The Interest in Jamestown
[ Broader Themes of Jamestown ] [ Teaching About Jamestown Main Page ] [ Jamestown Virtual Colony Main Page ]

Set

Objectives:

1. Students will work in groups, using documents to identify the objectives of their particular interest group.

2. Students will analyze how the different opinions of these interest groups contributed to the "New World Experiment."

 

3. Students will come together as a class after researching to display what they have learned by comparing and contrasting how these different interest groups differed on basic issues of the Jamestown experiment.

Rationale:

Students will work in cooperative learning groups in class of three or four, respectively, in order gather information from the data of the interest groups of Jamestown. Students will research information relating to the opinions of their interest groups, staying in their interest group for three to four days during research time. Each group of students will come together as a class on the last day and explain to the class what their interest group believed and discuss why it was important to the evolution of the Jamestown colony. The teacher should led students in this discussion of different interest groups of the Jamestown colony in order to have students display an understanding of why the problems Jamestown existed and how these problems and solutions led to the evolution of the colony.

Involvement of Lesson:

Instructor will involve the students by asking how many of them have ever had discussions with their peers because of differing interests. Students will raise hands as necessary. Instructor will ask students how many of these disucussions were a result of differences of opinion. Teacher will then ask students if their discussions led to resolution. Answers should vary, but in involving students with these questions to which they can relate, students will begin to discuss why different interest groups have problems coming to resolutions, although all differences lead to changes in living environments, as was the case in Jamestown.

Explanation:

A.

1. Instructor should allow students anywhere from three to four days,

respectively, to complete the entire lesson.

2. Instructor will give a brief overview of the lesson by reading from the "rationale" paragraph.

3. Teacher will divide up class into the groups listed below, ideally three or four students in each group, in order to start research.

4. Although the explanation of the groups below is sufficient, the teacher may want to allow the students a day or two in the library finding their own research materials in order to expand on the information given below.

B.

1. The groups will be composed as follows (Note: Instructor may add or subject groups according to his/her needs):

Group 1: The Virginia Company

As the documents at the end of the lesson will make explicit, this group is composed of Englishmen who are living in Great Britain and investing in the Virginia Company. ie, they want to yield a profit

Group 2: The Upper-class Jamestown Colonists

Like the group before, the documents at the end of this page will tell this group of colonists that they are Englishmen coming to Jamestown in order to gain a quick gold find and then swiftly return to England.

Group 3: The Indentured Servants (or lower-class colonists)

Research will show that these were men who came to Jamestown of their own free will to work for a certain time (usually seven years) and were then given land from the Headright System in order to prosper.

Group 4: African Workers

This group will focus on the plight of Africans arriving in the colonies after 1619. Research will show that Africans workers used as slave labor developed over time. Students will tell the class how slavery developed and the position of Africans in Jamestown.

Group 5: Native Americans

Students will research the role of Native Americans and how the colonists related to them and vice versa.

 

2. To help students not to feel overwhelmed, instructor will hand-out excerpts from the documents provided (See Materials at end).

 

3. Each student will be given an excerpt of their group's interests and how conflicts arose between these groups.

 

C.

1. If library research is part of the teacher's plan for this lesson, the instructor should allow students to work in their specific group. The teacher should go around to each group and see if help is needed. After students are given ample time to research in the library, the instructor will use one class period to discuss the differences between the interests of the groups.

2. If library time is not needed, the instructor should give about 30 minutes for the students to get together in their groups and look over the materials. The following questions should be written on the board from the "Closure" section at the end of the lesson:

What was your company's/ group's primary goals in the Jamestown experiment?

Which groups did you find yourselves interacting with?

Did you find yourself sympathizing with these groups, or are they getting in the way or your group's primary goals?

 

 

3. To start the class discussion on comparing and contrasting the different groups started, the teacher will ask the Virginia Company (or whichever group the instructor chooses) to come to the front of the room and discuss the questions:

 

 

4. Teacher should repeat these questions to the other groups as their turn comes to go to the front of the class to discuss. Teacher should encourage all students in the group to speak. If other groups decide to discuss some of the issues raised by the group at the front, allow for the interaction.

5. After each group has discussed the questions in front of the class, the instructor should ask the following questions in the closure section. Note: The students are still in their groups, and should told by the teacher to interact with one another in order to answer the questions.

Closure:

A. Interpretative Questions:

1. Why did certain groups have conflicts of interests while others did not?

B. Evaluative Questions:

1. Are there ways for the groups with conflict to solve their problems peacefully?

2. How do you see your group evolving over time with regard to these interests?

C. Homework:

The instructor should have students work on an essay for homework individually.

 

Essay: Suppose you were a individual in your group in the 1600's. Briefly describe yourself andwhat you believe then address this question: If you were the leader of your group, what would you do toensure that your interests were met? Evaluate your decision: is it feasible? Realistic?

Materials:

Instructor may use these excerpts to help research:

Group 1:

"The Virginia Company of London came into existence in 1606, created by a charter from the king. It was a joint-stock company, and its members hoped for a profit. It seems clear that some of the investors in the Virginia Company expected to use the American colony as a base from which to continue their depredations, far from the king's watchful eye... The Company was counting on quick profits through metals and minerals... The Virginia Company also maintained a vision of Indians as the "noble savage" and also had a vision of the colony being a patriotic interprise in which to bring civility and Christianity to the Indians."

from Morgan, Edmund S., [1975]. American Slavery, American Freedom, pp. 45-47

Group 2:

The colonists were increasingly "lazy" during the early years, eager to turn a quick profit and head back to England. But ironically, these same colonists saw Indians as "idle" because it was the female native Americans who planted and harvested crops. Colonists did not plant corn for years because it was seen as a purely "natives" crop, and the colonists were not above stealing to get food from the native Americans.

from Morgan, Edmund, [1975]. American Slavery, American Freedom, pp. 56-69

Group 3:

Propoganda in the form of posters from the virginia Company can be seen as early as1609. Englishmen were urged to come to Virginia because of the many accounts of "excellent fruites of life." The journey to America, however, is a different story. Many indentured servants were an economic loss to their "masters," for so many of them died on the trip to the New World. Even if the servants survived, after seven years they were given their freedom and land while their "owners" were left with one less servant. Once most of the servants began to survive the passage to America, slavery began to be seen as better economic option to indentured servants.

from Morgan, Edmund, [1975]. American Slavery, American Freedom and

Brinkley, Alan [1993], The unfinished Nation, pp. 28-31.

Group 4:

Although the first Africans arrived in Jamestown as workers in 1619, before 1660 "it might have been difficult to distinquish race prejudice from class prejudice" as was seen in Bacon's Rebellion. Blacks were mostly free in Jamestown. The rest were indentured servants like the white Englishmen, and it wasn't until 1682 that a law was passed by the assembly stating that "all non-Christian servants bought 'by shipping' (Africans) to Virginia would be slaves for life." This statue also was broadened to apply to Indians as well, putting servitude on a racial basis only.

from Morgan, Edmund, [1975] American Slavery, American Freedom, p.329

Group 5:

Native Americans were friendly to the English, but there was conflict. The idea of "noble savages" living in harmony with the colonists which was the dream of the Virginia Company, did not turn out the way they had planned. English colonists stole from the Indians and killed if needed, even women and children. Indians fought back in several attacks, brining the Jamestown population down even lower. Native Americans were captured as slaves from battles, and there remained hostility between natives and colonists, even through events such as John Rolfe and Pocahontas getting married.

from Morgan, Edmund S., [1975]. American Slavery, American Freedom.

(Courtesy of Edmund S. Morgan [1975]. American Slavery, American Freedom. W.W. Norton

and Company, New York. and Brinkley, Alan. [1993] The Unfinished Nation. New York).

 

Morgan, Edmund S., [1975]. American Slavery, American Freedom. W.W.Norton and

Companies, New York.

Brinkley, Alan, [1993]. The Unfinished Nation. The Mc-Graw Hill Company, New York.

This page was last updated on and is maintained by the UVA's Program in Social Studies Education.
URL for this page: http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu.