What should one bring on the ship? Students can learn a good deal about Puritan resourcefulness by considering seventeenth-century technology. The exercise might begin with a division of the class into groups of three, four, or five and a request that each group determine ten items to bring to America. See David Freeman Hawke, Everyday Life in Early America (1988); George Francis Dow, Everyday Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1988); Sumner Chilton Powell, Puritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town (1964); and Darrett B. Rutman, Husbandmen of Plymouth: Farms and Villages in the Old Colony, 1620-1949 (1967). See also Charles Edward Banks, The Winthrop Fleet of 1630: An Account of the Vessels, the Voyage, the Passengers, and Their English Homes, from Original Authorities (1930).

The Black Legend quite understandably suggests a harsh rebuke to Spain for its colonial policy toward Indians. The English, however, might well be called to account also. Ask a number of students to write a one- or two-page position paper on the activities of John Eliot in Natick, Massachusetts; English behavior during the Pequot War; English behavior during King Philip's War; and Indian behavior during the so-called Deerfield Massacre. What constitutes justice? What constitutes a massacre as distinct from an attack? Raise one or two of the questions for discussion in class, and invite speculation as to why the Puritans' treatment of the Indians in Massachusetts is so little known. See the excellent suggestions under "Indian-European Relations" in the chapter bibliography. See also Richard Slotkin and James K. Folsom, editors, So Dreadful a Judgment: Puritan Responses to King Philip's War, 1676-1677 (1978) and Alfred A. Cave, The Pequot War (1996).

The Salem witch trials are an unending source of fascination. Ask several students to explore the matter a bit further. Choose two to develop an argument/explanation that emphasizes social friction, as does the text. Choose two to develop an argument that emphasized disease and ingestion of ergot. Choose two to argue the position that given the scientific knowledge of the day, no blame should attach to believers in witchcraft. The chapter bibliography is excellent. Other useful titles include Bernard Rosenthal, Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692 (1993); Elaine G. Breslaw, Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies (1996); Peter Charles Hoffer, The Devil's Disciples: Makers of the Salem Witchcraft Trials (1996); and Brian Le Beau, The Story of the Salem Witch Trials (1998).

For students with a literary turn of mind, establishing a connection with English and American literature will be both enjoyable and useful. Choose several students to read Jonathan Edwards's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (which, of course, comes from a slightly later period) and other writings. Ask them to explain in a five- or ten-minute statement to the class how the literature reveals Puritan thinking. A fine collection is available in Perry Miller and Thomas H. Johnson, editors, The Puritans: A Sourcebook of Their Writing (two volumes; 1938).

The English colonies were not the only settlements of importance on mainland North America. The activities of the coureurs de bois and the missionaries in the Spanish borderlands deserve notice as well. Select a pair of students to consider these groups and prepare a brief descriptive statement. How were the coureurs de bois and the missions related to the national policy of the two mother countries? Were the policies successful? What does success mean in this context? Have the students present their conclusions for consideration by the class. See William J. Eccles, The Canadian Frontier, 1534-1760 and France in America (rev. ed., 1991). Consider using parts of Francis Parkman's nineteenth-century masterpiece France and England in North America (nine volumes; 1865-1892). Excerpted versions have appeared; a fine example is Samuel Eliot Morison, editor, The Parkman Reader (1955). For Spain see John Francis Bannon, The Spanish Borderlands Frontier, 1513-1821 (1970) and David J. Weber, The Spanish Frontier in North America (1992).