LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Social Studies — Grade 8

Goal 1: The learner will analyze important geographic, political, economic, and social aspects of life in the region prior to the Revolutionary Period.

Objective 1.05. Describe the factors that led to the founding and settlement of the American colonies including religious persecution, economic opportunity, adventure, and forced migration.

Additional related resources

We’re in the process of aligning our content for students to the Standard Course of Study. As we do, you’ll find it here.

Venture Smith describes his enslavement
In Colonial North Carolina, page 4.5
Excerpt from a late eighteenth-century book by a freed slave in Connecticut. Describes his capture and enslavement at the age of six. Includes historical commentary.
Format: book/primary source
Commentary and sidebar notes by Shane Freeman.
Supplies for Virginia colonists, 1622
In Colonial North Carolina, page 1.2
A 1622 broadside listing recommended supplies for British colonists to bring to Virginia.
Format: document/primary source
Summary of a report sent to Bethlehem
In Diary of a journey of Moravians, page 16
In Colonial North Carolina, page 5.4
In 1733, a group of Moravians — a Protestant Christian denomination originating in fourteenth-century Bohemia — moved from Europe to North America seeking freedom from religious persecution. In 1753, a group of twelve single brothers left Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for a new settlement in North Carolina. Their report back to Bethlehem describes what they found in their new home. Includes historical commentary.
Format: report
Spain and America: From Reconquest to Conquest
In Prehistory, contact, and the Lost Colony, page 3.1
In 1491, no European knew that North and South America existed. By 1550, Spain -- a small kingdom that had not even existed a century earlier -- controlled the better part of two continents and had become the most powerful nation in Europe. In half a century of brave exploration and brutal conquest, both Europe and America were changed forever.
Format: article
By David Walbert.
The search for the Lost Colony
In Prehistory, contact, and the Lost Colony, page 4.4
No one knows what happened to the “Lost Colonists” of Roanoke Island -- but that has only made their story more interesting. Over the past 400 years, historians, archaeologists, storytellers, and outright liars have developed a number of theories about the vanished settlers.
Format: article
By David Walbert.
Quakers
In Colonial North Carolina, page 2.5
The Quakers — more properly known as the Society of Friends — were an important group in the politics and society of early North Carolina. This article explains their early history, beliefs, and immigration to North Carolina.
Format: article
By L. Maren Wood.
The present state of Carolina [people, climate]
In Colonial North Carolina, page 2.1
Excerpt from John Lawson's 1709 A New Voyage to Carolina describing (and mostly praising) the European and native inhabitants, weather, and natural resources of Carolina, as well as what settlers should bring with them from Europe. Includes historical commentary.
Format: book/primary source
Commentary and sidebar notes by David Walbert.
Merrie olde England?
In Prehistory, contact, and the Lost Colony, page 4.2
Many residents of Elizabethan England did not enjoy the abundance that accompanied Queen Elizabeth’s reign. The dawn of the age of exploration gripped people’s imaginations and caused many to dream of travel, and the New World offered the promise of a fresh start without the problems of the old country.
Format: article
By Charles Carlton.
Mapping the Great Wagon Road
In Colonial North Carolina, page 5.2
The Great Wagon Road took eighteenth-century colonists from Philadelphia west into the Appalachian mountains and south into the North Carolina Piedmont. This article describes the route and its history and offers two detailed maps, one from 1751 and one from the present, for comparison.
Format: article
By David Walbert.
A little kingdom in Carolina
In Colonial North Carolina, page 1.3
The original vision for Carolina was a feudal province in which eight "Lords Proprietors" would have nearly royal power, but with an elected assembly and guarantees of religious freedom.
Format: article
By David Walbert.
The life and death of Blackbeard the Pirate
In Colonial North Carolina, page 2.8
Captain Blackbeard (born Edward Teach) was one of the most notorious pirates of the Atlantic Ocean in the 1710s. As captain of the ship "Queen Anne's Revenge," Blackbeard gained a reuptation for his frightening appearance as much as for his violence and cruelty. Between his adventures at sea, Blackbeard often returned to North Carolina and was rumored to have a house in Ocracoke. He enjoyed the tolerance of the North Carolina governor who did little to protect the people of the state from Blackbeard's attacks. Exasperated, North Carolinians appealed to the governor of Virginia, who sent a crew of British Naval officers to fight the pirate. On November 22, 1718, the crew succeeded in killing the infamous Blackbeard.
Format: article
A German immigrant writes home
In Colonial North Carolina, page 2.4
Letter (c. 1710) from a immigrant to North Carolina to his family and friends in Germany, telling about his life and experiences in Carolina and giving advice to others who might follow him. Includes historical commentary.
Format: letter/primary source
From Caledonia to Carolina: The Highland Scots
In Colonial North Carolina, page 5.5
Many Scots immigrated to North Carolina due to growing population, changing methods of farming, and the defeat of the Highland Scots by English and Scottish forces in 1746. The first organized settlement of Highland Scots was in Cumberland County, where 350 people moved to in 1739.
Format: article
By Kathryn Beach.
The founding of Virginia
In Colonial North Carolina, page 1.1
In North Carolina History: A Sampler, page 2.3
England planted its first successful North American colony at Jamestown in 1607, but settlers fought Indians and disease, and the colony grew slowly. By the end of the seventeenth century, Virginia had established tobacco as its main crop, a representative government, and slavery as a dominant system of labor.
Format: article
By L. Maren Wood.
Fort Raleigh and the Lost Colony
In Prehistory, contact, and the Lost Colony, page 4.3
England's first two settlements in the New World differed in character and purpose: The first short-lived colony, inhabited entirely by men, was set up as a stake in the newly discovered Americas and a base of privateering against French and Spanish shipping. The second was intended as a permanent colony and was settled by men, women and children. Their disappearance is a mystery that remains unsolved nearly 400 years later.
Format: article
A forced migration
In Colonial North Carolina, page 4.3
The first Africans, brought to America through forced migration, came as indentured servants to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. Africans brought to the colonies in later years were bought and sold as slaves. At the time of the American Revolution, most of the enslaved people in North Carolina lived in the eastern part of the colony and the majority lived on large plantations, where their work was critical to the state’s cash crops and economy.
Format: article
By Jennifer Farley.
Expanding to the west: Settlement of the Piedmont region, 1730 to 1775
In Colonial North Carolina, page 5.1
The population of North Carolina's Piedmont region more than doubled in the decade from 1765 to 1775. Most of the settlers who arrived during that time were European Americans traveling from the North via the Great Indian Trading Path and the Great Wagon Road.
Format: article
By Christopher E. Hendricks and J. Edwin Hendricks.
England's flowering
In Prehistory, contact, and the Lost Colony, page 4.1
The reign of England's Queen Elizabeth (1558–1603) was marked by a proliferation of the arts, an expansion of private markets, and a dedication to world exploration and privateering.
Format: article
Diary of a journey of Moravians
In Colonial North Carolina, page 5.3
In 1733, a group of Moravians -- a Protestant Christian denomination originating in fourteenth-century Bohemia -- moved from Europe to North America seeking freedom from religious persecution. In 1753, a group of twelve single brothers left Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for a new settlement in North Carolina. These excerpts from their diary show the difficulties they faced on their journey. Includes historical commentary.
Format: diary/primary source
Cary's Rebellion
In Colonial North Carolina, page 3.1
Because North Carolina permitted religious freedom, Quakers made up a large portion of the colony's early population and were heavily represented in its government. A division opened in the colony between the Quaker party and supporters of the Church of England, and disputes between the two sides led to violence in 1710–1711.
Format: book

General resources

Aligned lesson plans

A visit to colonial North Carolina
This lesson extends student learning about the colonial period in North Carolina history by incorporating primary sources from the Documenting the American South collection. After reading first-hand accounts of travelers to colonial America, students will create their own travel brochure advertising North Carolina.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Meghan Mcglinn.
Understanding work in colonial Carolina
This lesson plan explores two forms of labor in colonial Carolina — indentured servitude and apprenticeships. Students learn about these forms of labor by reading and analyzing primary and secondary sources.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Understanding North Carolina's Moravian settlers
In this lesson plan, students read a diary written by a young Moravian man traveling from Pennsylvania to a Moravian settlement in North Carolina in 1733. Students complete a graphic organizer with details of the journey and follow the route on a map.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Understanding Cary's Rebellion
This lesson plan will aid students' comprehension as they read an article about Cary's Rebellion in the North Carolina digital history textbook.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Teaching suggestions: African and African American storytelling
These teaching suggestions present a variety of ways to work with an article about African and African American storytelling traditions in the context of American slavery. Suggested activities span a wide range of possibilities and offer opportunities for a variety of learning styles.
Format: /lesson plan (grade 7–8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Teaching suggestions: A Brief Description of the Province of Carolina
Teaching suggestions designed to support students' understanding of a 17th-century primary source document — a pamphlet produced in London at the request of the Lords Proprietors describing the economic opportunity and religious freedom available to settlers in Carolina.
Format: /lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Slavery and bias in historic West Africa: A case of he said, he said
In this lesson, students will examine three primary source documents concerning West African history, and will work to discover the similarities and differences between the documents. Students will discover the biases revealed by the authors of the documents.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Shane Freeman.
Reading guide: Spain and America
In Two worlds: Educator's guide, page 3.2
These terms and questions will guide students as they read "Spain and America: From Reconquest to Conquest." Filling in the chronological list of dates will enable students to understand the order in which events unfolded in Spain and in America, and answering the questions will encourage students to think critically about the readings in the chapter.
Format: /lesson plan (grade 8–12 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Reading guide: A Declaration and Proposals of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina (1663)
In this activity, students read the initial plans by the Lords Proprietors for settling and governing the province of Carolina. They respond to questions designed support their comprehension of this primary source document.
Format: /lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Reading guide: A Brief Description of the Province of Carolina
Reading guide designed to aid students' comprehension of a primary source document — a 17th-century pamphlet produced in London describing the economic opportunity and religious freedom available to settlers in Carolina.
Format: worksheet/lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
A proprietary colony: Exploring the Charter of Carolina
In this lesson for grade 8, students will examine the 1663 Charter of Carolina and complete a graphic organizer exploring the elements of the Charter. Students will then write a letter to the King of England from the perspective of one of the Lords Proprietors.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
"The present state of North Carolina": Making decisions
In this lesson, students read an excerpt from John Lawson's 1709 book A New Voyage to Carolina and use a graphic organizer to decide whether they would have emigrated to Carolina as a result of reading Lawson's book.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Power sharing and the Lord Proprietors of North Carolina
This lesson examines the essential question: How did government instability under the Lord Proprietors effect the development of North Carolina? The lesson has been modified for novice low English language learners.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Development and Social Studies)
By Pamela Glover and Laura Packer.
Navigating the inlets and havens
In this lesson plan, students read and analyze a primary source document written in the early 1700s that describes the inlets of the North Carolina coast. The students adopt the perspective of a contemporary ship's captain and discuss the importance of the information in the document.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
"Land and Work in Carolina" teaching strategies
A variety of suggested activities for use with an article that explains the key elements of feudalism, with a focus on how those elements evolved into the systems of labor and land ownership seen in colonial North Carolina.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Immigrants' experiences in colonial North Carolina
In this lesson plan, students read two primary-source documents describing the experiences of new arrivals to North Carolina during the colonial period: One is a summary of a report written by a young Moravian settler from Pennsylvania; the other is a letter from a German immigrant. Students compare and contrast the journeys and settlement of the two groups.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Graphic organizer: Who owns the land?
This graphic organizer will aid students' comprehension as they read an article about conflicting ideas of land ownership between European settlers in America and American Indians.
Format: chart/lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Graphic organizer: From Caledonia to Carolina
Graphic organizer designed to aid students' comprehension as they read an article about the immigration of Highland Scots to North Carolina in the colonial era.
Format: chart/lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
A forced migration: Reading lesson
In this lesson plan, students read an article about the slave trade in West Africa, which caused the kidnapping of millions of free West Africans by slave traders. The lesson plan includes reading strategies designed to prepare students for end-of-grade reading test.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8–12 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.
Educator's guide: The arrival of Swiss immigrants
Teaching suggestions to help your students synthesize the information in the article "The Arrival of Swiss Immigrants."
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.