How and Why They Came: Narratives of Migration

Abstract

This lesson plan explores the motives and experiences of English migrants to colonial America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Students will analyze two personal narratives, one by a young Puritan, Roger Clap, and one by an indentured servant, William Moraley, and evaluate both their reasons for journeying to the New World and the degree of freedom the two men had in making their choices to leave England. The predictions that students make during the lesson about migrant experiences provide a good starting point to expose misconceptions, establish the basic features of colonial society, and discuss change over time. This lesson plan aligns with the standards as outlined in “Era 2: Colonization and Settlement.” During this lesson, students will become comfortable with interpreting primary sources; analyze two very different narratives of migration; widen their understanding of the circumstances that drove the settlement of North America; and begin to connect changing migration patterns to changes in colonial society.