Name: Elijah Meltzer                                                                                    September 2016

Seventh Grade Humanities                                                               M13C Ch. 4                                                                          

                                                           Homework

Read chapter 4 in Making Thirteen Colonies and answer the following questions using complete sentences. Be sure to use textual evidence and analysis for each question.  Each answer should be a full TEEAC paragraph.

1. Describe the significance of the year 1607, using the following terms: The London Company, King James, and the name of the 3 boats. Be sure to clearly explain each of these terms within your paragraph.

1607 was significant for a lot of different reasons. It affected the London Company, King James, and the Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Godspeed (Three ships that were launched to the New World). “It was thus in April, 1607, three ships landed in the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.” Pg. 25 This quote shows that the ships landed in 1607. The ships were sponsored by the London Company. Also in that year, King James was named King, and the group of colonists named many things they passed after him. Hence Jamestown, and James River. 1607 was a really big year for the colonization of the New World, and just in general for England back in Europe.

2. Describe the the terrain and the geography of the English fort.

The English fort was not built on good land. It was swampy, and only connected to the mainland by a sandbar. Also, the only water it was near was brackish. “As it turned out, they couldn’t have picked a worse spot. The land was swampy, the drinking water was bad, it was hot in the summer, and bone chilling in the winter.” Pg 28. This quote shows how terrible the land which the fort stood was. The mosquitos from the swamp gave them Malaria, the brackish water gave them dysentery, and when John Smith went back to England, the Native Americans cut off the sandbar which connected them to the mainland. When this happened, they had no resources and eventually had to resort to cannibalism. The area which the fort was built, was about as bad as it could possibly be.

3. Was the initial settlement successful? Why or why not?

The initial settlement was unsuccessful. The fort was cut off from the mainland, when the Native Americans cut off the sandbar connecting them. There was also the constant threat of Malaria or dysentery lingering. “Virginia had other germs (especially dysentery germs) that made some sicken and die. The Indians kill still others. Some starve. What happened to those eager men and boys who had stood on London’s docks in December? Fewer than half of them would see another December.” This quote shows how many people died from different causes, and there were still more bad things to come. Although, some of them survived, I wouldn’t call it successful because you would need a pretty substantial amount of people to actually start a colony or settlement. People rely on one another, but what would happen when there’s nobody else to rely on? England would have to send more people to help out, and that could take a really long time. So I don’t actually think it was very successful.

Notecards

Native American Government

Source:

Asselin, Kristine Caarlson. The Real Story About Government and Politics in Colonial America . Fact Finders, 2012.

Quote:

“Long before colonists arrived, American Indian tribes had established different forms of government. These ruling systems served tribes in war and peace. Colonists did not always understand how tribal leadership worked. The Iroquois people lived what is now New York. In Iroquois society, the sachem led only during war. During peacetime, Iroquois women were in charge, The women elected the sachem and decided when the community went to war. This idea was new for the colonists. The British colonists assumed men were the rulers. Speaking to the wrong Iroquois leader could be embarrassing or even deadly. The Powhatan Indians lived near the colonial settlement of Jamestown Virginia. A sachem named Powhatan ruled about 30 tribes and almost 15,000 people. This tribal organization came to be known as the Powhatan Confederacy. A council of advisors and village leaders helped Chief Powhatan make decisions. 

Paraphrase:

• Native Americans had a system of government before the colonists even got there. 
• There were different tribes who had different forms of government.
• The Iroquois tribe was run by women. 
• In times of war, the women in charge would elect a sachem (leader), to lead during the war, and then the women would lead again in peace.
• The colonists assumed the leaders would be men. 
• With the Powhatan Native Americans, they had one sachem at a time. 
• For the time of the Jamestown Fort, Powhatan was the sachem.
• Powhatan ruled 30 tribes and almost 15,000 people.
• It was known as the Powhatan Confederacy.

My Ideas:

I was surprised to hear that the Iroquois tribe had women as leaders. I thought that back in the colonial period, it was even more sexist than it is now. The Native Americans must have been very unprejudiced. The colonists must have been really surprised to hear this too. They probably didn’t even consider the fact that women could lead. It’s cool to compare these two very different tribes. Powhatan controlled pretty much everything. Today in our society, our government is set up very carefully so that no single person could have too much power to themselves. The president often needs approval from congress. The congress often needs approval from the president. This way, if you get stuck with a terrible leader, they can’t do too much damage. But this is not the case with the Powhatans. If Powhatan was a terrible leader, there would be no way to stop him, unless somebody killed him. I know John Smith made friends with Powhatan, but I wonder whether the Africans ever made contact, or attempted to make contact with Powhatan, or any other Native American leaders. How would the Native Americans react to the slaves. I can infer that they probably wouldn’t treat them any differently. They might not have known that they were treated differently by the English because of the color of their skin. The only way they might notice is by the clothes they were wearing. This also might be a way for them to distinguish between the gentry, the middling, and the working classes. I wonder how John Smith would have dressed. He was only a yeoman, but he was still their leader. He probably would have dressed like a person in the middling class.

History:

Created: 10/14/2016 10:43 AM

Name: Elijah                                        Humanities

7th Grade                                                                         The Giver

Outline for GIVER LITERARY ESSAY

Theme: Perfection (equality) Vs Imperfection (releasement)

Paragraph #1: Introductory Paragraph (GIT)

Grabber Statement (G): Imagine a world where everyone has been mislead. This is the Giver, by Lois Lowry.

Introduce Plot Summary (I): Jonas lived a normal life, until his twelfth birthday. He receives an assignment that opens his eyes to the truths of his society. He has to work with his new teacher, to fix what the people in power have ruined.

Thesis Statement (T):

This society is a dystopia because they are murdering innocent people, there is no love, or color, and nobody has any choice or freedom.

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Paragraph #2: Thematic Analysis

Topic Sentence (T): The people in Jonas’s community in The Giver believe they live in a perfect world.

Explanatory Sentence (E): There are many different things that this community does to keep their world a utopia. One thing that they do is to create sameness so nobody stands apart.

Evidence (E): For example, the society eliminates both color and weather. On page 82 of The Giver, Lois Lowry writes, “We relinquished color when we relinquished sunshine and did away with differences.”

Analysis (A): This quote shows how equal all the people in this community are. The people of the community made a choice to go to sameness. This means no more color, many more rules, and having ceremonies like the ceremony of ages which celebrate everybody in the same way, rather than individually. Perfection is achieved by equality in this world.

Concluding/ Transition (C): Although, in their attempt to create a utopia, they fail, and create what becomes a dystopia.

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Paragraph #3: Thematic Analysis Continued

Topic Sentence (T): There are parts of Jonas’s community that are imperfect, making it a dystopia.

Explanatory Sentence (E): Things like release, and seeing no color, skew it off from a utopia.

Things like this could not be in a perfect world.

Evidence (E): The people of the society release individuals who are different from others and the community is kept unaware of the true meaning of release. Jonas, as the new Receiver, learns what release actually means and is shocked to discover that this ritual means certain death.  On page 150, Lowry says, “He killed it! My father killed it! Jonas said to himself stunned at what he was realizing.”

Analysis (A): How could murdering babies be part of a perfect world? Anything that wasn’t absolutely perfect would make it a dystopia, and murdering babies doesn’t seem like perfection. There is also the fact of seeing color. Color can be beautiful, but they don’t see it. Obviously not perfection. There are so many things that they believe is perfect, just because they don’t know any better. Jonas’s father doesn’t know the true concept of death. The people don’t know what they’re missing, like sunshine and snow. If they knew of these things, they would realize that they live in a dystopia. Love isn’t even a part of their world. When Jonas asked his own parents if they loved him, they wouldn’t give him a clear answer. Another thing that is imperfect is the fact that instead of owning up to the people and telling them what release means, they make a lame attempt to cover the truth up, only making it worse for people when they find out. Jonas was shocked, and he had an even bigger reason given that his father was one of the people doing this.

Concluding/ Transition (C): There are two polar opposite thoughts: the people of the community thinking it’s perfect, and reality saying different.

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Paragraph #4: Concluding Paragraph (ROC)

Reflection of Thesis (R): The people in this society believe that they live in a utopia, but they fail in creating it, and now live in a dystopia. This is because they have gotten rid of many things like color, which would be in a perfect world. They also have to murder many innocent people to maintain their “utopia.”

Concluding Sentence– Comparisons and Connections (C): None of these things could be in a perfect world. But every good thing comes with bad. With color, there might be envy, or racism. With sameness there isn’t. There has to be a balance. So is perfection even possible? Does Jonas realize this, or will he make the same mistakes that the Elders made?