CONTENTS
Colonial Crimes and Punishments
Primary
Source
Teaching
Strategy
Colonial Williamsburg Teaching Resources
Teaching News
Quote of the Month
The Next
Electronic Field Trip is
"A Publick Education"
October 6, 2005
NEW!
2005 Spring & Summer
Teaching Resources Catalog
2004–2005 Electronic Field
Trip Scholarships
|
TOP STORIES
Colonial Crimes and Punishments
In colonial times, crime and punishment were just as much religious matters as civil ones. The English-American colonies were autocratic and theocratic, with a patriarchal system of justice: magistrates and religious leaders, sometimes one and the same, made the laws, and the burden of obeying them fell on the less exalted.
(Note: For teacher reference. Some portions of this article are not appropriate for students.)
Learn
More
Primary Source:
Eighteenth-Century Penalties for Hog Theft
Colonial Virginians lived in an agricultural society, and pork constituted a central element of their diet. The harsh penalties for hog stealing reflect this reality. Learn More
Teaching
Strategy: Changing Attitudes About Crime & Punishment
Students may have the misconception that attitudes regarding criminal activity have not changed over time. An investigation into colonial crimes and their customary punishments can be quite enlightening. In this lesson, students will ponder modern-day crimes and punishments to see how the Eighth Amendment affected how crimes are punished.
Learn More
Colonial
Williamsburg Teaching Resources for Your
Classroom
Colonial Williamsburg offers a variety of quality instructional materials to help you teach students about life in early America, including:
—Will's Story: 1771 (Book)
—Pirate Chase (Book)
—Colonial America (Book)
—The New Game of Human Life
—Aesop's Fables Playing Cards
Learn More
Teaching
News
Two Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trips, The Rare Breeds and A Publick Education, have been nominated for the regional Emmy Award for outstanding children’s programming!
The Emmy Awards are given by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The winners of the awards will be announced on June 18th in Washington, DC.
Quote
of the Month
"As one reads history . . . one is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
--Oscar Wilde,
"The Soul of Man Under Socialism," Fortnightly Review (London, February 1891). |
Volume
3, Issue 10 
Receive e-mail updates
Historic Triangle
