An English settlement at Jamestown

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An English settlement at Jamestown

• Chapter 2 section 2

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Objective

• Students will be able to explain why Jamestown
  became the first permanent English settlement in
  the New World.

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English Settlers Struggle in North America

• John Smith was a soldier and adventurer.

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• In 1606 he joined the Virginia Company. It was a
  joint-stock company which allowed investors to
  pool their wealth to fund a colony.

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• In 1607, the Virginia Company sent 150 colonists
  aboard three ships to North America.

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• The colonists built a settlement along the coast
  of modern day Virginia. They called the colony
  Jamestown in honor of King James I. It was the
  first permanent English colony in the Americas

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• Many English colonists wanted to get rich quick
  by finding gold.

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• They did not take time to grow food. As a result
  of this, many colonists at Jamestown died.

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• By the winter of 1607, only 39 colonists remained
  alive. Then John Smith took control of the
  settlement. He forced the colonists to farm.

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• He began trading for maize with the local Indians
  and exploring the region looking for additional
  food sources.

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• In December 1607, while mapping the Chickahominy
  River and hunting for deer, Smith and his party
  were ambushed by a band of Powhatan Indians.

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• They captured Smith and delivered him before
  Wahunsunacock, the Powhatan chief, to decide his
  fate. Differing accounts describe what happened
  next. One telling has Pocahontas, the chief's
  young daughter, placing herself between Smith and
  his intended executioner.

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• Another telling suggests that Wahunsunacock,
  (Wa-hun-sen-acawh) the leader of the Powhatan,
  impressed with Smith's bravado, adopted him into
  the tribe.

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• Whatever happened that fateful day, a friendship
  between Smith and Pocahontas developed and that
  bond kept the Jamestown colony from starving.

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• In late 1609, a gunpowder injury forced John
  Smith to return to England. As soon as he left
  the settlement it quickly grew unorganized. Once
  again many of the settlers began starving to
  death.

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• A war (First Anglo Powhatan War) also broke out
  between the Powhatan and the settlers.

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• Pocahontas was taken captive.

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• The colonists were saved when more colonists and
  supplies arrived from England. The new settlers
  helped restore order to Jamestown. They also
  began to grow tobacco.

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• The colonists discovered that they could sell
  this crop in Europe for a great profit.

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• The colonies needed more settlers to grow more
  tobacco.

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• To lure more settlers to come to Jamestown, the
  Virginia Company started the headright system in
  1618. Under this system, each new person who came
  to the colony received 50 acres of land and
  another 50 acres for each family member who came.

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• Most of the people who came, however, did not
  come on the headright system.
• Most came as indentured servants.

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• In exchange for passage to North America, as well
  as food and shelter, an indentured servant agreed
  to work on a farm for several years. After that
  time, the indentured servant would be set free.
  Most indentured servants were poor English
  citizens in search of a new life.

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• The House of Burgesses was the first assembly of
  elected representatives of English colonists in
  North America. The House was established by the
  Virginia Company, who created the body as part of
  an effort to encourage English craftsmen to
  settle in North America. Its first meeting was
  held in Jamestown, Virginia, on July 30, 1619.

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• Also in 1619, the first Africans arrived in North
  America. They were treated as indentured
  servants. After several years of labor they
  gained their freedom.

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• In the decades to come more and more African
  Americans would arrive in North America not as
  indentured servants but as slaves.

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The Settlers Clash with Native Americans

• Unlike the Spanish, English settlers had no
  desire to live among or intermarry with Native
  Americans. Instead, they struggled to drive the
  Native Americans away.

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• As Jamestown grew, the colony needed more land
  for farming. As a result, the English settlers
  seized the Powhatan land.

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• In 1622, the Native Americans fought back. In the
  Second Anglo-Powhatan War, they attacked numerous
  colonial villages. More than 340 colonists were
  killed.

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• The Native American attack forced the Virginia
  Company to send in more troops and supplies.
• This left the company nearly bankrupt.

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• The turmoil in Virginia angered the English
  government. The king took over the colony from
  the Virginia Company. Virginia then became a
  royal colony -- a colony under the control of the
  king.

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• England sent in more settlers to strengthen the
  colony. The government also sent in more troops
  to conquer the Native Americans. By 1644, nearly
  10,000 English settlers lived in Virginia. The
  native population continued to decrease.

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• In addition to fighting the Native Americans, the
  English settlers fought amongst themselves.
  Wealthy landowners controlled life in the colony.
  Freed indentured servants had little money to buy
  land.

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• Some of the early Virginia settlers were
  Cavaliers. English nobility who received large
  land grants in eastern Virginia from the King of
  England.

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• Because they did not own land, they could not
  vote and almost had no rights. They were forced
  to live on the western edge of Virginia. Out
  there they constantly fought with the Native
  Americans for land.

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• Virginias government refused to help these poor
  settlers in their battles with Native Americans.
• Nathaniel Bacon, a wealthy planter, came to the
  settlers rescue.
• He raised an army to fight the Native Americans.

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• The governor of Virginia (William Berkley)
  declared the army illegal.
• When Bacon heard this, he led a group of marchers
  into Jamestown.
• They protested the governments treatment of poor
  settlers.

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• The march turned violent.
• He turned his sites to the colonial government,
  deposing the governor and burning down Jamestown

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• The government eventually put down the rebellion.
• Bacon died in 1676, allowing the previous
  governor, William Berkeley, to regain control of
  Virginia.