Then and Now: Life in Early America, 1740 - 1840

Introduction

Have you ever heard the expression, "The more things change, the more they stay the same?" Do you agree? Do your students? Does that old adage correctly characterize changes in America since the time of the Revolution?

Using archival materials, re-creations, and classroom activities, help your students think about which aspects of everyday life — and the people who've lived it — have changed and which have stayed the same in the last 200 years.

Learning Objectives

Lesson 3 Getting Dressed in the 18th Century

Note: The interactive activity featured in this lesson focuses on 18th-century girls' clothing. For more information, including facts about boys' clothing, consult Children's Clothing and A Colonial Child's Clothing: A Glossary of Terms, both available on the website of Colonial Williamsburg, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet Public Library. The activity can be completed online and/or offline using the doll and its accessories, which can be downloaded and printed out. When using the game online, the correct images must be chosen in order. If the images in the game dissolve when dragged, open a second window. Each time you toggle back to the window with the game, the images should be in place.

If using the game offline, print out copies of the doll and clothing for each student, have each student dress the paper doll and then compare the order of clothing items each student chose. The teacher can then demonstrate the correct order, and the class can discuss the purpose of each item of clothing.

In this interactive activity — Eighteenth-Century Paper Doll Game — students will see all the steps it took for an 18th-century girl to get dressed. What steps in the process are the same today? What is completely different about getting dressed in the 18th century? What kind of outfit is this girl wearing? Do you think all children during this time period dressed in such fancy clothes?

Lesson 4 You Gotta Make a Living (1750-1800)

Have students view the following images from the website of Colonial Williamsburg, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet Public Library, of 18th-century people at work:

• Apothecary
• Blacksmith
• Brickmaker
• Wheelright
• Wigmaker

Lesson 5 Let's Go Shopping (1750-1800)

Ask your students to write about or illustrate how they shop for medicine, shoes and/or clothing. After scrutinizing the images listed below, from the website of Colonial Williamsburg, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet Public Library, have students brainstorm and create a list of the differences in the process.

Lesson 6 Bet You Can't Guess! (late 1700s to early 1800s)

Have students carefully observe the following images of items from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, all available on The Five Points Site, a link from the EDSITEment resource ArchNet, and form a hypothesis about the purpose of each object. A "hint" question is provided with each image link to help students guess the purpose of each of the items.

• Dessert glass with pattern-molded ribbing, 18th century
  How do you like your pudding served?



• Salt Cellar, late 18th century
  Got salt?



• Medicine Bottles, late 18th century
  Time to take your medicine?



• White granite chamber pot and lid
  What do you do when you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night?



• Clay and Glass Marbles, probably from the early19th century
  Did somebody lose their marbles?



• Red Earthenware Bank
  Where do you keep your money?

Lesson 7 Bet You Can't Guess! - Part 2 (c. 1800-1840)

Have students carefully observe the following images of items from the early 19th century, all available on the EDSITEment resource At Home in the Heartland Online, and form a hypothesis about the purpose of each object.

• Candle Mold
  In 1800, you would need this even when you weren't getting ready for someone's birthday.



• Milk Pan (for separating the cream from the milk)
  Here's where the cream rises to the top.



• Lamp
  All the better to see you with!



• Yarn Winder
  Now you know how much yarn you have!

Lesson 8 The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same - Part 2 (c. 1800-1840)

Have students list the differences, if any, between the following objects from 1800-1840, all available on the EDSITEment resource At Home in the Heartland Online, and similar objects we use today.

• Clock
• Coffeepot
• Cradle
• Lamp
• Spoon (made from horn)
• Tea Set

The teacher can select a few of the objects and explain the context and uses for them. For instance, the milk pan can be used to explain the process of getting milk from cows and making cream, butter, etc., both in the past and with today's dairy farms and supermarkets, refrigerated trucks, pasteurization, etc. The yarn winder can be used to explain how clothes were made, then and now. The teacher can explain the processes of shearing sheep or picking cotton, carding, spinning, etc. The teacher can relate the yarn winder to the spinning wheels depicted in the tales of Sleeping Beauty and Rumpelstiltskin.

Lesson 9 Digging Up the Past

How do we know about everyday life in early America? Students can be "online archaeologists" through the EDSITEment resource Learning from London Town's Virtual Dig. Using the inventory chart, students can determine the functions of the objects they find.

Using the EDSITEment resource, Learning from London Town, the teacher can describe what an archaeologist does: learns about past cultures by studying the remains left behind by people. Teachers can introduce students to the idea of archaeology by having students perform "Digging the Cellar at Rumney's Tavern", an interactive activity in which students become archaeologists and "dig" in the cellar by moving their mouse over the diagram of the drawing of the profile of the cellar dig at Rumney's Tavern. When the mouse arrow turns into a hand, a message appears at the bottom of the computer screen identifying the found object. Students then click on the screen to see a picture of their discovery.

Teachers can then ask: "How do these objects compare to the objects seen in the previous lessons? Where do these objects come from? How do we find objects from the past?" After completing Lessons 7 and 8, "Bet You Can't Guess!" and Lessons 2 and 9, "The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same," teachers can use this complementary lesson to bring up overarching questions such as, "What do objects tell us about how the people who used them lived? How do we go about finding out what life was like at other points in history? Which objects from the past have remained part of our everyday life today?"

This interactive activity reinforces previous lessons about change and continuity from past to present and introduces the concepts of the archaeologist and of learning about earlier ways of life by uncovering objects of the past.

Lesson 10 An Early American Game (1800-1840)

Give your students the opportunity to play an early American game. Games for both indoor and outdoor play may be found at Games to Try on Historic Latta Plantation, a link from the EDSITEment resource Women of the West Museum.

Lesson 11 An Early American Toy (1800-1840)

Your students can create their own ball from corn husks and string. Instructions and background information may be found at Corn Husk Ball on Historic Latta Plantation, a link from the EDSITEment resource Women of the West Museum.

After the students have had the chance to make and use the ball, encourage discussion. Did students find it challenging or difficult to make the corn husk ball? Do they have to work as hard for their toys today? Is the corn husk ball a fun toy to play with?

Lesson 12 The Match Game

Culminate the lesson with a discussion based on the guiding question presented at the beginning of the unit: In what ways is everyday life today significantly different from everyday life 200 years ago? Attempt to arrive at a conclusion. Has everyday life changed radically, or is it basically the same? For example, is play essentially the same because students still throw and catch balls, or has such play radically changed since we use different balls?

Have students represent their findings graphically. Using a bulletin board, computer, or some other type of display, students can post images of early American objects beside contemporary objects. They can even invite other classes to attempt to match the images.

For the Match Game, download the "Then and Now" chart, print it out, and and make copies for your students (Download chart, which is Word format).You can provide magazines for students to cut and paste images, or they can draw their own pictures, in the appropriate spaces on the chart. For each object, students can answer the questions, "What is it?" and "What is it used for?" Their responses can become the basis for a class discussion comparing life in the 18th and 19th centuries with life today.

Extending the Lesson