Alabama Social Studies SS24.6.4b
The Standard
- SS24.6.4
- Compare and contrast the key characteristics, including political structures, of the New England, Middle, Chesapeake, and Southern colonies.
Differentiate among the various forms of colonial governments and identify examples of self-government in the colonies, including the Mayflower Compact, New England town meetings, and the Virginia House of Burgesses.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students compare royal, proprietary, and charter colonies by who controlled the government. They identify how colonists made local decisions through the Mayflower Compact, New England town meetings, and the Virginia House of Burgesses.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain that Virginia had a royal governor but also an elected assembly. They can describe how town meetings let eligible residents vote directly, while the House of Burgesses used elected representatives.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think every colonist could vote. They may also think an elected assembly meant a colony was free from the king's control.
How to Assess It
- On an exit ticket, ask: Who chose the leaders in a royal colony and a proprietary colony? How did colonists take part in a town meeting and in the House of Burgesses?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups colony cards for Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, then have them sort the cards by royal, proprietary, or charter control.
Ask students to write which gives voters a more direct say, a New England town meeting or the House of Burgesses, and why.
Play a matching game with cards naming the Mayflower Compact, town meetings, and the House of Burgesses and cards describing each one.
Show a school board election notice and a town meeting agenda, then ask students which colonial practices each resembles.
Free download
Printable SS24.6.4b Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to SS24.6.4b, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
Download the worksheetKeep exploring
Related Standards
- SS24.4.4
Describe how the contributions of various groups living in colonial North America helped colonies develop, including artisans, farmers, large landowners, trades...
- SS24.6.4
Compare and contrast the key characteristics, including political structures, of the New England, Middle, Chesapeake, and Southern colonies.
- SS24.6.7b
Compare and contrast methods of colonial activism and protest against British policies, including boycotts, craftwork, letters, petitions, poems, public oration...
- SS24.6.12
Explain how forms of governments established prior to the founding of the United States influenced the formation of the new nation’s system of government.
Turn this exact standard into a lesson
Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.
Also for this standard:Make a WorksheetMake a QuizMake a Sub Lesson