TEACHER NOTES United States History - Georgia Standards

United States History Teacher Notes for the Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social StudiesThe Teacher Notes were developed to help teachers understand the depth and breadth of the standards. In some cases,information provided in this document goes beyond the scope of the standards and can be used for background and enrichmentinformation. Please remember that the goal of social studies is not to have students memorize laundry lists of facts, but rather tohelp them understand the world around them so they can analyze issues, solve problems, think critically, and become informedcitizens. Children’s Literature: A list of book titles aligned to the 6th-12th Grade Social Studies GSE may be found at theGeorgia Council for the Social Studies website: ture-Grades-6-to-12.pdfTEACHER NOTESUnited States HistorySSUSH1- Compare and Contrast the development of English settlement and colonization during the17th century.The settlement of permanent English colonies in North America, beginning with Jamestown in1607, further cemented the development of an already emerging and complex Atlantic World. Theconvergence of North American, South American, European, and African peoples in the westernhemisphere was a complicated mix of conquest, trade, and religious mission. Spanish, French, andEnglish colonies existed simultaneously in North America, each with different objectives and differentapproaches to the American Indians they encountered. Likewise, differences among the thirteen Englishcolonies existed in terms of their founding purposes, interaction with American Indians, and economicdevelopment. England’s various North American colonies were, however, united under their mothercountry’s strong focus on extracting colonial resources through mercantilism and trans-Atlantic tradeeven though this objective did not always align with the colonists’ growing desire for economic, religious,and political autonomy.Emphasis should be placed on the regional geographic, economic, religious, and politicaldifferences that existed between England’s Southern, Mid-Atlantic, and New England colonies.Resources:1. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is a resource that provides teachers withlesson plans, primary documents, secondary source essays, and multimedia specific to eachhistorical era. Gilder Lehrman resources include ready-to-use classroom materials and qualitybackground information for teachers to better understand the deeper contexts of American historytopics. Full access to the materials requires the teacher to obtain a free login.Historical Era #1 -“Colonization & Settlement, by-era/colonization-and-settlement-1585-17632. Digital History: Using New Technologies to Enhance Teaching and Learning is a resourcecreated by the University of Houston’s History Department and College of Education. Inquirylearning modules, documents, lessons, maps, cartoons, and video are compiled by historical erafor mGeorgia Department of Education5.31.2017 Page 1 of 189

United States History Teacher Notes for the Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social StudiesSSUSH1 – Compare and Contrast the development of English settlement and colonization during the17th century.a. Investigate how mercantilism and trans-Atlantic trade led to the development of colonies.Although many English colonists came to North America searching for religious or politicalopportunity, it was economic opportunity that fueled the ambition of other English colonists, as well as,their mother country. Investors sought financial returns for their colonial ventures. England sought toextract resources from North America in order to compete with their European rivals for wealth andpower. By the 1650s, England was heavily entrenched in trans-Atlantic trade based on mercantilism.Mercantilism is an economic theory based on reducing a country’s imports while expanding itsexports in order to maximize wealth. In the highly competitive European world of the sixteenth andseventeenth centuries, wealth equated to power. Thus, mercantilism inspired European governments,including England, to promote American colonies as sources of raw materials not readily available in themother country. Some of the most important resources England plucked from its colonies includedlumber, sugar, wool, tobacco, rice, and indigo. These raw materials were then used in England toproduce manufactured goods for export to other European countries and back to the colonists in NorthAmerica.A favorable tradebalance resultedfor England in thecolonialarrangement. Rawmaterials that werescarce in Englandwere acquired fromtheir colonialpossessions.Simultaneously, thecolonies were aready market forthe manufacturedproducts producedin England from theraw materials. Thetrans-Atlantic tradenetwork that resulted led to various colonial labor arrangements and restrictive policies to ensureEngland maximized its mercantilist potential.England implemented a series of Navigation Acts in the mid-1600s to ensure a favorable tradearrangement with the colonies. The laws were designed to keep England’s own colonies fromcompeting with their mother country by mandating three fundamental criteria for trans-Atlantic trade.First, all goods shipped to or from English North America had to travel on English ships. Second, anygoods being imported to the colonies from Europe had to first be processed through an English port.Georgia Department of Education5.31.2017 Page 2 of 189

United States History Teacher Notes for the Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social StudiesAnd third, most colonial resources could only be exported to England. The Navigation Acts restrictedthe profits colonists could receive for their products, hindered the development of large scalemanufacturing in the colonies, and forced colonists to pay high prices for goods they were only allowedto purchase from England. One positive effect of the Navigation Acts on the colonies was theemergence of ship building as a viable industry in New England. Since the Navigation Acts required allgoods to travel on English ships, there was an instant demand for more ships to be built from the lumberreadily available in North America. Another effect of the Navigation Acts was increased smuggling ofgoods into North America by colonists who sought their own lucrative trade practices- regardless oflegality.A good document to use with students concerning the reasons for England’s interest incolonizing North America is Richard Hakluyt’s 1584essay, Discourse of Western Planting. Excerpts fromthis document have been compiled by the NationalHumanities Center and can be accessed n/exploration/text5/hakluyt.pdf .England’s trans-Atlantic trade flourished under the mercantilist system. Trans-Atlantic trade,sometimes referred to as Triangular Trade, often took a three step voyage around the Atlantic rim.First, English ships loaded with rum, cloth, and other manufactured goods sailed to Africa, where theywere traded for Africans as part of the slave trade. Then, in the Middle Passage (discussed further inSSUSH2), the slaves were transported on a brutal voyage to the Americas and sold there as a forcedlabor commodity to colonial landowners. The third step of the journey transported American rawmaterials to England to be made into theIllustration of Triangular Trade modelmanufactured goods that would start the cycle again.Indenture betweenPatrick Larkin and Thomas Blood,17 August 1766, VirginiaColonial labor was critical for the production ofmaterials England needed for a profitable mercantilistsystem. Labor needs were first filled through the use ofindentured servants and then later by permanentlyenslaved Africans. Indentured servants were typically lowerclass Englishmen who could not afford to pay for the voyageto North America but saw life in the colonies as anopportunity for economic advancement they wouldotherwise never have in England. Indentured servantsworked for a land owner in exchange for their passage toNorth America. The land owner obtained labor and theindentured servant obtained the future opportunity toown land after working off their debt over a period ofapproximately four to seven years.Tensions began to develop over the continual need toGeorgia Department of Education5.31.2017 Page 3 of 189

United States History Teacher Notes for the Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studiessupply land to newly freed indentured servants. African slaves were introduced as a labor sourcebeginning in 1619 (discussed in SSUSH2). Eventually, plantation owners came to rely on African slavesas a more profitable and renewable source of labor.England developed resource-producing colonies in North America primarily to fuel mercantilismand to amass wealth and power over their European rivals. The resulting trans-Atlantic trade systemwas regulated through Navigation Acts and led to various labor sources being used by colonists to meetthe resource demands of England.Resources:1. From Raw Materials to Riches: Mercantilism and the British North AmericanColonies is a simulation lesson produced by the Federal Reserve Bank’s EducationalResources division. Students interpret primary sources through simulation in order tobetter evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the mercantilist policies used by Englandin the SH1 – Compare and Contrast the development of English settlement and colonization during the17th century.b. Explain the development of the Southern Colonies, including but not limited to reasons established, impactof location and place, relations with American Indians, and economic development.The Southern Colonies included Virginia, Maryland, Carolina (which eventually split into NorthCarolina and South Carolina), and Georgia. The location of the Southern Colonies, with the region’s richsoil and long growing season, fostered the development of strong agricultural producing colonies. Deeprivers and the distance of the fall line from the coast meant that inlandfarmers were able to ship tobacco, indigo, corn, and rice directly from theirfarms to European markets. The economic development of the SourthernColonies reflected this geological line. Subsistence family farms tended todevelop north of the fall line. These farms grew primarily what the familyneeded along with a small cash crop used to purchase or barter for goodssuch as salt, gunpowder, lead, and iron tools. Commercial farms tended todevelop south of the fall line and grew primarily high yield, labor intensivecash crops such as rice, tobacco, and indigo. As a result, slave labor was morecommon south of the fall line while less common north of the same line.Fall Line MapRelations with American Indians in the Southern Colonies begansomewhat as a peaceful coexistence. As more English colonists began to arrive and encroach furtherinto native lands, the relationship became more violent. The complexity of the interactions withAmerican Indians in the Southern Colonies grew as the region’s economic development grew. Oncelarge scale cash crops of tobacco, rice, and indigo proved highly profitable in the mercantilist system,more colonists arrived seeking economic opportunity. The growing English population in the SouthernColonies required more of the American Indians’ land for crop cultivation, which fueled increasedtension between the groups.Georgia Department of Education5.31.2017 Page 4 of 189