We The People

Lesson 1

Key Concepts

Page 2Compare to Curriculum MapSimilarities?Define those that are the same.Discuss what they mean.

Why study the British colonies in North America?

What do you think it would be like to live in a colony ruled by another country?

Would you like to live under the rule of a king or queen? What would be the plusses and minuses?

Can you give some examples of people and institutions that make up government?

President, governors, senators and representatives, judges, school districts, local and county officials

How did Native Americans live before the Europeans came?

How did Native Americans in the East interact with the colonists?

Read section on page 5Create a Venn diagram contrasting the way

Native Americans lived and the way colonists lived.

Share with the class

Where did the British colonists settle?

Compare Britain to AmericaWhich is larger?Compare the population density of 1790 to

today.

How did people in the colonies earn a living?

Create a poster with your group depicting the typical day for a small Northern farm, a Southern plantation, and a Northern city.

Why would you have liked to have lived in the colonies?

Why not?

How were the people living in the colonies different from one another?

How does diversity of people living in the colonies during the 1770s compare to the diversity of people living in the United States today?

Great Britain, Ireland, Western Europe, and Africans came as slaves

Today, they are from all over the world

How were the people living in the colonies different from one another?

Can you identify some of the groups living in America now that were not represented in the colonies in the 1770s and some of the ideas and customs they have brought with them?

How did this colonial farmer compare life in America with life in Great Britain?

What was it that Crevecoeur liked about life in the colonies?

No aristocracy, possible to make a good living, better homes, more freedom

What rights did he enjoy?Free to live without unreasonable

interference from government because laws were fair. Right to make a living and increase his financial and social status.

How did this colonial farmer compare life in America with life in Great Britain?

How might people in Great Britain react to Crevecoeur’s comparisons of life in America and life in Europe?

British aristocracy may not have liked the comparisons because he said that the social structure was unfair, abusive, and gives few rights to ordinary people. The poor may have been jealous and had a greater desire to emigrate.