Lesson Plan
George Mason University

Chnm: Differences Among Colonial Regions

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students will explore the differences among the three colonial regions of New England, Mid-Atlantic/Middle, and the Southern colonies. In small groups for each region, students will observe and note details of pictures, maps, and...
Website
University of Notre Dame

Department of Special Collections: The Coins of Colonial and Early America

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides links to a variety of coins used in the colonies and in the confederation. Extremely detailed.
Lesson Plan
Council for Economic Education

Econ Ed Link: Trade in Colonial America / Nafta

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Often teachers and students are able to internalize historical and economic concepts through a more recent event that has occurred within their time frame. This lesson is an extension for the lesson, "Understanding the Colonial Economy."...
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Colonial Economy

For Students 9th - 10th
Whatever early colonial prosperity there was resulted from trapping and trading in furs. In addition, the fishing industry was a primary source of wealth in Massachusetts. But throughout the colonies, people relied primarily on small...
Lesson Plan
Council for Economic Education

Econ Ed Link: Trouble Is Brewing in Boston: "Colonial Voices Hear Them Speak"

For Teachers K - 1st
It's December 16, 1773 and many of the citizens of Boston are furious with King George's new tax on tea. Young Ethan, a printer's errand boy, has been given the task of conveying information concerning an upcoming protest meeting. As he...
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: A New Colonial System

For Students 9th - 10th
Although some believe that the history of the American Revolution began long before the first shots were fired in 1775, England and America did not begin an overt parting of the ways until 1763, more than a century and a half after the...
Activity
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Colonial Williamsburg: The Geddys Family of Tradesmen

For Students 6th - 8th
Links provide you with the story of one colonial silversmith's family. The occupation and impact on family is discussed.
Article
University of Oxford (UK)

American National Biography Online: Depressions, Economic

For Students 9th - 10th
Depressions are sustained troughs in the business cycle characterized by declines in output, employment, income, and trade. While they date from the earliest years of American history, little is known about them from the Colonial Era....
Primary
University of Illinois

University of Illinois: Early American Trade With China: Europe's Economic Tradition [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Most well-educated American colonists (including early American leaders like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin) were familiar with the writings andideas of European scholars, so it makes sense that Americans came to...
Website
University of Virginia

University of Virginia: Leslie Brock Center for the Study of Colonial Currency

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Discusses the different kinds of paper money released by each of the colonies and the disputes, controversies, and arguments that resulted.
Whiteboard
ClassFlow

Class Flow: Colonial Differences

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students learn to understand Colonial American regional differences by applying knowledge of places, resources, economics, land climate, products and trading centers. Extension of knowledge to include...
Website
Digital History

Digital History: British Mercantilism and the Cost of Empire [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the theory of mercantilism and how it affected the economies of the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies. Practice making a bar graph showing the value of exports to and imports from England between 1700 and 1774 with...
Whiteboard
ClassFlow

Class Flow: Colonialism

For Teachers 6th - 8th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students identify the Impacts of Colonialism - to include social, economic and political legacies and how these led to civil wars, dictators, and corrupt governments. Students grasp the complexity of...
Article
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation

History Is Fun: Early Industries in Virginia [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses the many enterprises undertaken by the colonists in Virginia to try to make a profit. They were not successful until they began to grow tobacco.
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Country Study: Philippines

For Students 9th - 10th
The Library of Congress offers a detailed history of the Philippines along with background on such areas as economics, populations, vital statistics, and the like.
Article
Mount Holyoke College

International Relations: Leroy Beaulieu on the Desirability of Imperialism, 1891

For Students 9th - 10th
An excerpt from a book written in 1891 in which the author clarifies and supports the economic justification for imperialism.
Website
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Agriculture Rules the South

For Students 9th - 10th
The essay describes the devlopment of the Southern colonies as agricultural centers and the cultural aspects associated with rural, agricultural life.
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: Beginnings of Revolutionary Thinking: Smuggling

For Students 5th - 8th
The economic theory of mercantilism led to wholesale smuggling by the American colonists. Read about why the idea of mercantilism was so abhorrent to the colonists, and look at the attempts the British made to make the colonists obey....
Lesson Plan
Council for Economic Education

Econ Ed Link: Taxation Without Representation?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Check out this informative site to learn more about life in the colonies before the Revolutionary War. Find out why the colonists had issues with "taxation without representation." "You will work independently and in pairs to learn about...
Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Rivalry Iii, American Beginnings: 1492 1690

For Students 9th - 10th
Two maps of English and French rivalries in North America, and two side-by-side accounts of the English and French perspectives on King William's war over power, trade, and economic dominance of the continent.
Lesson Plan
Council for Economic Education

Econ Ed Link: Where's the Beef?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore meat consumption statistics, an indicator of a nation's relative prosperity and standard of living. They do a survey of a family's meat consumption and compare their results to statistics from Colonial and modern- day...
Primary
Other

New Netherland Institute: Early Descriptions of New Netherland

For Students 9th - 10th
Excerpts from Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, published in 1909, and available for free from Google Books. The first excerpt is from a 1644 account of Henry Hudson's descriptions of the new land he saw on his 1609 voyage. The...
Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: Rice Cultivation in Georgetown County

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Describes the planting, cultivating, harvesting, and preparing rice in the antebellum South. Contains review questions.
Graphic
Curated OER

Map: Imperialism and the Balance of Power

For Students 9th - 10th
World maps of the Colonial Empires of 1914 as well as their revenues during that time period. There are also maps depicting urban growth, type of government, wars and atrocities, and living conditions of the world in 1900.