5th Grade Integrated Early American History SS050407

Unit 4: Life in Colonial America Lesson 7

Lesson 7: The Colonial Economy

Big Ideas of the Lesson

The English enslaved Africans and forced them to work in the colonies.
Important economic activities in the Colonies included fishing in New
England, wheat farming in the Middle Colonies, and growing tobacco and other cash crops in
the Southern Colonies.
Work in the colonies was done by free workers, indentured servants, and
enslaved Africans.
The Colonists mainly exported raw materials like lumber to Britain. They
imported manufactured goods like furniture.
Britain passed laws like the Navigation Acts to regulate trade between
Britain and the Colonies.

Lesson Abstract:
In this lesson, students explore the colonial economy using a variety of resources including
websites, primary sources and informational text. The lesson begins with a review of economic
concepts studied in grade 4 as students apply what they have learned about productive resources,
and specialization. Throughout the lesson a focus is placed on the economic relationship between
Britain and the British colonies and growing attempts by Britain to control colonial trade.

Content Expectations
5 U2.1.1: Describe significant developments in the Southern colonies, including:
development of one-crop economies (plantation land use and growing season for
rice in Carolinas and tobacco in Virginia).
(portions omitted)

5 U2.3.2: Describe the daily life of people living in the New England, Middle, and Southern
colonies.

5 U2.3.4: Describe the development of the emerging labor force in the colonies (e.g., cash crop
farming, slavery, indentured servants).

5 U2.1.2: Describe significant developments in the New England colonies, including:

growth of agricultural (small farms) and non-agricultural (shipping, manufacturing)
economies.
(portions omitted)

5 U2.1.3: Describe significant developments in the Middle Colonies, including:

the growth of Middle Colonies economies (e.g., breadbasket).
(portions omitted)

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5th Grade Integrated Early American History SS050407
Unit 4: Life in Colonial America Lesson 7

Common Core State Standards:

RI.5.9: Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak
about the subject knowledgeably.

Key Concepts
economy
labor force
slavery

Instructional Resources
Equipment/Manipulative
Chart paper
Overhead projector or document camera/projector

Student Resource
Bower, Burt, et al. Americas Past, Social Studies Alive Program. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers
Curriculum Institute, 2010 or a similar fifth grade social studies textbook. Pp. 94-97.

Colonial Williamsburg Trades. 14 August 2011

<http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/trades/tradehdr.cfm>.

The Masters Apprentice. Colonial Williamsburg Kid Zone. 14 August 2011

<http://www.history.org/kids/visitUs/colonialPeople/apprentice.cfm>

Teacher Resource
Krebs, Laurie. A Day in the Life of a Colonial Lighthouse Keeper. The Library of Living and Working
in Colonial Times. NY: Rosen Publishing PowerKids Press, 2004. (optional)

Egbo, Carol. Supplemental Materials (Unit 4, Lesson 7). Teacher-made material. Michigan
Citizenship Collaborative, 2011.

Samuel, Charlie. Money and Finance in Colonial America. Primary Sources of Everyday Life in
Colonial America. New York: Rosen Publishing PowerKids Press, 2003. (optional)

Stuff Imported From London. 1 December 2011

<http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/score_lessons/market_to_market/pages/JohnGreenhow.html>.

To Market, To Market: A Study of the Colonial Economy. 1 December 2011

<http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/score_lessons/market_to_market/index.html>.

Lesson Sequence
1. Using Word Card #17, review the term Economics. Remind students that in simplest terms
economics is the study of how people use resources to meet their needs. Using Word Card
#18, review the term Natural Resources and ask students to describe in their journals one way
the colonists used natural resources to meet their needs. Give students time to think and write.
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5th Grade Integrated Early American History SS050407
Unit 4: Life in Colonial America Lesson 7

Then, have them do a pair/share with a partner. Finally, discuss ideas in the large group. Note
that possible answers include:
People used the land to farm.
People used the ocean to fish.
People used trees to build houses.
People used fur-bearing animals in the fur trade.

2. Pose the following question to students: How did the natural resources of the three colonial
regions differ? Discuss student responses. Note that possible answers include that there was
more fertile soil in the Middle and Southern regions and that the climate was different in the
three regions. Discuss how regional differences in resources impacted differences in economic
activities.

3. Using Word Card #19, review the term specialization which was explored in grade 4. Remind
students that the three colonial regions specialized in the production of differing goods. This
required them to exchange, or trade, with other colonies or countries to get the goods they did
not produce.

4. Using Word Card #20, review the term human resources. Then, pose the following question:
Who did the work in the colonies? Discuss student responses. Note that students are likely to
answer enslaved Africans since they have just completed previous lessons on the institution of
slavery. Explain that enslaved Africans were a very important part of the work, or labor, force in
the Colonies. Briefly review what was covered regarding Triangular Trade and the colonial
Economy in Lesson 5.

5. Using Word Card #21, review the term indentured servants which was introduced in Unit 2.
Explain that indentured servants made up another part of the work, or labor force, in the
Colonies. Then, share the following information regarding wage workers:
Free workers, or wageworkers, were another part of the colonial labor force.
Some were employed in manufacturing where they often worked alongside enslaved
workers or indentured servants.
The greatest concentration of full-time wageworkers was sound in the three largest
colonial port cities of Boston, New York and Philadelphia.

6. As optional enrichment activities relating to human resources in the colonies assign one of the
following activities.
Have students explore the role of apprenticeship in colonial America at this website:
http://www.history.org/kids/visitUs/colonialPeople/apprentice.cfm
Divide students in pairs and have each pair draw one of the Colonial Occupation
Cards located in the Supplemental Materials (Unit 4, Lesson 7) then have pairs visit
the following website to gather information about their assigned occupation and
prepare a short presentation on what they have learned:
http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/trades/tradehdr.cfm

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5th Grade Integrated Early American History SS050407
Unit 4: Life in Colonial America Lesson 7

7. Explain that trade was an important part of the colonial economy. Using Word Cards # 22 and
#23, review the terms import and export. Then, give each student Primary Source #1
located in the Supplemental Materials (Unit 4, Lesson 7). Write the following two questions on
the board or an overhead and ask students to answer the questions in their social studies
journal:
What do you think the artifact is?
What does it tell us about trade between Britain and the Colonies?

8. Give students time to analyze the artifact and write in their journals. Then, have students share
their ideas in the large group. Note that the primary source is a list of imported goods from
England that were to be sold in a store in Williamsburg. Guide students in understanding that a
wide variety of goods from England were exported to the Colonies.

9. Display the chart of Colonial Exports, located in the Supplemental Materials (Unit 4, Lesson 7)
and ask them to compare this list to the list of goods imported from England shown in Primary
Source #1. Guide students in understanding that colonial exports were mainly raw materials
like fish, lumber, tobacco and furs. English exports were mainly manufactured goods.

10. Give each student the Trade Between the Colonies and Britain diagram, located in the located
in the Supplemental Materials (Unit 4, Lesson 7). Using the Teacher Reference sheet of the
diagram guide students in completing the diagram. Then, discuss what it shows about the
economic relationship between Britain and the Colonies.
The Colonies were supposed to supply raw materials for England and also provide a
market for English goods.
Like many European nations at the time, England believed that its colonies should
benefit the home country. England hoped to grow wealthy by exporting
manufactured goods to the Colonies.
This system also led to the Colonies being economically dependent on England.

11. Divide students in pairs and give each pair a copy of the British Legislation chart located in
the Supplemental Materials (Unit 4, Lesson 7). Explain that these were some laws passed by
Britain between 1699 and 1750. Tell partners to read about the laws on the chart and then
describe how each might have impacted the Colonies. Give pairs time to work and then have
them share their ideas in the large group. Note that a chart showing sample answers has also
been included in the Supplemental Materials (Unit 4, Lesson 7).

12. Using Word Card #24, explain that these laws were part of a set of laws known as the
Navigation Acts. They were passed to regulate trade between Britain and the colonies. Explain
that these acts were passed to regulate trade between England and the Colonies. They were
designed to maintain the system described in Step 10. Discuss the Navigation Acts using the
following questions:
Would Britain or the Colonies benefit most from the Navigation Acts? Why?
How do you think merchants felt about the Navigation Acts?
Do you think the Navigation Acts were an example of interference by the King and
Parliament? Why or why not?
How do you think colonists reacted to the Navigation Acts?

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5th Grade Integrated Early American History SS050407
Unit 4: Life in Colonial America Lesson 7

13. Explain that Britain found it difficult to enforce the Navigation Acts so in many ways they had
little impact on the Colonies. Colonists also found ways to get around the laws. Using Word
Card #25, explain that one of the ways was to smuggle goods like sugar into the Colonies.
Explain that as they will see in the next unit Britain later began to clamp down on the Colonies
using the Navigation Acts and this caused friction between the two.

14. Using Unfavorable Balance of Trade, located in the Supplemental Materials (Unit 4, Lesson
7), explain that a region or country has an unfavorable balance of trade when the value of its
exports is less than the value of its imports. This means it is spending more money on goods
coming in than it is earning from goods it sends out. Explain that the Colonies were suffering
from an unfavorable balance of trade with Britain. Note that this concept can also be
demonstrated with an old-fashioned scale and difference size blocks labeled exports and
imports.

15. Relate the balance of trade concept to the current economic situation of the United States in
which the U.S. is experiencing an unfavorable balance of trade. Discuss reasons for this.

Assessment
An assessment has been included in the Supplemental Materials (Unit 2, Lesson 4) in which
students answer three multiple choice questions, one constructed response, and then create a
non-linguistic representation, cartoon, or graphic organizer to describe the economic relationship
between the Colonies and Britain. Answers to the Multiple Choice questions are as follows: 1:B,
2:A, 3:C, 4:B

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