USI Notes 9-15-14

¨Permanent English Settlement in North America

¨A Death Sentence???

¨Virginia Company of London

¨1606 – a group of English businessmen asked for a charter from James I to establish a colony in Virginia

¨This colony was to be for financial gain (profit)

¨Virginia Company was also referred to as the London Company

¨The company was established with officers soliciting friends to buy stock as an investment

¨The Company then advertised for settlers

¨First Settlers

¨Men desired to go to Virginia to become rich quick and then return to England; few thought of this arrangement as permanent

¨Many of these colonists carried the title of Gentleman – socio-economic title implying some wealth or attachment to influential people

¨Few of these men possessed the concept of survival skills much less the skills to survive

¨1 Master (governor)

¨5 Captains

¨1 Preacher

¨29 Gentlemen

¨6 Carpenters

¨1 Blacksmith

¨1 Sailer

¨1 Barber

¨2 Bricklayers

¨1 Mason

¨1 Tailor

¨1 Drummer

¨13 Laborers

¨4 Boys

¨And others totally 105

¨King James I

¨James VI of Scotland; inherited throne in 1603

¨Did not understand English Common Law

¨Believed himself to be absolute

¨Failed to work with Parliament

¨Granted charter for Virginia Company

¨Detested tobacco as a “…noxious weed…”

¨Died 27 March 1625

¨The Fleet

¨Captain Christopher Newport (admiral)

¨Flagship: Susan Constant (carried 71)

¨Godspeed (carried 52)

¨Discovery (carried 21)

¨Carried 105 passengers for settlement

¨Susan Constant and Godspeed would return to England

¨Discovery  used for exploration of interior water ways

¨Susan Constant

¨Discovery

¨Discovery

¨Arrival

¨Fleet departed England 20 December 1606

¨Arrived on James Island in the James River 14 May 1607

¨They constructed James Fort in a triangular formation to make it easier to defend

¨Original Jamestowne Fort

¨James Forte

¨Triangular with bulwark on the three corners

¨Trench dug around for additional protection

¨Built housing and warehouses out of wattle and daub with thatched roofs

¨Church was the first building constructed

¨Original fort burned

¨John Smith

¨Served as a merchant’s apprentice; then decided on a military career

¨Became soldier for hire; fought against the Turks in Hungary; captured

¨Enslaved and sent to Istanbul

¨Killed his master and escaped; arriving back in England early 1600s

¨Came into contact with those planning colony and became part of the council assigned to rule

¨Smith charged with mutiny on crossing

¨Released weeks after arriving

¨Led an uprising that placed Ratcliffe in charge

¨Negotiated with the Natives for food

¨Captured, which became the Pocahontas story

¨Returned to become governor of the Council

¨When Natives refused food; Smith ordered the burning of villages and the theft of the food

¨1609 – badly injured with gunpowder explosion and returned to England

¨Died 16 June 1631, London

¨Would the real John Smith please stand up?

¨Title page of Virginia history written by Smith and published in 1624

¨The Starving Time

¨Winter of 1609 – 1610

¨Population of Jamestown had grown to about 500 = 650

¨With Smith gone food supplied ran low and the Natives stopped supplying anything

¨By the spring of 1610; around 500 colonists had died from starvation

¨June, 1610 – then abandoned the colony and sailed down the James

¨Intercepted by Lord De La Ware; forced to return

¨Tobacco

¨John Rolfe arrived with Lord De La Ware with tobacco seeds

¨Proved that tobacco could be commercially grown with shipments back to England

¨Tobacco became the wealth of Jamestown

¨By 1619, Jamestown had exported 10 tons of tobacco

¨The amount of tobacco increased by 1639 to 750 tons

¨Tobacco Inspection

¨Tobacco – air curing

¨Anglo-Indian Treaty

¨Pocahontas was the daughter of Powhatan

¨Did not fall in love with John Smith

¨Was captured by the English and held at Henrico, up the river from Jamestown

¨Transported to Jamestown to be held as a prisoner; they would exchange her for English prisoners being held by Powhatan

¨She converted to Christianity; took the Christian name Rebecca

¨Did marry John Rolfe and they had one son Thomas

¨Taken to England for a PR tour

¨Died and was buried in Gravesend, England – March, 1616

¨Marriage prevented fighting between the Powhatans and the English

¨Marriage of Rolfe and Rebecca

¨What did Pocahontas look like?

¨1619 – a year to remember

¨Polish craftsmen had been imported to make trading beads, tar, and pitch; they were denied the right to vote and went on strike; they were given voting rights – first strike in US history

¨First Africans are brought to Jamestown by a Dutch ship that had taken them from a Spanish ship; captain trades them for supplies; they were thought of as indentured servants

¨Women were recruited and arrived in Jamestown as wives for the colonists; thought this would cause the colony to flourish

¨Representative Government

¨Early 1619, the Virginia Company instructed the governor to call for elections of an Assembly

¨All free men were given the right to vote

¨22 Burgesses were elected and convened in the Jamestowne Church; 2 from each of the 11 boroughs

¨This became known as the House of Burgesses, which meet for 6 days

¨All laws passed by the Assembly had to be ratified by the Virginia Company

¨First law passed stated tobacco was to be sold for no less than 3 shillings per pound

¨prohibitions against gambling, drunkenness, and idleness, and a measure that made Sabbath observance mandatory

¨Became basis for other colonial assemblies to established as other colonies came into existence