What were the social, political, and economic factors that contributed to the establishment and stabilization of the colony of Virginia?
Introduction
Jamestown
was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. In 1606,
King James I granted the Virginia Company of London, a private business
organization of shareholders, a royal charter that gave them permission to
establish colonial settlements in Virginia (Kupperman, 3). On April
26, 1607, a ship of 104 English settlers landed at Cape Henry and a few short
weeks later on May 13, 1607, they chose Jamestown Island as the site
for settlement (Foner, 45). The British became interested in colonization
because of "national and religious rivalries and the growth of a merchant
class eager to invest in overseas expansion and to seize for itself a greater
share of world trade" (Foner, 46).
The founding of Jamestown created for colonists the opportunity to relish many freedoms such as electing assembly members, protecting common law, “access to the land,” and choice of religion (Foner, 47). “The Chesapeake area, where the tobacco-producing colonies of Virginia and Maryland developed a constant demand for cheap labor, received about 120,000 settlers, most of whom landed before 1660” (Foner, 53). People such as government officials, merchants, landowners, and lower class nobles whom were able to fund their own voyages, as well as that of many indentured servants, were all infected with a “fondness for freedom” (Foner, 53). These people were the first to construct and pursue the idea of the unborn “American Dream.”
Although the establishment of Jamestown is a key event of American history, the colonists faced many challenges in accomplishing this feat. Survival in 17th century Virginia was quite difficult. In the winter of 1610, notoriously known as “the starving time”, the population of Virginia declined drastically from about 600 to 90 due to extremely cold weather conditions and exposure, and starvation caused by lack of food and resources. The colonists also had to deal with the issue of establishing a government and the longer they were separated from the mother country of England, the more they disagreed with the Royal rulings and began to develop notions of freedom. On July 30, 1619, the first form of representative government in America, the first Virginia Assembly, met in the Jamestown. These were just the first of several challenges that began to influence the colonists and the way they wanted their new settlement to be structured. As Virginia grew and its social institutions became more established, the colony's society and government became more stable. This included the development of new religious ideas, the beginnings of a representative government, and the desire of each individual to make substantial financial gains. Relations with the Native Americans, diseases from both England and the New World, and the hardships of living in an unfamiliar environment with lack of supplies were also factors that influenced the establishment of the colony.
This website was created to inform the reader and expose how the factors of living in Jamestown from 1607 to the 1620’s were relevant to the birth and growth of the first British colony. These web pages will supply the reader with information about religion, politics, economy, native relations, and hardships of the times; as well as what role those factors played in Jamestown’s birth and growth.
The founding of Jamestown created for colonists the opportunity to relish many freedoms such as electing assembly members, protecting common law, “access to the land,” and choice of religion (Foner, 47). “The Chesapeake area, where the tobacco-producing colonies of Virginia and Maryland developed a constant demand for cheap labor, received about 120,000 settlers, most of whom landed before 1660” (Foner, 53). People such as government officials, merchants, landowners, and lower class nobles whom were able to fund their own voyages, as well as that of many indentured servants, were all infected with a “fondness for freedom” (Foner, 53). These people were the first to construct and pursue the idea of the unborn “American Dream.”
Although the establishment of Jamestown is a key event of American history, the colonists faced many challenges in accomplishing this feat. Survival in 17th century Virginia was quite difficult. In the winter of 1610, notoriously known as “the starving time”, the population of Virginia declined drastically from about 600 to 90 due to extremely cold weather conditions and exposure, and starvation caused by lack of food and resources. The colonists also had to deal with the issue of establishing a government and the longer they were separated from the mother country of England, the more they disagreed with the Royal rulings and began to develop notions of freedom. On July 30, 1619, the first form of representative government in America, the first Virginia Assembly, met in the Jamestown. These were just the first of several challenges that began to influence the colonists and the way they wanted their new settlement to be structured. As Virginia grew and its social institutions became more established, the colony's society and government became more stable. This included the development of new religious ideas, the beginnings of a representative government, and the desire of each individual to make substantial financial gains. Relations with the Native Americans, diseases from both England and the New World, and the hardships of living in an unfamiliar environment with lack of supplies were also factors that influenced the establishment of the colony.
This website was created to inform the reader and expose how the factors of living in Jamestown from 1607 to the 1620’s were relevant to the birth and growth of the first British colony. These web pages will supply the reader with information about religion, politics, economy, native relations, and hardships of the times; as well as what role those factors played in Jamestown’s birth and growth.
Sources
Foner, Eric. "Give Me Liberty! An American History." 1.4 (2005): 45-65. Print.
Kupperman, Karen. The Jamestown Project. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007. Print.
Image: http://jchatoff.wordpress.com/tag/jamestown/
Kupperman, Karen. The Jamestown Project. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007. Print.
Image: http://jchatoff.wordpress.com/tag/jamestown/