UNIT 5
"EXPLORERS/COLONISTS OF NEW JERSEY"
Grade 4: SOCIAL STUDIES:
STUDY GUIDES
1. What does the word "explorer" mean? (pages
78-79)
A person who travels to little known areas for the purpose of discovery.
2. What were the European explorers to our coast hoping to find? (pages
78-79)
Explorers were hoping to find gold and spices, the most valuable things of
their time.
3. Explorers:
4. The first explorer to step ashore in New Jersey was Henry
Hudson, in the year 1609. (pages 78-79)
5. What is a "colony" and a "colonist"? (pages 78-79)
colony: A colony is a settlement belonging to a distant country.
colonist: A colonist is a person who settles in a colony.
6. People from Holland settled in northern New Jersey,
in what is now Bergen County. In southern New Jersey, people from
Sweden settled along the Delaware River. (pages
80-81)
7. In 1655, the Dutch took control of the Swedish
settlers in New Jersey. (pages 80-81)
8. For a time, New Jersey was made up of two colonies called East
New Jersey and West New Jersey. The two colonies were
united on April 17, 1702 (pages 82-83)
9. What country gave us the name, New Jersey? Why? When?
(pages 82-83)
The English named this colony New Jersey, after the Isle of Jersey ("Old
Jersey") near England.
10. What is the difference between an explorer and a settler? (pages
84-85)
Explorer: An explorer sets out to discover and investigate new territories
or regions, but has no intention of staying.
Settler: A settler goes to a new area to set up home and continue
living in that area.
11. List seven things that most colonial families brought to New Jersey.
(pages 84-85)
Colonial families brought tools - axes, saws, hammers, hoes - fruit trees, vegetable
seeds, cooking utensils, iron pots, frying pans, wooden bowls, spinning wheels,
candle molds, clocks, pewter plates, few books, small toys, dolls, cows, sheep,
pigs, goats.
12. Why was it necessary for early colonists to bring such things? (pages
84-85)
Settlers brought with them only what was necessary and could not be found
in their new land.
13. What was an important difference in the way people lived in the two
New Jersey colonies? (pages 86-87)
Generally, people in East New Jersey lived in small villages. They desired to
be close to one another and near their meeting house. West New Jersey people
preferred larger farms, although some preferred small villages.
14. Describe three ways in which life was the same in the two New Jersey
colonies? (pages 86-87)
1. All had to chop down trees to clear the land.
2. Build their own log houses.
3. Raise all their own crops and tend their animals.
4. Make their own clothes or anything else needed.
15. Name 5 colonial tasks that are no longer done by modern families.
(pages 88-89)
Families shared in spinning, weaving, cutting wood, tending cattle, making candles,
pulling weeds, making soap, dying material, or running the village mill.
16. If you were a colonial child, what might be some of your responsibilities
and how might you spend some of your free time? (pages 88-89)
Boys went fishing and hunted for small game. Young girls made candles, soap
and wove. Children gathered nuts and berries. Children went on long hikes across
wide fields and through deep forests. They skated or road sleds in the winter.
17. The story of blacks coming to New Jersey is very different from the
other groups that we have read about because.......... (pages 90-91)
most had no choice about coming to America. They were taken from their homelands
by Europeans, forced aboard little ships, and brought to America as slaves.
18. How did slaves arrive in New Jersey? (pages 90-91)
When slaves reached America, they were sold to work on farms. The first Dutch
settlers of New Jersey had slaves, both black persons and even Lenape Indians.
During colonial days, Perth Amboy had a "market" where slaves were
auctioned.
19. What did slaves do? (pages 90-91)
Most slaves in New Jersey worked in houses, in barns or in fields (as maids,
yard workers, or farmhands). Slaves worked long hours without pay. They were
often forced to live in crude little houses on the edges of fields.
20. Why was slavery abolished (ended) in America? (pages 90-91)
The Northern and Southern states of our country fought a war called the "Civil
War." In 1865, the North won the war. The end of the war, meant the end
of slavery. In actuality, slavery was abolished in 1861 when President Lincoln
sponsored and signed the "Emancipation Proclamation", but it was difficult
to enforce.
21. What group of New Jersey settlers was against slavery? (pages 90-91)
The Quakers of Southern New Jersey opposed slavery.
22. Describe New Jersey's growth as a colony up to 1770? (pages 92-93)
A hundred years had passed since the English had taken over, the colony was
small but growing. Many families moved to western New Jersey. By 1770, the total
population was about 100,000 people. Few people lived along the Jersey Shore.
In the early years there was very little industry, but iron began around 1770.
23. What was used to fuel New Jersey's colonial iron furnaces? (pages
92-93)
Iron ore found near the surface or bog iron found in the Pine Barrens along
with wood from nearby forests.
24. What two present-day colleges had their beginning in colonial New
Jersey? (pages 92-93)
The College of New Jersey (Princeton)
Queen's College (Rutgers)
25. Americans depended on England for many things. Which was most important?
(pages 94-95)
English soldiers were needed to defend the colonists against possible enemies.
England also gave colonists a market for their products.
26. Why were Americans upset over paying taxes to England? (pages 94-95)
People who lived in America did not pay any taxes to England for nearly 100
hundred years.
“Taxation Without Representation”: When England decided to tax the
colonists they protested that this was "taxation without representation."
They meant that they had no say in deciding what were proper taxes.
27. What are "barracks" and how did they figure in New Jersey's
history? (pages 94-95)
Barracks are a building where soldiers live. New Jersey constructed five of
them to house English soldiers.
28. What is a person's "home" or "Mother" country?
(pages 94-95)
The country of your citizenship or the country which rules and controls a
colony.
29. What is a "militia" and who are "militiamen"?
(pages 94-95)
Militia: A militia is an army made up of citizens with some military
training, but called into service only during emergencies
Militiamen: Militiamen are those persons who serve in a militia.
30. What is the difference between a "Loyalist" and a "Patriot"?
(pages 94-95)
Loyalist (Tory): A "Loyalist" is a colonist "loyal"
to England and therefore unwilling to join the American fight for independence.
Patriot: A Patriot is any colonist who believed that America should
fight for independence from England.
Other Resources:
Colonial America 1600-1775: A Very Detailed Listing of Resources
Archiving Early America: Primary Source Material from 18th Century America
The Library of Congress: America's Story
Explorers: 1492: An Ongoing Voyage
A Chart of North American Explorers
