Bill Carson
The Pilgrims and the Puritans
Exactly what is the difference between Pilgrims and Puritans? Find out here in this short article.
Brown University
Brown University Library: Voyage of the Slave Ship Sally: 1764 65
Providence, Rhode Island's Nicholas Brown and Company owned a slave ship, Sally. Sally is documented for many trips to Africa to pick up slaves. The slaves would be delivered to Caribbean Islands in exchange for sugar and molasses to...
Other
The Amistad Committee: Yale, Slavery & Abolition
This essay explores Yale University's relationship to slavery. It seeks to answer questions such as why did Yale name most of its colleges after slave owners and pro-slavery leaders? Included is a downloadable PDF, timeline, map of Yale,...
Other
Sites Alive: Comparison of American Colonies
Lesson plan focuses on comparing and contrasting the unique characteristics of the original thirteen American colonies.
Curated OER
New England Colonies
This site provides an extensive look into the people and events surrounding the founding of the original 13 colonies in America.
Other
Hillcrest: England and Its Colonies [Pdf]
A textbook chapter about England and its relationship to its American colonies. Included are maps and map questions, study help, and assessments.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Colonial Indian Relations
By 1640 the British had solid colonies established along the New England coast and the Chesapeake Bay. In between were the Dutch and the tiny Swedish community. To the west were the original Americans, then called Indians.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: English I, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Portraits of early New Englanders as well as four buildings from seventeenth-century New England that accompany accounts in those British colonies of struggles, Indian hostilities, and economic success.
Other
American Journeys: Popham's Expedition to Maine, 1607 1608
An account of the first English colony in New England, Sagahadoc. To access the document itself, click on"Read This Document." Although unsuccessful, it provided valuable information for later colonization.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: Colonial North America
Scroll through this site from the Modern History Sourcebook of Fordham University to New England and click on the primary source documents concerning Edmund Andros. This site contains dozens of links related to colonial America. Sections...
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: The Middle Colonies
Society in the middle colonies was far more varied, cosmopolitan and tolerant than in New England. In many ways, Pennsylvania and Delaware owed their initial success to William Penn.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Southern Colonies
In contrast to New England and the middle colonies were the predominantly rural southern settlements: Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and Georgia.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: Divining America: Puritanism and Predestination
The Puritans came to the New World in search of religious freedom. This National Humanities Center article tells what they did with that freedom. Site also offers topics for discussion with students.
Huntington Library
Huntington Library: Religious Dissent [Pdf]
This lesson supplements one on the "Settlement of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies of New England." It looks at religious dissent and intolerance among the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Students look at Roger...
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Colonial House: For Teachers: 'Tis a Very Dirty Manner of Life
Interactive adjunct to the popular PBS series Colonial House, which follows the efforts of modern-day families attempting to live as early colonists in seventeenth-century Maine, focuses on the language and expressions common to that...
PBS
Africans in America: Venture Smith's Narrative on Buying His Freedom
Here is the original text from Venture Smith's narrative on how he purchased his own freedom and his families, and his life afterwards.
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: Anne Hutchinson
Considered one of the earliest American feminists, Anne Hutchinson was a spiritual leader in colonial Massachusetts who challenged male authority.
Other
Plimoth Plantation: What to Wear?: Wampanoag and Pilgrim Clothing
Compare the clothing of the Wampanoag people with the English clothing of the Pilgrims in the 1600s. Photographs provide clear images of how they would have dressed.
Digital History
Digital History: Overview of the Colonial Era
The year 1492 marks a watershed in modern world history. Columbus's voyage of discovery inaugurated a series of developments that would have vast consequences for both the Old World and the New. It transformed the diets of both the...
SMART Technologies
Smart: Thirteen Colonies
Students will drag the name of each colony onto the map. Then drag the color coded stars to the New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies. Lastly, they will drag the important events to the colony in which it happened.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The Southern Colonies
The Southern Colonies developed their own personality, just as the New England and Middle colonies did. Read about the economy of the Southern Colonies, their labor force, and why the second-born of wealthy English familes came to this...
Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press.
New Georgia Encyclopedia: History and Archaeology: Indigo
Discussion of how production of the blue dye, indigo, helped boost the economy of Georgia and South Carolina in the seventeenth and eighteenth century until the Revolutionary War when England stopped buying it and production collapsed.
Other
Memorial Hall Online Museum: In the Classroom
This site from the Memorial Hall Museum provides curricula, information and activities for teachers teaching social studies.
Siteseen
Siteseen: Land of the Brave: John Winthrop
Overview and biographical facts on the life of John Winthrop, founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England.