Jennifer M. Ports
Lesson Objectives:
Students will be able to describe and compare the regional economies within the colonies, analyze and discuss art from Colonial America, and analyze the role of the 13 colonies in the global economy.
Lesson Steps:
Have students work in pairs. Give each pair a pile of cards with the name of colonial occupations on them, and a pile with an image that represents each occupation. For example, one card might say "silversmith" and its matching card might be an image of a silver teapot or sugar bowl. Example occupations could include: farmer, plantation owner, silversmith, shoemaker, tailor, weaver, blacksmith, cabinetmaker, banker, etc. You should also introduce the broader terms artisan and merchant to students. Use the following website associated with Colonial Williamsburg to review the different occupations with students: http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/trades/tradehdr.cfm.
After introducing the topic of the lesson, students will silently read the first 9 paragraphs of CliffNotes' article entitled "Colonial Society and Economy." Before doing so, have students complete an anticipation guide where they will agree or disagree with the following statements before reading 1) Trade thrived in the thirteen colonies because they could trade freely with whomever they chose. 2) Slavery existed throughout the colonies, both North and South. 3) The majority of colonists were involved in trade and manufacturing in the more densely populated North. 4) The thirteen colonies greatly imported raw materials (like wood) from England and exported manufactured goods made from the raw materials to countries in Europe like France and England. 5) Life in the Northern colonies was similar to life in the Southern colonies. 6) The triangular trade supported globalization in Colonial America. After the anticipation guide and reading, have a discussion where students compare their initial views to their new understandings.
Have students work in groups and review the expectations laid out in example lesson one. Give half of the groups images of plantation like, including, but not limited to,
Plantation Scene
by an unknown artist, Coram's
View of Mulberry House and Street, William Byrd II's Plantation
by an unknown artist, and
Plan and Elevation of Mr. Vernon, site plans of gardens and outbuildings
by Samuel Vaughan. The other half of the groups should be given
Plan of New Haven
by James Wadsworth,
The Town of Boston in New England, Boston
by Francis Dewing (the engraver) after Captain John Bonner, and
A Plan for Rebuilding the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666
by Christopher Warren just for comparison. Each group should complete a thorough "See, Think, Wonder" for two of the images and make as many observations as they can about life in the region and the region's economy. They should support their assertions with details from the images.
Have groups partner up so that each group works with a group that had different images than them. Have them share with and teach each other.
Come together as a class and discuss the images and their findings. Share with them the good things you observed as they worked and encourage them to back every inference with evidence from the images.
Present students with an image of the triangular trade and walk them through what goods were traded where and how. Emphasize the fact that this trade brought different parts of the world together and intertwined their economies. Remind them that as part of the process of globalization when cultures interact goods and ideas are spread.
Using a projector, show students images to illustrate the points made about the triangular trade and the colonies as part of a global economy. Images to use are:
Phebe and Elizabeth Moheegan's Wigwam
by, Ezra Stiles,
William Penn's Treaty with the Indians in 1683
by Benjamin West,
High Chest of Drawers
by Samuel Henszey, and
Sugar Box
by Edward Winslow. Have the class brainstorm observations about what they see, develop an interoperation of what they are looking at, then challenge them to piece together how each image illustrates how the colonies were part of a global economy. Prompt them with questions for the more difficult images. Talking points include: many crafted objects were more highly valued because of their material value compared to portraits, colonists increased their wealth so could spend on more luxury goods, tobacco, the sugar bowl exemplifies the global market because the silver came from the Spanish (in Mexico), to hold sugar from the Caribbean, grown by slaves from Africa, which was used to sweeten tea bought from England.
To close, remind students that while the colonies did have their own economy made up of different occupations and characteristics that different between the different regions, namely the North and the South, the colonies were part of a larger, global economy as well. Have students complete a 3–2–1 (see lesson sample one).
Assessment Idea:
Have them write about what is similar and what is different between the colonies as part of a global market and the United States today as part of a global market and why these similarities and/or differences might be.
