Era 1: Colonization and Settlement (1585–1763)

Summary: This lesson addresses a perplexing question: How could so many in Jamestown have starved to death in a land full of food? First, students simulate the economic practice of placing everything the colonists produced into the “common store” operated by the Virginia Company. Then students role-play a second scenario implemented after the arrival of Sir Thomas Dale in 1611. Dale instituted a system of private property in which every man received and cultivated three acres of farmland and the...

Summary: Indentured Servitude helped populate the colonies by allowing prospective emigrants to exchange their labor for Atlantic passage. It also provided the labor necessary to begin building the American economy. In this lesson, students use the context of colonial markets for indentured servants to demonstrate how prices emerge from the choices made by individual people; explain why so many European indentured servants risked the hardships of bound labor overseas; and compare and contrast...

Summary: The 1215 Magna Carta is one of the most important early human rights documents. It both limited the power of a tyrannical king and created a right to certain protections for citizens including, protection against unlawful imprisonment and the right to justice. In this lesson, students collaboratively research three key human rights documents: The Magna Carta, the Lawes of Virginia and The Peoples Ancient and Just Liberties asserted in the trial of William Penn and William Mead....

Summary: This lesson will utilize the trials and exiles or executions of religious dissenters to examine the conflict between emerging ideas of freedom of conscience and speech and rights of association in colonial New England. Historical figures will include Anne Hutchinson, Roger Williams, and Mary Dyer.

Overarching question:

CIVICS: How well does the government balance individual rights and the common good, including the need to maintain order, safety and a healthy environment, during this...

Summary: In this lesson, students will first review summary and primary sources on the Trial of Peter Zenger. Students will then role play a mock trial of the Zenger trial. At the end of this lesson students will be able to understand the development of libel and a free press in colonial America; the importance of literacy, free press and daily newspapers in civic education in a democracy; and the power of juries to shape the law.

Overarching Questions:

CIVICS: Have the concepts of liberty,...

Summary: Through the process of forming a social contract, students will understand how a society is formed and the importance of a shared set of underlying values and principles including consent of the government, rights protection, liberty, justice and equality.

Overarching Questions:

CIVICS: Have the concepts of liberty, justice and/or equality changed during the time period? If so, how and what has been the impact? CIVICS: How well does the government balance individual rights and the...

Summary: This lesson from the New Jersey State Library mainly provides background information regarding the enslavement of African peoples in New Jersey within the broader context of slavery within the thirteen colonies. It also provides suggested titles for additional research and primary source documents regarding runaways in New Jersey.

Overarching Questions

CIVICS: Have the concepts of liberty, justice and/or equality changed during the time period? If so, how and what has been the impact? NEW...

Summary: Students will review several historical documents; identify the principles of equality, liberty and consent of the governed; and assess how they relate to the historical foundation of New Jersey and the United States. In addition, students will be asked to draw conclusions about the extent and nature of religious and political liberties that were guaranteed by colonial governments to their citizens.

Overarching questions:

CIVICS: Have the concepts of liberty, justice and/or equality...

Summary: This lesson explores the economic concept of mercantilism and the trading restrictions that it imposed on the British colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries. Students will be able to explain the key principles of mercantilism by analyzing political cartoons and primary sources. Students will be able to illustrate the mercantilist relationship between Great Britain and its colonies by designing their own political cartoon or infographic.

Overarching Question:

ECONOMICS: What is the proper role of...