Was the colonisation of North America by the British a success?

A very accessible worksheet that offers several pieces of evidence to help students consider the main question - was the colonisation of North America by the British a success?

Information is very simply differentiated (one-star for ‘straightforward’ through to three-stars for ‘think about it carefully’) so students can quickly see the challenge offered by each piece of evidence and choose their starting point accordingly. A key gives the worksheet a simple focus, links the evidence back to the question, whilst an extension question asks for some prioritisation - what might have been the main reason the colonies in North America were successful?

Suitable for many GCSE History specs:

- AQA GCSE History: Britain: Migration, empires and the people: c790 to the present day (an option in Section A of Paper 2 - Thematic studies).

- Edexcel GCSE History. A simple introduction or recap to some of the issues within the ‘British America, 1713–83: empire and revolution’ unit (a period study option in Paper 2).

- OCR GCSE History A. Worksheet links to the section on the political and social impact of empire (within the Paper 3 British depth study - Impact of Empire on Britain 1688–c.1730) as difficult to discuss the emergence of consumerism and its wider political and economic impacts on Britain without mentioning the North American colonies.

- OCR GCSE History B - Schools History Project. Worksheet links to the Early Modern Britain c.1500–c.1750 section within the Paper 1 thematic study - Migrants to Britain, c.1250 to present; difficult to do an overview of ‘the growth in world trade’ without mentioning the North American colonies. Worksheet could also be useful as part of an introduction to the Paper 3 period study - The Making of America, 1789–1900.