In this lesson from Unit 2: Colonial America, students explore the development of the Southern Colonies and examine how geography, agriculture, economics, and slavery shaped life in the region. Students study the colonies of Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia while learning how the Southern Colonies became centers of plantation agriculture and cash crop production.

The lesson begins with the founding of Virginia and Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. Students examine the growth of tobacco as a major cash crop and learn about the Virginia House of Burgesses as the first representative assembly in the English colonies.

Students then explore the founding of Maryland by Lord Baltimore as a refuge for Catholics and analyze the significance of the Act of Toleration in promoting l ...