989.
- Dean, Ruth. Life in the American Colonies. San Diego, CA : Lucent
Books, c1999.
- Erdosh, George. Food and Recipes of the Thirteen Colonies. New York
: PowerKids Press, 1997.
- Hakim, Joy. Making Thirteen Colonies. New York : Oxford University
Press, c1993.
- Ichord, Loretta Frances. Hasty Pudding, Johnnycakes, and Other Good
Stuff : Cooking in Colonial America. Brookfield, Conn. : Millbrook Press,
c1998.
- IlgenFritz, Elizabeth. Anne Hutchinson. New York, N.Y. : Chelsea House
Publishers, c1990.
- Isaacs, Sally Senzell. America in the Time of George Washington :
1747 to 1803. Des Plaines, Ill. : Heinemann Library, c1998.
- Isaacs, Sally Senzell. America in the Time of Pocahontas, 1590 to
1754. Des Plaines, Ill. : Heinemann Library, c1998.
- Kalman, Bobbie. Colonial Life. Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. : Crabtree
Publishing Company, 1992.
- Knight, James E. Salem Days: Life in a Colonial Seaport. Mahwah, N.J.
: Troll, 1998.
- Lukes, Bonnie L. Colonial America. San Diego, CA : Lucent Books, c2000.
- Maestro, Betsy. The New Americans : Colonial
Times. New York : Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, c1998.
- Wroble, Lisa A. Kids in Colonial Times. New York : Rosen Pub. Group's
PowerKids Press, c1997.
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