The Founders of Virginia - North American Colonies
Taken from The British Empire in the Nineteenth Century (1898) by Edgar Sanderson
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first permanent British settlement in what is now the United States. The fleet of three ships, of 100, 40, and 20 tons, carrying one hundred "adventurers", had sailed from Blackwall in December, 1606, and reached Chesapeake Bay in the following April. Famine and fever destroyed half the colonists during the summer, and then occurred the romantic adventure of Captain John Smith, one of the council under the charter. Brought as a prisoner before the Indian chief, Powhatan, and saved from death by Pocahontas, his daughter, he was allowed to return with supplies of food to his fellow-settlers, and became, through his energy and wise conduct, the saviour of the colony from extinction. There is good evidence to show that a main object of the managers of the London Company was to spread Christian doctrine and civilization among the natives. These founders of Virginia represented the Church of England, and were careful to select emigrants of good character, and men trained in all kinds of trades and crafts, who should steadily work for the benefit of the community. In 1609 a second charter was granted to this South Virginia Company, extending their limits to two hundred miles north and south of the James River, and Lord Delaware, a man of energetic character, was appointed governor. Some hundreds of fresh emigrants went out, carrying large supplies of stores, and these new settlers, with Lord Delaware at their head, arrived just in time to save the colony from ruin due to attacks of the Indians, and to famine and disease. The settlement had to contend with many difficulties, but it prospered by degrees, and the colonists were soon engaged in the growth of the tobacco which was to become so famous in later days, and a main source of wealth to Virginian planters. As regards government, at first control was given to a London council appointed by the king, with a local body to manage affairs, the people having no choice in the matter. A third charter, in 1612, abolished the London council, and placed power in the hands of the stockholders. In 1619 Governor Yeardley called together an assembly at Jamestown, composed of the governor, the local council, and deputies or "burgesses" from the various plantations or "boroughs". This was the first legislative body that ever assembled in America. Its laws required ratification by the company in London, but on the other hand, orders sent from London were not to be valid without confirmation by the colonial assembly. … continue reading »