McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XXIII · Part 3: Ballads, battles and Abou Ben Adhem

29. King Charles II. and William Penn, by Mason L. Weems

Goal: Your child reads the dialogue in two voices and explains Penn's argument about the Indians' right to their land.

⏱ About 35 minutes · 6 steps

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You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook and pencil

What's in the book

A dialogue in which William Penn takes leave of King Charles II before sailing to Pennsylvania and refuses the King's soldiers, saying he will buy the land from the Indians. Definitions and notes about Charles II and Penn follow.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    Read some definitions:

    Regiment, a body of troops, consisting usually of ten companies.

    Aggressor, those who first commence hostilities.

    Excesses, misdeeds, evil acts.

    Explain that thee and thy are the old forms Friends (Quakers) used for you and your.

  2. Notes

    Read the notes:

    Charles II. was king of England from A. D. 1660 to 1685.

    William Penn (b. 1644, d. 1718) was a noted Englishman who belonged to the sect of Friends.

    The note adds that he came to America in 1682, founded what is now Pennsylvania, and bought the land from the Indians. The book's author line at the end names Mason L. Weems.

  3. Read aloud

    Read it as a play, one of you as the King and one as Penn. Then switch.

    I want none of thy soldiers, Charles: I depend on something better than thy soldiers.

    I mean to buy their lands of them.

  4. Talk about it

    SayWhy did the King think Penn needed soldiers?

    SayPenn says, "Thy subjects were the aggressors." What does he mean?

    SayThe King claims a right of discovery. How does Penn answer with the story of Indians crossing the sea in a canoe?

    SayWho do you think won the argument?

  5. Tell it back

    Your child explains Penn's argument in their own words, as if speaking to the King.

  6. Copywork

    Copy:

    But I will buy the right of the proper owners, even of the Indians themselves.

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