St. Augustine and Jamestown: A Comparison
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SET

OBJECTIVES

Students will be able to:

1. compare and contrast primary documents and historical data to determine motivations for colonization

2. identify two major differences and two similarities in the motivations for the colonization of both Jamestown and St. Augustine

3. integrate lecture information and primary sources to form conclusions about motivations

RELEVANCE

The purpose of this lesson is to illustrate what motivated the Spanish and English to colonize St. Augustine and Jamestown, respectively, the first two permanent colonies in America. The motivations for colonization had important implications on the backgrounds of the people who first populated our nation, how these early Europeans treated Native Americans, and how successful these first colonies were.

INVOLVEMENT OF LEARNERS

Ask students if they have ever heard the story of John Smith and Pocahontas. Read the John Smith excerpt. Explain to students that this incident may have never happened and that Smith likely added it to his journal after hearing of the dramatic story of Juan Ortiz, a Spanish settler at St. Augustine who was delivered from the hands of his Indian captors by an Indian woman. Then say, "let's see what other relationships we can discover between St. Augustine and Jamestown."

EXPLANATION

Organization:

1. Teacher will give brief lecture on the founding of Jamestown and St. Augustine students should take notes.

Jamestown

-founded in 1607 by a group of Englishmen, funded by the London Company, a private enterprise

-Company recruited people by promising that gold could be found by anyone who made the trip

-English king gave charter and appointed council to lead colony, but offered no funding

-Captain John Smith took over leadership when colony was starving due to laziness (mostly inhabited by English gentlemen who did not expect to work) and instituted "no work, no eat" policy

St. Augustine

-founded by Spanish adventurer Pedro Menendez de Aviles on the northern coast of Florida in 1565. Menendez appointed himself governor and captain-general of St. Augustine

-funded by King Phillip II of Spain, who granted Menendez money and titles for leading the expedition

-Spain had already established a series of colonies in the West Indies. French also trying to establish colonies in the area.

Activity

2. Teacher divides students into two "research teams", the "Jamestown historians" and the "St. Augustine historians." Teacher assigns Jamestown group to read the excerpts from John Smith and the St. Augustine group to read the Menendez letter. Teacher assigns positions within groups. One person is "leader," one is "spokesperson," one is "scribe," one is "document reader," and remainder are "historians."

3. Students will discuss motivations for colonization from beginning lecture, then compare excerpts with the lists of supplies and passengers to determine more possible motivations. Teacher acts as facilitator, moving back and forth between groups and helping to involve all students in the discussion.

4. Teacher draws chart on the board with heading "Motivations," comparing St. Augustine and Jamestown using Economic, Political, Religious, and Other as column headings. Students report on findings about motivations as teacher lists answers under appropriate columns.

Discussion Questions:

1. How did the involvement of the Kings of England and Spain differ between the two colonies?
2. From the explorers point of view, what are some advantages and disadvantages of having an expedition funded and/or overseen by the king? What does the degree of monarchal control tell us about motivations?
3. If you were John Smith or Pedro Menendez, what would you have taken differently in terms of passengers and provisions? Why?
4. What do the passenger lists tell us about what each expedition was expecting to find?
5. How do you think previous explorers contributed to the motivations of the colonizers?

EVALUATION

CLOSURE

Have a student from one group tell the class two ways in which the motivations were similar and a student from the other group give two differences in motivations.

ASSESSMENT

Students could do research paper or projects assessing how the motivations for colonization affected the success of the respective colonies. One topic might be: assess how the colonists search for economic prosperity affected the success of the colony.

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES

• Letter from Pedro Menendez de Aviles to King Phillip II of Spain, October 15, 1565
• Excerpts from John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia
• Story of John Smith and Pocahontas, The Generall Historie of Virginia

• For further reading

Lyon, Eugene. The Enterprise of Florida: Pedro Menendez de Aviles and

the Spanish conquest of 1565-1568. Gainesville: University of Florida, 1976.

Bennett, Charles. Settlement of Florida. Gainesville: University of Florida, 1968.

Manucy, Albert. Sixteenth-Century St. Augustine. Gainesville: University of Florida, 1997.

Smith, John. The generall historie of Virginia, New England & the Summer Isles, together with The true travels, adventures and observations, and A sea grammar. London: Michael Sparkes, 1624. V. 1.

Williams, David A. History HS-21, colonial Virginia. Charlottesville, Va. : Division of Extension and General Studies, University of Virginia, 1960.

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