When Harvey arrived in 1630 he found that inadequate restrictions placed
on tobacco production in the previous years had created an enormous
surplus which had forced the price down to a penny a pound. Harvey found
also that because of their "greedie desires to make store of Tobackoe,"
the settlers had neglected to plant sufficient corn, let alone to
develop different commodities as instructed by the King. Calling an
Assembly, he convinced the representatives to agree to reduce the amount
of tobacco planted, and to increase the amount of corn. He also sent
ships into the Chesapeake and southward to Cape Fear to trade for corn
with the Indians to make up the deficit left by the negligent planters.
But most important of all, Harvey put into effect the long-dreamed-of
plan to secure the entire area between the James and the York by
building a palisade between Archer's Hope Creek (now College Creek),
emptying into the James River, and Queen's Creek, emptying into the York
River. Harvey's plan called also for a settlement on the south side of
the York. This outpost would serve as an advance base and point of
defense for operations against Opechancanough, King of the Pamunkeys,
and his many warriors. Six hundred acres apiece were granted there in
1630 to Capt. John West, brother of Lord Delaware, and to Capt. John
Utie, who were made commanders of the settlement. Fifty acres were
offered to any person who would settle there during the first year of
its existence and twenty-five during the next year. Exactly when the
first settlers moved to the York is uncertain, but it was probably in
1631. West and Utie settled on either side of a bay formed by the
joining of King's Creek and Felgate's Creek about four miles above
modern Yorktown. The tourist who speeds along the Colonial Parkway from
Jamestown to Yorktown crosses the bay within sight of the tracts granted
West and Utie. Today he may drive from Jamestown to the York with
comfort and safety in a few minutes. It took the early settlers
twenty-four years to cover the same distance.
[Illustration: Map 1]
About the same time, probably in 1630, another distant settlement was
established. William Claiborne, Secretary of the Council of State of
Virginia, with one hundred men, settled Kent Island 150 miles up
Chesapeake Bay. In the Assembly of February 1632 both "Kiskyacke and the
Isle of Kent" were represented by Capt. Nicholas Martiau, ancestor of
George Washington.
The great expansion had now begun. Settlers crossed from the James to
the York, and provision was made by an act of the Assembly of February
1633 for building houses at Middle Plantation, situated strategically
between College Creek and Queen's Creek, and for "securing" the tract of
land lying between the two creeks.
Besides being concerned with questions of defense, Harvey pursued a
policy of encouraging trade with other colonies in the New World.
Numerous commissions were issued by the Governor in March and April of
1632 authorizing individuals to trade with New England, Nova Scotia, and
the Dutch plantation in Hudson's River, as well as with the West Indies.
Harvey even gave instructions to Nathaniel Basse, one of the traders and
a member of the Council, to encourage people from the other colonies to
come to Virginia. "If those of Newe England shall dislike the coldnes of
there clymate or the barrenness of the soyle," wrote Harvey, "you may
propose unto them the plantinge of Delaware bay, where they shall have
what furtherance wee cann afford them, and noe impediment objected
against theire owne orders and lawes."
But all was not well in the government of the colony. Harvey found the
Council members constantly opposing him, disputing his authority,
resisting his attempts to administer equal justice to all men. The royal
Governor was not supreme as we now sometimes mistakenly assume. He was
first among equals only. Decisions at this time were made by majority
vote, and the Governor was frequently outvoted. Moreover the Councilors,
who could devote more of their time to their private affairs, tended to
be better off financially than the Governor himself, who found it next
to impossible to get his salary from the King, and who was forced to
entertain at his own expense all who came to James City. Harvey
complained that he should be called the "host" rather than the
"Governor" of Virginia. In contrast, Samuel Mathews, one of Harvey's
enemies on the Council, owned the finest estate in Virginia. William
Claiborne, another of Harvey's enemies on the Council, besides a large
estate, had a royal commission and English backers for his powerful
trading company.
Harvey made every effort to reconcile the differences which arose
between him and the Council members, and on December 20, 1631, all
signed an agreement promising to work in harmony and to mend their
discontent.
Fortified by this agreement, Harvey went forward with his efforts to put
Virginia's agricultural economy on a sound basis. The principal problem
was to force the planters to diversify. Many tears are shed for the
poverty of the planters of Virginia, and their customary indebtedness to
English creditors is usually cited as proof of their poverty. But this
"poverty" was not based on the inability of the planter to raise enough
food to support himself and his family, but on the fluctuations of the
market price of the crop--tobacco--to which he had devoted most of his
energies as a speculative venture. Strange as it may seem, the planter
had to be forced to raise enough food for his own support, so avid was
his desire for quick tobacco profits.
Governor Harvey's Assembly of February 1632 directed that every man
working in the ground should plant and tend at least two acres of corn
per head, on penalty of forfeiture of his entire crop of tobacco. Harvey
hoped to make Virginia "the granarie to his Majesty's Empire," as Sicily
had been to Rome. Another act allowed corn to be sold for as high a
price as could be obtained, contrary to the usual European and colonial
habit of fixing prices on basic commodities used by the people. The
reason given for this freedom from price fixing was that the precedents
of other countries did not apply to America, "for none are so poore
heere, as that they may not have as much corne, as they will plant,
havinge land enough."
The Assembly of 1632 did, however, fix a price on tobacco, requiring
that it not be sold at less than six pence per pound, a law they went to
great pains to justify to the King. Tobacco was Virginia's primary
economic interest, and the Virginians were willing to go to any lengths
to advance that interest. They urged the King not to place any
impediment to their "free trade," or right to sell their tobacco
wherever they could, and mentioned that they had already constructed
several barques and had begun trading with the Dutch plantation on
Hudson's River. Governor Harvey asked why the English merchants could
not afford to allow them a penny a pound for their tobacco when the
Dutch paid eighteen pence per pound.
The English merchants who traded with Virginia formed a tight little
group which used its favored position to charge excessive prices for
English-made goods, and to give abnormally low prices for Virginia
tobacco. Such a policy was not entirely owing to covetousness. The
English economy was shackled by a conception of economic life which
believed in the necessity of monopolies and restrictive devices of all
sorts. The Dutch nation, on the other hand, had thrown off many of the
traditional mercantilist restraints on trade. Holland soon enjoyed a
level of prosperity that made her the envy of the rest of Europe. Her
rivals attributed Dutch success to the energy of her people. "Go to beat
the Dutch" became a byword which has persisted to this day. Not until a
century later did the English realize that Dutch prosperity was caused
not so much by hard work as by the policy of freeing trade from
unnecessary restraints. As Dutch prosperity increased, Dutch ships
appeared in every sea, underselling all rivals and paying better prices
for local products. The complaint that the London merchants allowed only
one penny a pound for the Virginians' tobacco while the Dutch gave
eighteen strikingly illustrates the measure of Dutch commercial
superiority. No wonder that the London merchants should demand that the
Dutch be excluded from the Virginia market! For the same reason
Virginians, whether Governors, Councilors, Burgesses, or planters, were,
throughout the seventeenth century, almost unanimously opposed to the
English government's policy of restricting trade with Virginia to
English ships and confining that trade to English ports.
Although Governor Harvey supported the Burgesses and Council in their
strong defense of tobacco production, he privately wrote that he had not
only endeavored to have reduced the amount of tobacco planted "but if it
might have been, to have utterly rooted out this stinking commodity." He
reported that only the powerful hand of the King and his Council could,
however, effect such an end, so "indeared" were the planters to the
traffic. Moreover, Harvey admitted that until some more staple commodity
could be developed, tobacco could not be prohibited without the utter
ruin of the colony. Virginia was rooted to tobacco--seemingly for ever.
The Virginia planters' proposals, of course, met the opposition of the
London merchants, who complained to their powerful friends and
associates in the government and urged the King and his Council to
nullify the restrictions which the Virginians tried to place on the sale
of their tobacco. The merchants were particularly opposed to the desire
of the Virginians to by-pass them and trade with foreign nations
directly.
It is hard for us to realize today the immense importance of merchants
and traders in influencing the colonial policies of the English
government. Virginia was founded by a commercial company. All the early
attempts at settlement were made by private persons who were willing to
"adventure" their capital or their skill. Behind the great explorers
stood private individuals who risked their money on the success of the
voyage or settlement. The "government"--perhaps it would be truer to say
the Kings and their advisers--did not have the funds or the foresight to
support these ventures. They were perfectly willing to sign papers
granting lands they did not own to those who were willing to attempt the
settlement, but they were reluctant to put up their own money except on
a sure thing.
Once the settlements were functioning, once revenues were patently
obvious, the monarchs showed more concern with their government.
Merchants still, however, continued to provide the link between the King
and colony to a great extent. In an age of state regulation and
monopolies, in an age which did not provide fixed salaries for men in
high position, there was a close relationship between the Exchange and
the Court. A merchant dealing with overseas trade could not be
successful unless he had influence at Court. Even after the King took
away the charter of the Virginia Company, merchants continued to apply
pressure to the committees and commissions set up to advise the King on
colonial policy. Although the colonists feared that Charles I might
reinstitute a company over them, and the former representatives of the
Virginia Company pressed for such a move, the merchants were not able to
re-establish direct control over the colony.