Pattern of Conquest: How the Indians Lost Their Land mini-unit, including text

It’s a question school kids invariably ask when they study the 13 colonies: what happened to the Indians? While hard numbers are impossible come by, historians estimate there were well over a million Native Americans inhabiting the eastern seaboard in 1491, and certainly several hundreds of thousands, if not still millions, by 1607 when the first Jamestown settlers washed ashore. However many there were, in 1606 every square inch of what would become the 13 colonies belonged to native peoples. Eventually, none of it would. In most textbooks, there is little specific discussion of how this happened, leaving students with a large gap in their understanding of our nation’s history.

So how did the English colonists who came to the eastern seaboard after Jamestown end up with all that Indian land? The answer, of course, is not that simple, because there was no single means of acquisition.

In this two-three day lesson, students will learn the variety of ways that the English colonists, slowly but surely, dispossessed the Native Americans of their ancestral lands, in a Pattern of Conquest that inevitably spread westward until nearly everything was taken. Students will read an informative chapter examining the different ways the English and Indians viewed land ownership and the myriad ways that English colonists were able to take control over what was once entirely native land. They will then engage in a fun Cloze activity to reinforce their learning while playing a game.

Materials include:

* 5 pages of informative and interesting text (the chapter Pattern of Conquest from my textbook “We Take Nothing by Conquest”);

* an inquiry based study guide for the chapter to focus students on the main points and supporting details;

* an 18 slide PowerPoint with answers to the study guide for review, and including pictures and maps to stimulate discussion and enhance understanding;

* a 10 page Teacher’s Guide which provides day-by-day and step-by-step instructions how to use all of the materials;

* a Cloze activity which includes instructions, game sheet, word list, answer key, and a PowerPoint presentation with the answers to each paragraph, and including pictures and maps to stimulate discussion and enhance understanding

* a 10 multiple choice question unit quiz to assess student learning.

Answer keys for the study guide, Cloze activity and unit quiz are included in the Teacher’s Guide. Materials are provided as word documents and PDFs in one zip file.

Created by Cliff Baker - Ye Olde History Emporium