Peopling North America

1. Peopling North America George S. Vascik Miami University Hamilton February 18, 2009 Teaching American History, Year I

2. Benchmarks and Indicators • Grade Five, History • Settlement • Describe the lasting effects of Spanish, French and English colonization in North America Teaching American History, Year I

3. Benchmarks and Indicators • Grade Eight, History • The First Global Age • Reasons for colonization, including religion, desire for land and economic opportunity Teaching American History, Year I

4. Speech regions in the US Where did these speech patterns come from? Teaching American History, Year I

5. The argument • David Hackett Fischer, Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America, Oxford University Press, 1989. • The colonies were settled by four separate folk groups, each with their own folkways. • The influence of those folkways are with us still today. Teaching American History, Year I

6. Different folkways • Fischer identifies 24 folkways: • Speech • Building • Family/Marriage/Gender/Sex/Naming • Death/Age • Dress/Food/Work • Religion • Learning/Magic • Wealth/Rank/Order • Power/Freedom Teaching American History, Year I

7. The four cultural areas Borderlands Quakers Puritans Cavaliers Teaching American History, Year I

8. Puritanorigins • Anti-Royalist • Religious • Educated • Wealth = salvation • John Winthrop, the • Adams family Teaching American History, Year I

9. Quaker origins • Non-Conformers • Anti-authority • Commercial • Most welcoming of • Other groups • Penn, Franklin Teaching American History, Year I

10. Cavalier origins • Royalist • Church of England • Hierarchical • Style and fashion valued • over education • Fairfax, Washington, • Jefferson Teaching American History, Year I

11. Borderlands origin • Anti-Royalist • Lawless • Men = warriors • Women = workers • Unique family patterns • Calhoun, Polk, Jackson Teaching American History, Year I

12. Borderlands settlement Teaching American History, Year I

13. Representative figures Teaching American History, Year I

14. Housing types Teaching American History, Year I

15. Summation • Given these disparate folk ways, it will be very difficult for the colonies to unite. • What was it about life in America that made these very different people feel more “American” and alike than “British” and dissimilar? Teaching American History, Year I

16. Benchmarks and Indicators • Grade Five, History • Settlement • Describe the lasting effects of Spanish, French and English colonization in North America Teaching American History, Year I

17. Benchmarks and Indicators • Grade Eight, History • The First Global Age • Reasons for colonization, including religion, desire for land and economic opportunity Teaching American History, Year I