Jamestown Virtual Colony

The Rights of the Colonists

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Set

 Objectives

  1. Students will identify rights guaranteed in the Magna Carta that would be valuable to different Jamestown settlers:
  2. In groups, students will become "experts" on the important rights for each type of settler.
  3. Students will combine in another set of groups comprising of "experts" for each type of settler. Students will then compare and contrast the perspectives of the different types of settlers.
  4. In groups, students will list the five most important rights for all Jamestown colonists.

 Materials

 Relevance

This lesson introduces students to the different types of colonists that arrived in Jamestown. The Magna Carta provided the basis of rights for the early colonists. Their charter guaranteed that the New World colonists "shall have and enjoy all liberties, franchises and immunitiesÖ to all intents and purposes as if they had been abiding and borne within this our realme of England." These colonists, however, were not all of the same background. According to the APVA website (http://www.apva.org/history/orig.html) there were four main types of colonists that originally settled at Jamestown: councilors, gentlemen, clergymen, and skilled laborers. By comparing and contrasting the importance of different rights for councilors, gentlemen, clergymen, and skilled laborers, students should see that early settlers emphasized a variety of rights. The opening and closing questions for this lesson makes this more relevant to the students. They will be asked to make some present day correlations.

 Involvement of Learners

The teacher should ask the students: "What rights from the Bill of Rights do you value?" After fielding several responses the teacher should ask: "Do you think there are rights that are more important to a rich man than a poor man and vice versa?"

 Transition

Once students have responded to the two opening questions the teacher will comment on the different types of settlers that came traveled to Jamestown. "Today, we will determine what rights they valued as they came over to the New World."

 Explanation / Activity

  1. The teacher will explain the directions for the activity. The teacher will then pass out copies of the Magna Carta. Then, the teacher will divide the class into four "expert" groups.
  2. Each "expert" group will be assigned to examine one of four settlers: a clergyman, a member of the ruling council, a blacksmith, and an indentured servant.
  3. Each group is to read over the Magna Carta and decide which sections of the document are most important to their settler. For example, the "blacksmith" group will decide which rights are most important for a colonial blacksmith.
  4. After 15 minutes, the teacher should assign the students into different group making sure that each new group has at least one "expert" on each type of settler.
  5. For 15 minutes, the students should teach each other what they thought were the most important rights for their settlers.
  6. The last step is for each group to decide upon "five most important rights" that were pertinent to all settlers.

 Closure

To close the lesson, the teacher should ask the students which rights were common to all settlers and why. After a brief discussion, the teacher should ask the students to look over their "five most important rights" and see if those rights or can be traced to any rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.

 

 

Sources:

Morton, Richard L. 1960. Colonial Virginia: Volume 1 The Tidewater Period, 1607-1710. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.

The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. 1997. Original Settlers. APVA Jamestown Rediscovery. Available: http://www.apva.org/history/orig.html

National Archives and Records Administration. 1996. Magna Carta: A Translation. The Exhibit Hall. Available: http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/magnacarta/magtrans.html

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