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Motivations for Colonization - Why did they come?
Heather Brooks
Before students can begin to understand the development of the United States, they must consider the geographic origins of the earliest Europeans and the factors that caused them to emigrate to the New World. The majority of those early North American settlers traveled from Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands. The motivations for exploration of European countries differed from that of individuals who left the security of their own countries to brave an ocean and settle in places that were considered wild and savage.
During the course of this lesson, students will work with vocabulary, read a primary document dealing with motivations for exploration, research an assigned courntry's motives for exploration, and teach what they learned to the class as a whole.
**Additional information can be found in the Notes section for this lesson plan.
Transparencies
Transparency pens
Internet Access
Word Splash (linked)
Frayer Diagram can be found at www.seaford.k12.de.us/it/frayer.htm
Document by John Winthrop, Reasons for Emigrating to New England (1629) - I suggest using the entire document. It can be found at: http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bdorsey1/41docs/15-win.html
Resource Materials:
Dean, Ruth and Thomson, Melissa. Life in the American Colonies. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1999.
Lukes, Bonnie L. Colonial America. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2000.
Hakim, Joy. Making Thirteen Colonies. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Belmonte, Laura A. Speaking of America: Volume I: To 1877. Australia: Thomson Wadsworth, 2007.
Danzer, Gerald A., J. Jorge Klore de Alva, Nancy Woloch, and Louis E. Wilson. The Americans. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2006.
Suggested Internet sites for primary documents:
www2.pitnet.net/primarysources/
www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon.htm
www.library.uni.edu/instruction/digitalhistory.shtml
Other Internet sites for primary sources can be found in the links section of this website.
Additional teacher sources from Library of American are listed in the Notes section of this lesson.
1 Ninety minute block
1
What were the motivations for North American colonization?
For Bell Assignment, use the Frayer Diagram. An example of a Frayer diagram can be found at the site www.seaford.k12.de.us/it/frayer.htm
The students will diagram the term colonization. To do this, they should describe the term's definition, characteristics, examples, and non-examples.
For Example: Colonization
Definition - The establishment of distant settlements controlled by the parent county.
Characteristics - European powers learned the advantages of using the plantation system. European powers discovered the economic benefits of using forced labor (Native Americans and Africans). Europeans were able to colonize because of superior weapons.
Examples - The British colonization of North America (Jamestown, Massachusetts Bay Colony), Dutch in New Netherland, the Spanish in New Spain, and the French in New France.
Non-examples - The United States of America.
This information taken from textbook used in classroom, The Americansby McDougal Littell, 2006.
Citation for text:
Danzer, Gerald A., J. Jorge Klore de Alva, Nancy Woloch, and Louis E. Wilson. The Americans. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2006.
Why They Came - By examining John Winthrop's "Reasons for Emigrating to New England" students will be able to see the role that religion played as a motivating factor for some Europeans, mainly the Puritans in this instance.
Rationale: To determine students' prior knowledge and to introduce new information:
The teacher should display the document: John Winthrop, Reasons for Emigrating to New England (1631). It can be accessed from the site: http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bdorsey1/41docs/15-win.html
1. As students read the document, have them list Winthrop's nine reasons for emigrating to the New World.
2. Ask the students to share their lists.
3. Ask the students to identify other possible reasons for Europeans coming to North America. (Other examples are explained in the Notes section of this lesson - economic, military, Northwest passage, fur trade, etc.)
1. Divide the students into 5 assigned teams. Each team should have a different topic. Four of the groups will focus on particular countries and the other group will focus on general motivations for exploration (Crusades, Reformation, Plague, Strong Monarchies, Renaissance). The groups will be labeled a)motivations for exploration, b) Spain, c) England, d) France, and e) the Netherlands.
2. Give each group a blank transparency and a transparency pen.
3. Explain to students that each group will need to use their textbooks and other sources (Internet, books listed in the materials section), and any other sources that the teacher might suggest to research the reasons that their assigned countries had for exploration and colonization. The heading for the should be the document's title with the addition of the country that it represents. (Suggested Internet sites are listed in the Materials section of this lesson.)
4. They need to label the transparency with the assigned country's name and then list the reasons that country had for exploration and colonization.
5. Each group should then use the same sources to locate one primary document that demonstrates that country's (or people from that country) desire for colonies. An example of this would be the Winthrop document used in the Activating Strategy. I suggest displaying the document using a transparency or displaying the document through a TV with an Internet connection.
6. On the transparency listing the country's motives for exploration, they need to list the name of the document and give examples of how it reflects that country's motives.
7. Each group will then present their transparencies to the class. The class should be instructed to take notes on each groups presentation. The presenting team should read selected segments of their primary source to the class.
Word Splash Activity. A copy of this will be linked.
In the middle of a blank transparency, write the word colonization and circle it. Surrounding the word, write other terms, from the lesson today, that are linked to the term colonization. Ask the students to take the terms and create a paragraph that logically summarizes colonization. Ask for volunteers to share their paragraphs with the class.
Before students can begin to understand the development of the United States, they must consider the geographic origins of the earliest Europeans and the factors that caused them to emigrate to the New World. The majority of those early North American settlers traveled from Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands. The motivations for exploration of European countries differed from that of indivduals who left the security of their own countries to brave an ocean and settle in places that were considered wild and savage.
The rationale behind the Age of Exploration was complex and developed many centuries before exploration to the New World began. One factor was the Crusades, which opened the eyes of many Europeans to a world beyond their own sphere. They began to develop a taste for products from Asia like silk and spices. The plague, or the Black Death, was another factor that led to exploration. After the Black Death, labor became more valued, people had more to spend, more products were produced, prices began to rise, and a middle class developed. Merchants, which made up the bulk of the middle class, not only found themselves in possession of wealth but also of political power. In order to make more money and gain more power over trade, they needed to discover new trade routes. After the Crusades, the power of the monarchs began to increase at the expense of the nobility and the Catholic Church. The stronger monarchs wanted to increase their power by creating standing armies and large bureaucracies. To accomplish this, they had to secure additional revenue. One way to obtain it was to gain possessions abroad in the form of colonies. The Reformation also played a role as a motivator for Exploration. Protestants sought new places to practice religious freedom away from persecution. Roman Catholics also wanted to spread their religion through the conversion of people who were ignorant of Christianity. Finally, the ideas spawned by the Renaissance made exploration possible. By studying ancient philosophy, mathematics, and science, Renaissance thinkers developed technology that made exploration a reality. Inventions like the caravel, lateen sails, the rudder, the compass, the astrolabe, and other sailing advancements gave confidence to adventurers and encouraged them to risk their lives for exploration.
Most of the motivations for individual countries stemmed from competition between each of the major powers at the time. For Spain, colonization in North America became necessary to prevent other European powers from invading their territory from the North. To prevent this, they sent explorers into what is now the southwestern and southeastern parts of the United States. While in these areas, the Spanish searched for gold, but had little success. Spanish priests traveled with the explorers to establish Christian missions to convert the Native Americans. The French came to the New World seeking a Northwest Passage and land to strengthen their empire. They discovered a prosperous fur trade and French priests began to spread Christianity among the Native Americans. The Dutch, like the French, sought a Northwest Passage and wanted to gain land in order to increase their fur trade with the Native Americans. The English colonists came to North America for many reasons. Many stemmed from the desire for economic profit. New lands brought new economic opportunities. The loss of England's wool market caused massive unemployment and many people sought a new chance in life economically. Around the same time, England's population doubled and the colonies served as a place to relieve overcrowding. New colonies also served as new markets and sources of raw materials for the mother country. The English also had religious reasons for colonization. Many wanted to spread Christianity to the Native Americans while others like the Separatists and the Puritans wanted to create places that would serve as moral social models for the rest of the world. Finally, England, as in the case of Georgia, wanted to create a buffer zone between their colonies and the Spanish colonies to the south.
Source of information:
Brinkley, Alan. American History: A Survey. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995.
Other Sources of Teacher information and Primary Documents:
The Library of America. Parkman: France and England in North America Volume I. New York: Library of America, 1983.
The Library of America. Parkman: France and England in North America Volume II. New York: Library of America, 1983.
The Library of America. American Sermons: The Pilgrims to Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Library of America, 1999.
Two documents from the above source that could be useful are: A Sermon Preached at Plimmoth in New-England by Robert Cushman and A Modell of Christian Charity by John Winthrop.
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