Guest Blog: Meredith Henne Baker

British colonization of the Atlantic Coast was widespread in 17th century America. However, that colonization was not entirely uniform. Environmental, cultural, and demographic factors all influenced the character of the colonies in different regions along the coast. In this lesson plan, comparisons between the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies are viewed through the lens of the worship spaces that were prominent in each region at the time.

Overview

This lesson uses material culture and artifacts to illustrate differences between British colonies in America. 

Grade: 9-12 (adaptable for younger grades) 

Subject: US History

Topic: Colonial Distinctives

Standard: (AP US History KC.2.1.II)
In the 17th century, early British colonies developed along the Atlantic coast, with regional differences that reflected various environmental, economic, cultural, and demographic factors.

Objectives:
Understand the competing visions for English settlement and how differences in religion affected the founding and character of British colonies

Compare and contrast religious and cultural differences between early colonists in New England/Middle/Southern colonies.

Time: 50 minutes

Materials: 

Slides showing images of places of worship in colonial America

Map featuring major colonial regions

Printed images and primary source excerpts

Readings

Introduction 

Establish what students know

Start with Ben Franklin’s “Join or Die” image from 1754.
Ask: What does this image tell us about the colonies? (They were not homogenous or unified.)
Ask: What can the built environment teach us about our society? What can it teach us about the colonies? (Climate, values, industry, etc.)
Now ask: What were major differences in colonial regions regarding religion? This will help introduce the reading/video. 

Introduce new material

Have students read aloud an excerpt describing colonial religious differences such as an excerpt from Facing History’s Religion in Colonial America or watching this video (11 min) by Mr. Raymond on colonial regional differences. 

Apply new material

Display slides in class for New England, Middle, and Southern colonies. Show images of houses of worship to link the architecture and interiors to cultural distinctives. Ask students to make observations aloud. (In a virtual class, have them circle on the screen items of interest that make a statement about the colony.) What do these artifacts say about the culture and religion of the colonies? What would it feel like to be in these spaces? Answers from students may include the following.

New England Puritan Church: simple, private pews (indicating social hierarchy), pulpit central (centrality of literacy and preaching), minister elevated, large to hold crowds, may lack steeple (often did double duty as town meeting hall)

Middle Colonies Quaker Meeting House: unadorned, more egalitarian circular seating (male and female could preach/speak), no pulpit or altar, no crosses or art (values of simplicity and plainness)

Southern Anglican Church: ornate, altar at center (sacraments central), fancy pulpit to the side, crosses and religious imagery, minister elevated, private pews (indicating social hierarchy), organ music, steeple

Matching Activity

Based on information presented, breakout groups match images of colonial regional life, excerpts from primary sources, images of colonial regional leaders, and lists of cities or colonies to the three regions. These could be affixed to a white board with a section for each region, worked out at individual tables, or formatted in a digital drag-and-drop google doc. Elements might include: 

New England

• New England map 
• Salem witch trial image
• Cotton Mather portrait
• Anne Hutchinson portrait
• Mayflower Compact
• Pequot War images
• Puritan meeting house
• Whaling ships
• Logging
• Psalm book
• Hornbook 
• Puritan cemetery
• Puritan sermons

Middle Colonies

• Middle Colonies map
• William Penn portrait or engraving
• Rebecca Jones (Quaker minister) silhouette
• “Peaceable Kingdom” painting by Edward Hicks
• Maryland Toleration Act
• Quaker meeting house
• Colonial Philadelphia
• Lenape people
• Quaker burial grounds
• Benjamin Lay portrait
• Rebecca Jones silhouette
• German needlework sampler
• Quaker sermons/quotes about women’s roles

Southern Colonies

• Southern Colonies map
• Virginia gentry family portrait
• Slave handcuffs 
• Anglican church
• Pocahontas
• George Mason’s monteith (used for chilling wine and baptisms)
• Family cemetery or graveyard
• Plantation 
• Book of Common Prayer
• Tobacco, rice, indigo
• Sermons and missionary writings from colonial Virginia 

Differentiation

For ELL (English Language Learner) students, have a printed vocabulary sheet for terms that may be unfamiliar. 

Assessment

As a formative assessment, students will complete an exit ticket for the class answering the following: Compare and contrast religious practice in two regions, identifying two similarities or differences on this topic. 

Variation

You may choose other houses of worship used at the time, such as synagogues or Native places of worship to make points about other groups and cultures in colonial America. For the purposes of this learning standard related to British colonists, the main point is to illustrate the cultural differences extant in a group that is sometimes misunderstood as homogenous. 

More Resources

Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America by David Hackett Fischer (Oxford Univ. Press, 1989)

A Cheerful and Comfortable Faith: Anglican Religious Practice in the Elite Households of Eighteenth-Century Virginia by Lauren F. Winner (Yale University Press, 2010)

Encyclopedia Virginia: The Church of England in Virginia

Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges

The Met Open Access

Facing History: Religion in Colonial America

Religious Pluralism in the Middle Colonies by Patricia U. Bonomi (NYU/National Humanities Center)

Church Images

Plymouth, MA

 

Williamsburg, VA

 

Friends Meetinghouses

 

Cover Photo: St. Luke’s Church aka Old Brick Church or Newport Parish Church in Smithfield, Virginia (1632/1682) [Wikimedia Commons/Kallicrates (public domain)]

About the Author

Meredith Henne Baker writes about history and is a social studies/AP educator. She is interested in the role of religion and religious practice in American history.

 

She also wrote The Richmond Theater Fire, a book about disaster and churches in early republic Virginia.