settlers decided to explore the general area of the Jamestown
region. From June to September, they journeyed the entire length
of the Chesapeake Bay and they witnessed the eastern shore of the
bay, the Potomac River, the Great Falls, the Susquehanna River, the
Rappahannock River, the York River and the Chesapeake River. Smith
carefully drew a map of the entire area and called it a "Map of the
Chesapeake." He sent it to England via Captain Newport, and it was
later published in London.
The courage and persistent hard work of the settlers and the
leadership of Captain John Smith were invaluable. Captain John Smith
maintained harmony in the Council, encouraged friendly relations
with the Indians (eventually to the extent of getting corn, an
absolute necessity, from them) and changed the "common store" policy
to a "no work-no eat" policy which had most effective results on
the indolent settlers. In 1608, he wrote a fascinating narration
about the founding of the Virginia Colony which he entitled "A True
Relation." He is sometimes referred to as the "Father of Virginia"
because of his participation in so many activities: a governmental
official (president of the Council from September 1608 to September
1609), a diplomat in his relations with the Indians, a leader in
attempting to maintain peaceful, cooperative relations among the
settlers themselves, an observing prisoner of the Indians (during
which time he learned much of their culture and experienced the
miraculous saving of his life by the Indian girl, Pocahontas) and
a writer who tried to picture the happenings of the settlers in an
enjoyable fashion.
In addition to saving Smith's life, Pocahontas helped the Virginia
settlers by having corn and venison brought to them and, later, by
warning John Smith of a proposed Indian attack. After John Smith
returned to England, Pocahontas stopped visiting the colony, and
the Indians soon refused to bring any more corn to the colonists.
Pocahontas was eventually captured by a Jamestown settler, Captain
Samuel Argall, through the trickery of an Indian who betrayed her
in return for a "copper Kettle and some trinkets." She was held
as a hostage in Jamestown in an effort to restore peace between
the Indians and the English. This strategy was so successful that
friendly relations were re-established. Two years later, in April,
1614, Pocahontas married John Rolfe, an English gentleman, at the
Jamestown Church. Pocahontas had met and had become well acquainted
with John Rolfe during her captivity at Jamestown. She had been
baptized at the Jamestown Church and had been given the name of
Rebecca. They lived for a while at Jamestown and then at Varina,
Rolfe's plantation. Three years after their marriage, Rebecca
and John and their baby, Thomas, age one, traveled to England,
accompanied by approximately a dozen Indians who desired to be
educated in England. Rebecca was received royally at the court, and
she was so well-mannered and charming that this lady who had grown
up in the wilderness of Virginia was readily accepted by London
Society. When Captain John Smith heard of her arrival in England,
he informed Queen Anne of the great help furnished to the Virginia
Colony by this Indian maiden during her youth. Pocahontas then
became Lady Rebecca and remained in England for over a year. As they
were getting ready to return to Virginia, Lady Rebecca died suddenly
and was buried in St. George's Church at Gravesend, England. Today,
two beautiful stained-glass windows may be seen in this church, a
gift of the Colonial Dames of Virginia, as a token of gratitude for
services rendered to the Colony of Virginia by Princess Pocahontas.
John Ratcliffe and Captain John Smith succeeded to the presidency
of the council after Captain Wingfield. While Smith was president
of the council, King James I granted another charter for Virginia
in 1609 upon the reorganization of the London Company. This charter
provided that: (1) the area of Virginia was henceforth to include
all the land on its eastern coast 200 miles north and 200 miles
south of Old Point Comfort and extending from the Atlantic Ocean
west and northwest to the Pacific Ocean; therefore, Virginia
included at this time land now found in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana,
Maryland, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Wisconsin and
part of Minnesota; (2) a Resident Council was to be established
which would have the power to distribute land, make all laws and
appoint all officers for Virginia's government; membership in the
council was to result from election by the members of the company in
England, a majority vote being required for the election; and (3)
the colonists were to take the Oath of Supremacy making the Church
of England the only recognized church of the colony.
In the same year, Captain John Smith bought a tract of land located
near Richmond from the Indian Chief, Powhatan, and there he founded
a settlement which he called "None Such." He named it thus because
he believed there was "none such" site as scenically beautiful
anywhere. This site was formerly Emperor Powhatan's summer court
location.
In the same year also Thomas West, Lord de la Warr (Delaware),
became the "Lord Governor and Captaine Generall" of the Virginia
colony. Although he held this office until June 1618, he remained in
England during this time because of ill health with the exception
of the period June 1610-March 1611. In May 1610, Sir Thomas Gates,
the first Governor of the colony of Virginia, arrived at Jamestown.
Captain George Percy had succeeded Captain Smith as president of the
Council. Starvation from a lack of food supplies followed, and the
population of the colony was reduced from 500 to 60 people. These
sixty were approximately fourteen miles away from Jamestown on their
way back to England when some of Lord de la Warr's ships arrived
bringing food and fifty additional settlers. Lord de la Warr was
responsible also for having a trading post established at Hampton.
Today, Hampton is the oldest continuous Anglo-Saxon settlement still
in existence in the United States.
A short time later, Sir Thomas Dale (better known as "Marshall")
arrived from England as Governor of the colony. He was considered
a harsh Governor because his martial law administration was
characterized by severe punishment for wrongdoing. However, he was
responsible for having common property divided among the colonists
and for allowing them to own their shares privately. He ordered that
three acres of land be given to every man. In return for this land,
the owner was required to give six bushels of corn each year to the
colony. The owner then was allowed to keep the rest of his crops,
two acres of which had to be planted in corn before any tobacco
could be raised. This action was the first official recognition of
the right of owning property in America and such action resulted
in much more industrious efforts put forth on the part of the new
owners.
In 1611, Sir Thomas Dale founded the third settlement in Virginia:
Henricopolis or the City of Henricus (named for the eldest son of
King James I, Prince Henry). Approximately 350 settlers, mostly
German laborers, soon colonized there. Two years later, Governor
Dale was also responsible for a settlement being established at the
site of the junction of the Appomattox and James Rivers. It was
called New Bermuda or Bermuda Hundred because of its similarity to
the British Island of Bermuda. For many years this settlement served
as a convenient shipping point and the present city of Hopewell is
an outgrowth of this early site.
In 1612, a third charter was granted by King James I for the
Virginia Colony. This was a most liberal charter as it abolished
the Superior Council and gave full governing powers of the colony
directly to the London Company members, thus making the company a
self-governing corporation. The name was changed from the London
Company to the Virginia Company. The company was to hold four
meetings each year in London, and these meetings were called
meetings of the General Court or "Quarter Courts." At such meetings,
the officers were to be elected by the stockholders and the laws of
the colony were to be passed. The General Court also had the power
to manage the business of the company and to appoint the Governor
and councillors for the Virginia colony. The charter extended the
eastern seaboard boundary to include the Bermudas and, in addition,
gave the company the authority to hold lotteries for its own benefit.
[Illustration: VA. DEPT. OF CONSERVATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
_Reproductions of Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery_]
In the same year, John Rolfe began experimenting at Varina, his
plantation, with some tobacco seeds brought from the West Indies
or from South America. Pocahontas helped Rolfe in this task by
teaching him the necessity of keeping the young, tender leaves
protected from the cold and by showing him how gently the young
tobacco plants must be transplanted. Rolfe became the first white
man to raise tobacco successfully in Virginia. Then the problem of
curing tobacco in such a manner that it could reach England without
spoilage faced him. After some experimentation, his shipment was the
first one to reach England in good condition. As a result, tobacco
became the first important money crop and export of Virginia. In
addition to the price the planters received for this product, the
production of tobacco created employment for merchants and shippers.
After Rolfe's success in growing and curing tobacco, it was grown
by practically everyone in a variety of places: fields, gardens,
between graves and, in some instances, in the streets of Jamestown.
Prosperous times had finally arrived at Jamestown. When the
Englishmen at home realized the profit and excellent opportunities
available in tobacco growing, many journeyed to Virginia and began
tobacco raising. Previously, the settlers' occupations had consisted
primarily of farming (especially the cultivation of grapes) and
of the manufacture of potash, soap, glass and tar. The successful
growing of tobacco caused a tremendous increase in the population of
the colony and in the amount of tobacco shipped from Virginia. This
infant tobacco production was the background for the present day
high rank of Virginia in tobacco production.
In 1616, the company allowed each settler to have 100 acres of land
for his personal use. A few years later, a 50-acre tract of land
was awarded to each settler who paid his own fare to America and an
additional 50 acres for every pioneer he brought with him. This land
arrangement, called the "Head-Right" system, formed the basis of the
Virginia land system. This system resulted in the creation of large
estates, and in the 1650's the average size land grant in Virginia
was approximately 500 acres. Such areas were commonly called
plantations, and the owners of such plantations, known as Virginia
planters, ultimately became the dominant influence in the Virginia
government. Some of these early plantation owners were William Byrd,
Thomas Warren, William Fitzhugh and Abraham Wood.
After the Virginia Company had been given full governmental control
of its colony, there were some members in the General Court who
believed that Virginia settlers themselves should be given more
freedom. When these liberal-minded individuals gained control of
the company, their leader, Sir Edwin Sandys, was responsible for
obtaining ratification of "The Great Charter of Privileges, Orders
and Laws" by the General Court on November 28, 1618. In 1619, Sir
Edwin Sandys was elected head of the company and he immediately sent
Sir George Yeardley as Governor to Virginia to put the charter into
effect in order that the settlers would enjoy self-government.
Because of the sincere efforts put forth by Sir Edwin Sandys on
behalf of this self-government in Virginia, he is often referred to
as the "Father of Representative Government in America."
According to the Great Charter, the Virginia Colony was to be
governed by two councils: one to consist of the Governor and
his advisers chosen in England by the Virginia Company itself
and the other council to consist of representatives, called
Burgesses, chosen by the Virginia settlers themselves. Governor
Yeardley carried out his instructions to have the free inhabitants
of the Virginia Colony choose representatives to help him and
his advisers in matters concerning taxation and laws for the
welfare of the settlers. The settlements were organized into four
"incorporations" or "parishes" with Jamestown, the titular capital
city of the colony: City of Henricus, Charles City, James City and
Kiccowtan (later called Elizabeth City). These parishes were then
further divided into eleven districts called boroughs, hundreds
or plantations. Each of these districts was asked to elect two
Burgesses as representatives in their local government.
Governor Yeardley, therefore, called the first representative
legislature in America to meet in the little church at Jamestown,
July 30, 1619. This first General Assembly of Virginia consisted
of the Council, the upper house, and the House of Burgesses, the
lower house. This group was the first popular assembly in the New
World. There was a delay in the initial meeting because the local
elections had to be postponed until after the plowing and sowing of
seeds had been done. The session lasted six days and then adjourned
because of the severe heat. The session began with a prayer by the
minister and the Governor and Council members sat in the front pews
of the church. John Pory was the presiding officer of this first
General Assembly and he was called the Speaker. Each burgess was
called by name and then given the oath of supremacy in recognition
of the sovereignty of King James I. After the oath had been taken,
he officially entered the Assembly. Two burgesses were refused
membership in the Assembly due to an unusual land patent condition.
One of these prospective burgesses had been legally excused from
obeying colonial laws by his land grant terms. The action of refusal
was significant because it created the precedent that the Virginia
Assembly has the right to decide the qualifications of its own
members and to expel members even if they have been sworn in and
admitted to the Assembly if conditions so warrant.
Although the session was very brief, much was accomplished,
including the acceptance of the charter by the General Assembly
members. Since this charter was the foundation of the laws used by
the General Assembly to rule the Virginia Colony, it was called a
constitution and was the first written constitution promulgated in
our country. Other petitions presented at this time are indications
of the trend of thought of these political leaders: former grants
of land should be confirmed and new grants made to the early
settlers, shares of land should be given to all male children born
in Virginia, rents of the ministers' lands should be made payable in
commodities instead of money, a sub-treasurer should be appointed
to live in the colony, and men should be sent to build a college in
the colony. Other laws passed by the Assembly itself concerned the
punishment of idlers, gamblers and drunkards, the payment of church
dues, the religious duty of the colonists, the regulation of trade,
the relations of whites to Indians, the regulation of the duties of
ministers and the conduct of servants. The Assembly also levied a
tax of one pound of tobacco on every male inhabitant over sixteen
years of age, the tax to be used for the payment of services of its
officers (speaker, clerk, sergeant and provost marshal of James
City). The Governor then adjourned the Assembly until March 1, 1620.
In addition to the regular settlers at Jamestown, from time to time
indentured servants came to America. They were individuals who
signed contracts called "indentures" whereby they agreed to work as
apprentices or tenant farmers for a stated time in return for their
paid passage to America. On August 30, 1619, a ship that looked like
a Dutch man-of-war but actually was believed to be a pirate craft
came to Jamestown with a cargo of twenty Negroes which it sold to
the Governor and the colonists. This was the first recorded selling
of slaves in the area now called the United States. The Negroes
seemed to be more easily adaptable to hard, manual labor than the
Indians or indentured white servants had been. The need for labor
which could endure the intense sun of the tobacco fields made the
Negroes much more desirable than the whites since they seemed to
endure these conditions more satisfactorily.
During the same year, another historical milestone occurred in
Virginia when a ship arrived at Jamestown with sixty young women
from England. Each bachelor who desired a bride had to pay 120
pounds of tobacco for his bride's passage. The young women stayed
at the married planters' homes until their marriage. These brave
women made happy homes and helped shoulder the responsibilities so
that community life in Virginia became more settled. They wrote
such cheerful, courageous accounts of their life in Virginia
that a second shipload soon followed and more homes were rapidly
established.
In July 1621, the London Company issued to Virginia a code of
written laws and a frame of government patterned after the English
type: the Governor of the colony was to be appointed by the company,
a Council was to be appointed by the company, and a House of
Burgesses was to be elected by the colonists themselves. Whenever
making laws, the councilors and burgesses were to sit together. A
law would be proposed, debated and, if passed, be submitted to the
Governor for his approval. The company in England would have the
final ratification or rejection. The right of petition and the right
of trial by jury were guaranteed. A unique feature was the provision
that the burgesses had the power of vetoing any objectionable acts
of the company. Thus, additional political rights were furnished to
the colonists by this so-called Virginia Constitution of 1621.
At noon on March 22, 1622, the "Great Massacre" occurred. Complete
annihilation of all the Jamestown inhabitants by the Powhatan
Indian Confederacy was prevented primarily by the warning of an
Indian convert, a boy named Chanco. The settlement of Henricopolis
(now called Dutch Gap) was completely destroyed: 347 men, women
and children--approximately one-third of the total population
of the colony--were slain at this time under the strategy of
Opechancanough, the leader of the Indians. An ironic happening of
the Great Massacre was that one of the victims was George Thorpe,
superintendent of the planned college and university of colonial
Virginia. He had been a member of Parliament who had sold his estate
in England and had come to Virginia to spend his personal fortune
and the rest of his life for the conversion and the education of the
Indians. By 1619 the General Assembly had set apart 10,000 acres of
land for the construction and support of a college for educating
Indian youth in "true religion, moral virtue, and civility." The
College of Henrico, the first formal educational institution of
higher learning in the English colonies, was also destroyed during
this Indian Massacre. So strong was the vengeance of the British
upon the Indians that no more serious trouble with the Indians
occurred until 1644.
Some influential people in England who did not approve of a British
colony in America tried to encourage the King to abolish the
Virginia Company's charter. The Great Massacre gave King James I
the opportunity he sought, and, since the company had been unable
to pay its dividends, he finally annulled the company's charter on
May 24, 1624. Virginia thus became the first royal or crown colony
in England's history. The greatest change under the new governmental
setup was that now the King, rather than the Virginia Company,
appointed the Governor and the councilors, thus making the Governor
a royal Governor rather than a company official. King James I died
the following year and his son, Charles I, succeeded to the throne.
Two years later, the King authorized the General Assembly to meet,
primarily in order that he could obtain the excellent monopoly of
the Virginia tobacco trade. Much to his surprise, the colonists
refused to grant him such monopoly, and, as a result, he did not
authorize another meeting for twelve years.
From 1629 through 1632, two more provinces were carved from Virginia
by royal grants: the Province of Carolina to Sir Robert Heath and
the Province of Maryland to Lord Baltimore. The Virginians had not
protested much against the grant to Sir Robert Heath, but they did
protest strongly against the grant to Lord Baltimore. The leader of
this protest was William Claiborne who had previously organized a
colony and a trading post on part of the Maryland grant area.
In 1634, the Virginia Colony was politically reorganized from four
parishes to eight shires or counties: Accawmack (an Indian name
meaning "the-across-the-water-place"; the name was later changed to
Northampton, an English county name and the two present counties of
Accomack and Northampton occupy the same original site), Charles
City (named for King Charles), Charles River (changed to York in
1642-43 in honor of the Duke of York), Elizabeth City (formerly
Kiccotan--named for Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King James),
James City (named for King James), Henrico (named for Prince Henry,
son of King James), Warrosquyoake (changed to Isle of Wight in
1637--some of the early patentees had come from the Isle of Wight in
the English Channel: the word, "wight," means a passage or channel;
therefore, it means "island of the channel"), and Warwick River
(changed to Warwick in 1642-1643, named after the Earl of Warwick
who was a prominent Virginia Company member). These counties were
the second oldest unit of local government in the United States,
the New England town being the first. The long distances between
plantations and the difficult transportation facilities on land and
on the rivers discouraged the use of the New England Town Meeting
type of local government in the Virginia Colony. The counties
themselves were patterned after the English counties. At this same
time, suffrage was extended to all free male citizens for electing
members of the House of Burgesses and county officials.
On February 12, 1634, Benjamin Syms of Elizabeth City County gave
200 acres of land plus 8 cows for the establishment of a free school
for white children. This was the first legacy for the promotion
of public school education, and Elizabeth City County was the
birthplace of the Virginia public school system.
In 1642 Sir William Berkeley arrived in Virginia as a royal
Governor. Until this time, there had been much religious tolerance
in the Virginia Colony although the Church of England was the
Established Church of the Colony. The religious laws were liberal,
and other religions had existed without interference. Sir Edwin
Sandys had encouraged some Separatists (Puritans) to live in
Virginia, and by the time of the dissolution of the Virginia Company
charter, thirteen parishes had been created and many clergymen had
been active in the colony. Governor Berkeley was an extremely strong
defender of the King and of the Church of England and disliked the
Quakers and the Puritans very much. He was directly responsible for
driving most of them from the Virginia Colony by enforcing a statute
of 1643 which provided that no individual who disbelieved the
doctrines of the English Church could teach, publicly or privately,
or preach the gospel within the limits of Virginia.