United States History Student Edition

TOPIC ACTIVITIES

FLORIDA SKILLS BENCHMARKS

Apply What You Have Learned

• SS.8.A.1.1 • SS.8.A.1.4

• SS.8.A.1.6 • SS.8.A.1.7

• SS.8.A.2.2

Understanding Multiple Perspectives

A

B

Geographic Reasoning

In 1675, Attorney General John Easton of the Rhode Island Colony met with Metacomet, or King Philip, to try to avoid a war. The following is Easton’s account of the meeting and King Philip’s views. “ They said they had been the first in doing good to the English, and the English the first in doing wrong; they said when the English first came, their king’s father…constrained other Indians from wronging the English and gave them corn and showed them how to plant and was free to do them any good and had let them have a 100 times more land than now the king had for his own people….now they had no hopes left to kepe any land…. the English cattle and horses still increased so that when they removed 30 miles from where the English had anything to do, they could not keep their corn from being spoiled, they never being used to fence, and thought that when the English bought land of them that they would have kept their cattle upon their own land…. We endeavored however that they should lay down their arms, for the English were too strong for them. They said, then the English should do to them as they did when they were too strong for the English. ” ACTIVITY Exploring Views on Colonization Summarize Metacomet’s complaints as related by Easton. Did Easton’s perspective as a European affect his account of the meeting? Then research other statements by Native Americans from the colonial period regarding relations with the colonists. Summarize those statements, explain similarities in the views, including the factors that may have affected those points of view. Then describe the general state of Native American -English relations.

The colonists coming to America experienced all new landscapes and resources. That geography greatly influenced colonists’ economic decisions and ways of life in the New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies. ACTIVITY Touring a Colonial Region Choose one of the three colonial regions. Create a visual tour of the region. Collect images showing the typical geography and economic activities in the region. Add callouts to identify geographic features and explain their significance for colonial life. Also include callouts for aspects of activities and artifacts— homes, transportation, tools, and so on—that explain how those items are adapted to local geography.

Easton, John. “A Relation of the Indian War, by Mr. Easton, of Rhode Island, 1675,” edited by Paul Royster (2006). Faculty Publications of University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, via https://digitalcommons.unl.edu

103 The English Colonies Are Settled and Grow