Week 2 — Readings & Resources · Colonization & Empire

Course: U.S. History to 1877 (HIST 1301) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Hartwell
Objectives covered: Objective 2 (colonization, Jamestown, Plymouth, Chesapeake vs. New England, Native relations).

How to use this page

Everything here is a link to an external resource — open it in your browser. Nothing to download, nothing to buy.

This week's load is deliberately light: 2 short videos + 2 short readings + the primary source you'll close-read in the workshop, grouped by idea, plus optional references. Read or watch one item per group and you're ready for the quiz; do all of them and you'll be very comfortable.

Order that matches the lecture: ① the four European colonial powers → ② Jamestown and the Chesapeake → ③ Plymouth and New England → ④ the week's primary source (for the workshop).

Carry last week's habit: before you trust a historical claim — in these resources or anywhere — ask: Who made this, when, and why? What might they leave out? Does another source confirm it?

① The Four European Colonial Powers

Maps to Lecture Segment 2. Spain, France, the Netherlands, and England each built a different colonial model — encomienda extraction, fur-trade alliance, commercial trading posts, and agricultural settlement.

Reading — "Spanish Exploration and Colonial Society" + "French, Dutch, and English Exploration" (OpenStax, U.S. History, Ch. 2 & Ch. 3)
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/2-introduction
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/3-introduction
Why it's assigned: clear, readable overview of all four colonial powers — encomienda (Spain), fur trade and alliance (France), commercial posts (Netherlands), and settlement agriculture (England). Read §2.1–2.2 for Spain and §3.1 for France and the Netherlands (§3.2 onward covers English settlement, which group ② covers). OpenStax is free.
⏱ ~15 min

Video — "When Is Thanksgiving? Colonizing America" (CrashCourse US History #2)
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM00DOVJMVY
Why it earns the click: in about 12 minutes this video covers the key differences among the colonial powers, Jamestown, Plymouth, and the Thanksgiving context — a concise orientation for the whole week. Watch first and use it as a roadmap.
⏱ ~12 min

② Jamestown and the Chesapeake

Maps to Lecture Segment 3. The Virginia Company, the "starving time," tobacco and John Rolfe, the headright system, and relations with the Powhatan Confederacy.

Reading — "English Settlements in America" (OpenStax, U.S. History, §3.3)
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/3-3-english-settlements-in-america
Why it's assigned: covers Jamestown's founding (1607), the near-disaster of the "starving time," John Rolfe's tobacco, the headright system, and the early pattern of conflict with the Powhatan — exactly the story we trace in class.
⏱ ~12 min

Primary-source reading — Library of Congress, Colonial Era primary sources (Classroom Materials)
🔗 https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/colonial-settlement-1600-1763/
Why it earns the click: the Library of Congress hosts digitized primary sources from the colonial era, including accounts of early Virginia settlement. Browse the "Colonial Settlement, 1600–1763" section for a real-document flavor of Jamestown and Chesapeake life.
⏱ ~10 min (browse)

③ Plymouth and New England

Maps to Lecture Segment 5. The Separatists/Pilgrims versus the Puritans; the Mayflower voyage (1620); early Plymouth, the Wampanoag alliance, and the contrast with the Chesapeake.

Reading — "New England: Puritanism and Dissent" (OpenStax, U.S. History, §4.1–4.2)
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/4-introduction
Why it's assigned: explains the theological difference between Separatists (Pilgrims, Plymouth) and Puritans (Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1630), the Mayflower voyage, the Wampanoag alliance, and early New England society. Covers the week's single trickiest distinction for the quiz.
⏱ ~12 min

Video — "The Pilgrims' Rocky Start" (Khan Academy, US History → Colonial America)
🔗 https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history
Why it earns the click: in the "Colonial America" unit, this short video distinguishes the Plymouth Separatists from the later Puritan Massachusetts Bay settlers — the exact Puritan/Pilgrim distinction that trips up most students. (Navigate to Colonial America → The Pilgrims within the Khan Academy US History section.)
⏱ ~8 min

④ The Week's Primary Source (for the Workshop)

You'll analyze this in Primary Source Workshop 2. Read it once before the workshop so you arrive ready to source and close-read it.

Primary source — The Mayflower Compact (November 11, 1620)
🔗 https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/mayflower.asp (Avalon Project, Yale Law School — authoritative transcription)
🔗 https://www.mass.gov/news/the-mayflower-compact (Commonwealth of Massachusetts — background and full text)
Why it's assigned: a founding document of English self-government in North America, short enough to read in two minutes. Arrive at the workshop having read it twice — once for what it says, once for who signed and who didn't. The key phrase is in the middle: "covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick."
⏱ ~5 min (it's short)

Optional one-stop references (free online)

• Gilder Lehrman Institute — Colonial Era primary sources. Excellent curated documents from colonial Virginia and New England.
  🔗 https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source
• National Archives / DocsTeach — Colonial documents. Thousands of primary-source documents; search "Jamestown" or "Plymouth."
  🔗 https://www.docsteach.org/
• Historic Jamestowne (National Park Service / APVA Preservation Virginia) — official site with historical resources.
  🔗 https://historicjamestowne.org/history/
• Plimoth Patuxent — "Who Were the Pilgrims?" The museum's authoritative overview of the Mayflower passengers, including the Wampanoag perspective.
  🔗 https://plimoth.org/for-students/homework-help/who-were-the-pilgrims

Pick-one quick path (≈25 min total)

In a hurry? Do exactly these and you'll be ready for the quiz:
1. Watch CrashCourse #2 (group ①) for the big picture of all four colonial powers.
2. Read OpenStax §3.3 (group ②) for Jamestown and the Chesapeake.
3. Read OpenStax §4.1–4.2 (group ③) for Plymouth and the Pilgrim/Puritan distinction.
4. Read the Mayflower Compact (group ④) — it takes two minutes.

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell Prof. Hartwell and use the OpenStax, Khan Academy, Avalon, or National Archives references in the meantime.