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Interactive
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: United States History Map: Colonists

For Students 5th - 8th
Use these interactive maps to see and read about the colonization of the New World by several European nations. When you are finished looking at the maps, test your skills with the European Colonies Challenge.
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Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Colonial Indian Relations

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
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Activity
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Many Cultures Blend

For Students 9th - 10th
Brief discussion of early immigration and its effect on the population of Colonial America between 1680 and 1775.
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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.
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Website
The History Place

The History Place: American Revolution

For Students 3rd - 8th
The History Place provides this timeline broken into six different sections that highlight the important events from the early European exploration of America through to the United States becoming a country. Features include informative...
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Handout
Varsity Tutors

Varsity Tutors: Archiving Early America: Mercy Warren

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource provides a brief biography of Mercy Warren (1728-1814 CE), a famous author who lived during colonial times.
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Handout
Other

New York State Newspapers:the Early History of Newspaper Publishing in N Y State

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
In the first few paragraphs of this article read about the first two colonial newspapers published in New York.
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Unit Plan
Curated OER

National Park Service: Saugus Iron Works: Life & Work at an Early American Site

For Students 9th - 10th
Use this site to learn about life and work at an early American industrial site. Understand the need for iron ore for the early Puritans through excellent history info, an inquiry question, maps, images, readings, activities and more....
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Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: George Washington: Growing Up in Colonial Virginia

For Students 5th - 8th
George Washington was shaped by early adversity. Read a brief description of his early life up to the cusp of the beginning of his military career.
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Handout
Varsity Tutors

Varsity Tutors: Archiving Early America: The First Political Cartoons

For Students 9th - 10th
This article contains two of the first political cartoons in the US. The earliest is from colonial days and is part of an editorial by Ben Franklin. The other is from 1788. Describes how they were created and discusses what they represent.
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Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Phillis Wheatley

For Students 9th - 10th
This on-line encyclopedia article gives information about Phillis Wheatley, the Boston slave who surprised colonial America with her poetry. She was the first African-American woman to have her work published.
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Article
Varsity Tutors

Varsity Tutors: Archiving Early America: Franklin and the Presbyterians

For Students 9th - 10th
A detailed essay describing an incident having to do with the sermons of Samuel Hemphill within the Philadelphia Presbyterian Church in 1734. Benjamin Franklin supported Hemphill.
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Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: Colonial Indian Relations

For Students 9th - 10th
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, the Indians.
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Handout
Black Past

Black Past: Council on African Affairs

For Students 9th - 10th
This encyclopedia article talks bout the Council on African Affairs which dealt with the correlation of the struggle of African Americans and the colonial problems in Africa. It was supported by many civil rights activists of the time.
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Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Creating the 14th Colony

For Teachers 9th - 10th
After studying the 13 original colonies students will create their own colonies in cooperative groups. This will help students understand the difficulties the colonist had to endure in learning to work together. Students will have to...
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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...
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Website
The History Place

The History Place: Early Colonial Era

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from The History Place provides a timeline of significant events between (1000-1700) win the discovery and colonization of the New World.
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Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: John Smith, Leader of Jamestown

For Students 9th - 10th
An overview of the life of John Smith, and his relationship with Pocahontas, who supposedly saved his life. Features a portrait, a photograph of the John Smith Memorial, and a fresco from the early 1900's.
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Lesson Plan
University of California

The History Project: Aztec Life as Revealed in the Codex Telleriano Remensis

For Teachers 6th - 8th
The Aztec pictorial manuscript later known as the Codex Telleriano-Remensis was created in sixteenth-century Mexico, about a generation after contact. It is considered one of the most beautiful and informative remaining works by the...
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Lesson Plan
University of Florida

Florida Museum of Natural History: First Colony: Our Spanish Origins

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource is a lesson plan from the University of Florida Natural History Museum. It is a lesson on the impact that the immigrants of Jamestown, VA had on American culture and the melting pot they created in the early colonial days.
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Handout
Curated OER

National Park Service: Ellis Island: Colonial and Early American New York 1609 1890

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides an overview of the history of New York and of how the United States government came to acquire Ellis Island. Fort Gibson was built there prior to the War of 1812 to serve as a strategic post in case of attack.
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Website
Other

Vets With a Mission: Early History of Vietnam: The Anti Colonial Struggle

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides a discussion of the colonization and political unrest in the Vietnam region, including mention of the Can Vuong royalist movement.
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Handout
Mayflower History

Mayflower history.com: Women of Early Plymouth

For Students 4th - 8th
An interesting account of the decisions that had to be made about whether or not to bring women along on the Mayflower. There was a higher mortality rate among the women it turned out, but that may have been due to the fact that women...
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Handout
Other

University of Western Ontario: Early Writing in Canada: Jameson: Winter Studies

For Students 9th - 10th
Excerpts from Irish-born British writer Anna Brownell Jameson's Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada, a travelogue of her 1836 voyage to Canada.