Warm up

Colonial Heritage

Throughout this unit, you'll learn about the development of American constitutional democracy. Use these guiding questions to focus your studies:
• Who were the first people in the Americas?
• How did European colonies change the Americas?
• What was life like for colonists?
North America
In the next section, Setting the Stage, you will be introduced to the geography of North America. By interpreting maps, you'll discover which countries claimed which parts of North America by 1750. In Lesson 1, The First Americans, you'll read about the migration routes that the first Americans took to get to North America from Asia. Then you'll read about how the environment, natural resources, and culture influenced those migrants. Next you'll learn about American Indians from nine different regions of the United States. You'll also be able to analyze multiple maps to understand these regions better. In the Explore section, What is History?, you'll be introduced to the set of valuable skills you'll acquire as you continue your historical studies.
European Visitors
In Lesson 2, European Exploration and Settlement, you'll read about the daring explorers who came to settle North American lands for various countries and monarchies. You'll discover the motivations of these explorers, as well as the impact they had on the American Indians who were already settled in the area. You'll be introduced to slavery, trade, colonization, and the Columbian Exchange. In this lesson's Investigating Primary Sources section, you'll take a closer look at Christopher Columbus's exploration of North America and its lasting impact.
The English Colonies
In Lesson 3, The English Colonies in North America, you'll read about a number of Northern, Middle, and Southern colonies. You'll compare the differences among the colonies' economies, life styles, religions, agriculture, and culture. You'll learn more about slave trade and which colonies benefitted from cash crops. In this lesson's Explore section, America, Land of Opportunity: The Origins of the Free Enterprise System, you'll be introduced to the term free enterprise and how it connects to the American economy.
Colonial Life
In Lesson 4, Life in the Colonies, you'll learn more about the inner-workings of the colonies. You'll be introduced to what rights are and how they affected the lives of the colonists. You'll analyze a map of the Atlantic Slave Trade, explore the role that religion played in the colonies, and learn about the Great Awakening. Finally you'll read about education, family life, and leisure within the English colonies in North America.
Timeline Challenge
Finally, you'll examine the events of the unit in a timeline format. Additionally, in the Applying Key History Themes section, you'll analyze these events in terms of how they relate to the themes of history you've already learned about. You'll complete a writing assignment demonstrating your understanding of these themes and how they relate to the events in this unit.

Our Colonial Heritage
In this unit, you will learn about the first Americans—the American Indian peoples who were here when the first Europeans arrived. You will also learn about the Europeans who colonized North America, claiming land around the continent. The British colonies that settled along the Atlantic coast would become the first 13 states of the United States.
Political divisions like colonies and states did not exist before the Europeans arrived since each American Indian group occupied a territory that had no formal boundaries. As the map Physical Features of North America shows, the continent's physical geography varies. American Indians lived in different environments, which each supported different ways of life.

Contact with European colonists changed those ways of life. The map North American Land Claims, 1750 indicates where European nations claimed land in North America. To satisfy French demand for furs, American Indians in regions claimed by France began to hunt more. The Spanish attempted to enslave Indians and, along with the English, wanted their land.

Increased hunting, flight from slavery, and loss of land pushed some Indian groups into territory occupied by other Indians. As the British colonies became a nation, and as that nation grew, this population shift continued. Eventually, almost no Indian lands remained, but the names of places in North America are reminders of those lands. The Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri rivers get their names from American Indian words, as do about half the states.