If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. Show If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked. European settlement patterns were influenced by geographic conditions such as access to water, harbors, natural protection, arable land, natural resources and adequate growing season and rainfall. Examine a variety of primary sources to determine why colonists were drawn to a particular region of the country. ObjectivesStudents will be able to:
Time RequiredThree classes Lesson PreparationResourcesNew England ColoniesMiddle Atlantic ColoniesSouthern ColoniesLesson ProcedureDay One ActivitiesStep One: Class Discussion (10-15 minutes) Discuss with students how people adapt to the environment of a particular location or relocate to suit their needs/wants. For example, people who live in the midwest are most likely farmers. Most actors move to California and New York. Why? Sample questions for your students:
Step Two 20-30 minutes Interpretation Based on the evidence of these documents, what was it like to live in a particular region (New England Colonies, Middle Atlantic Colonies, Southern Colonies)? Why would you go to live in a particular region? Day Two Activities: 90 minute blockStep One: In groups, share findings about the primary sources in your packet. Identify whether or not the region represented by your packet has the following geographical features:
Then answer these questions about your region:
Step Two: Based on the assessment of the region's geographical features, students write a letter to a sibling "back home" describing his/her experience in the new country and convincing the sibling to join him/her. Step Three: Students exchange letters with a member of each of the other regions and read the letters, and list at least three different characteristics of each region and at least one they all share. Extensions:Students search the Library of Congress digital collections for more sources that depict/describe the region. Lesson EvaluationEvaluate completed homework according to your standard. Develop guidelines for evaluating the letters and feature comparison work with your class as appropriate. Virginia was the first successful southern colony. While Puritan zeal was fueling New England's mercantile development, and Penn's Quaker experiment was turning the middle colonies into America's bread basket, the South was turning to cash crops. Geography and motive rendered the development of these colonies distinct from those that lay to the North. Immediately to Virginia's north was Maryland. Begun as a Catholic experiment, the colony's economy would soon come to mirror that of Virginia, as tobacco became the most important crop. To the south lay the Carolinas, created after the English Civil War had been concluded. In the Deep South was Georgia, the last of the original thirteen colonies. Challenges from Spain and France led the king to desire a buffer zone between the cash crops of the Carolinas and foreign enemies. Georgia, a colony of debtors, would fulfill that need. The Southern colonies included Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. English American Southerners would not enjoy the generally good health of their New England counterparts. Outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever kept life expectancies lower. Since the northern colonies attracted religious dissenters, they tended to migrate in families. Such family connections were less prevalent in the South. The economy of growing cash crops would require a labor force that would be unknown north of Maryland. Slaves and indentured servants, although present in the North, were much more important to the South. They were the backbone of the Southern economy. Settlers in the Southern colonies came to America to seek economic prosperity they could not find in Old England. The English countryside provided a grand existence of stately manors and high living. But rural England was full, and by law those great estates could only be passed on to the eldest son. America provided more space to realize a lifestyle the new arrivals could never dream to achieve in their native land. |