Company that led to the resignation of Sir Thomas Smith, as Treasurer,
and to the election of Sir Edwin Sandys as his successor. This roughly
corresponded to changes in Company policy toward the administration of
the Colony and to intensified efforts to develop Virginia. It led to the
abolition of martial law, to the establishment of property ownership, to
greater individual freedom and participation in matters of government
and to the intensification of economic effort. The program was prompted
by a desire to make the Virginia enterprise a financial success, to
increase the population, and to make the Colony attractive as well as to
give the colonists more of a sense of participation.
Sir George Yeardley, recently knighted, returned to Virginia as
Governor, in April 1619, and was the first spokesman in the Colony for
the new policy toward Virginia. In England it had been ably advanced on
behalf of the Colony by Sir Edwin Sandys, the Earl of Southampton, and
John and Nicholas Ferrar.
Land was one of the great sources of wealth in Virginia and soon after
early commercial enterprise failed, was recognized as such. Its
acquisition became a prime objective. Initially the Company had
determined that no land would be assigned to planters, or adventurers,
until the expiration of a seven year period. And this period was in
actual practice delayed. The first real, or general, "division" was
provided for in 1618 and this became effective in Virginia in 1619.
It was recognized that there were several groups meriting land. First
came the Company and its investors. The second was the particular
hundreds and plantations sponsored and belonging to private adventurers
joined in investing groups in England. The third was composed of
individual planters who lived and resided in Virginia. Yeardley came
armed with instructions to effect the division. The boundaries of the
four Incorporations (James City, Charles City, Henrico and Kecoughtan)
were to be fixed and public lands for the support of their officers and
churches were to be set aside as well as tracts for Company officials in
Virginia and others for Company use and profit. The consolidation of all
settlements into the four listed "Cities or Burroughs" was soon
consummated.
Two classifications of planters were noted--those who came to Virginia
before Dale departed in 1616 and those who came later. The first group,
called "ancient planters," may have been Virginia's first "aristocracy."
Each such person with three years of residence was entitled to 100 acres
as a "first division." Those having come to Virginia after Dale's
departure were in a different position. If they had come, or were to
come, at their own charge they were to obtain only fifty acres at the
"first division." If transported by the Company they were first to serve
as "tenants" on the Company's land for a term of seven years.
All grants it was specified would "be made with equal favour except the
differency of rent." Rent proved to be a diverse term covering tobacco,
capons, merchantable Indian corn and such. Rent payments were a matter
of concern and led the planters in the Assembly of 1619 to petition for
the appointment of an officer in Virginia to receive them. Payment to
the Company in London, in money, was described as impossible.
All tracts, including those allotted prior to the general division, now
would have to be laid off and surveyed. The prescribing of bounds became
a necessity to resolve existing, and to prevent future, uncertainties
and disputes. This was to be the function of William Claiborne,
surveyor-general, who reached Virginia in October, 1621.
Headrights were another matter which entered the picture in these
formative years. This began as a device, a good one it proved to be,
used by the Company to stimulate immigration and settlement in Virginia.
It allowed any person who paid his own way to the Colony to receive
fifty acres for his own "personal adventure." In addition he could
collect fifty acres for each person whose passage he paid. If a person
brought himself and three others, for example, he could claim 200 acres
under this arrangement. This headright system was later adopted in other
colonies and continued in use for generations.
The early success of the land division can be seen, perhaps, in the
report of John Rolfe written in January, 1620:
All the ancient planters being sett free have chosen places
for their dividendes according to the commission, Which giveth
all greate content, for now knowing their owne landes, they
strive and are prepared to build houses & to cleere their
groundes ready to plant, which giveth ... [them] greate
incouragement, and the greatest hope to make the Colony
florrish that ever yet happened to them.
Participation in the affairs of government was another element in the
new Company approach. Soon after his arrival, Yeardley issued a call for
the first representative legislative assembly in America which convened
at Jamestown on July 30, 1619, and remained in session until August 4.
This was the beginning of our present system of representative
government. The full intent behind the moves that led to this historic
meeting may never be known. It seems to have been another manifestation
of the determination to give those Englishmen in America the rights and
privileges of Englishmen at home that had been guaranteed to them in the
original Company charter. It seems to be this rather than a planned
attempt to establish self-government in the New World on a scale that
might have been in violation of English law and custom at the time.
Whatever the motive, the significance of this meeting in the church at
Jamestown remains the same. This body of duly chosen representatives of
the people has continued in existence and its evolution leads directly
to our State legislatures and to the Congress of the United States.
Circumstances seemed to prevent the annual meeting of the Assembly even
though this was initially intended. Possibly, although it is not clear,
the Assembly met in March, 1620. There was a session after the arrival
of Governor Wyatt in October, 1621 although little is known of its
actions. The next session of record was in the late winter of 1624 and
of this some papers have survived. At the time the dissolution of the
Company seemed to be sensed and the Burgesses acted carefully. Much of
the session was devoted to answering questions relative to the state of
the Colony. The Assembly went on record, too, denouncing the so-called
autocratic government that existed in Virginia prior to 1619. There was,
however, refusal to associate its name with an attack on the Company and
it would not send its papers to England by the investigating
commissioners. Instead they were sent by a representative of the
Assembly's choice. The status of the General Assembly under the King,
when Virginia became a royal colony, was, for sometime, undefined and
even its continuation was, perhaps, doubtful. It did, nonetheless,
survive to become a chief instrument of government.
In the social field the Company had recognized that homes, children and
family life make for stability and now steps were taken to do something
about it. To this end, in November 1619, a program was launched to
increase the emigration of women to Virginia. Many had already come to
contribute greatly to the Colony's welfare, the first two in 1608; and
family life was already very much a reality. The male percentage of the
population was, however, still much too high.
The first of the "maids" sent in this new program reached Virginia in
late May and early June, 1620 seemingly to the benefit of both "maids"
and eligible bachelors. In 1621 it was reported that in December the
_Warwick_ arrived with "an extraordinary choice lot [of] thirty-eight
maids for wives."
Earlier, in August 1619, there had been another event, this an unplanned
one, when a group of negroes were brought to the Colony out of the West
Indies and sold from the ship which brought them for "victualls." This
created little attention at the time. Evidently these newcomers found
themselves bound for a time as servants rather than as slaves. The
matter of mass negro slavery with its profitableness in the tobacco
economy was, as yet, decades away. This event of 1619, however, may
properly be noted as the first move in this direction.
Immigration to the Colony continued to increase including even a number
of English youths, and measures were taken to meet the religious and
educational needs of the settlers. This was the period that saw the
attempt to establish a college at Henrico.
The reorganized Virginia Company, following its political changes,
renewed its efforts to expand the Colony and to stimulate profitable
employment. Heavy emphasis was placed on crop diversification and on the
establishment of a number of new industries including forest products,
wine, iron and glass, the latter attempted a second time possibly on
Glasshouse Point just outside of Jamestown Island. The planting of
mulberry trees and the growing of silkworms were advanced by the
dispatch of treatises on silk culture as well as silkworm eggs in a
project in which King James I himself had a personal interest.
The industrial and manufacturing efforts of these years, however, were
not destined to succeed. This condition was not due to any laxity on the
part of George Sandys, resident Treasurer in Virginia, who was something
of an economic on-the-spot supervisor for the Company. Virginia could
not yet support these projects profitably, and interest was lacking on
the part of the planters who found in tobacco a source of wealth
superior to anything else that had been tried. It was the profit from
tobacco that supported the improved living conditions that came
throughout the Colony.
These Englishmen who came to settle in the wilderness retained their
desire for the advantages of life in England. Books, for example, were
highly valued, and with the passage of the years were no uncommon
commodity in Virginia. As early as 1608, Rev. Robert Hunt had a library
at Jamestown, which was consumed by fire in January of that year. Each
new group of colonists seemingly added to the store on hand: _Bibles_,
_Books of Common Prayer_, other religious works, medical and scientific
treatises, legal publications, accounts of gardening, and such. There
was local literary effort, too, such as that by Treasurer George Sandys
who continued his celebrated translation of Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ in
the house of William Pierce at Jamestown.
YEARDLEY AND WYATT
Yeardley, having instituted the measures of the "Greate Charter,"
continued to serve as Governor until November 18, 1621. His was a good
administration, yet it was not without criticism. There was some
unfavorable comment on his negotiations relative to Indian lands as well
as in the arrangement of various government fees. With so many personal
and private interests in so many of the individual settlements, it is
remarkable that he did not get into difficulties of a more serious
nature. Even when Sir Francis Wyatt relieved him as governor, he
continued on as a Councilor and was later to be Governor again. He had
been at the helm when Virginia enjoyed, perhaps, its best three years to
date--1619-21.
His successor, Wyatt, proved as popular and even survived the
dissolution of the Company. Wyatt, as others before and others to
follow, found the governorship to be expensive. It is reported that he
spent L1,000 in less than two years. Both Yeardley and Wyatt resided at
Jamestown from which, for the most part, they directed Colony affairs.
Here they maintained a most impressive establishment with their wives,
children and indentured servants including some of the negroes now
resident in the Colony.
It is in the 1619 to 1624 period that the first clear picture of at
least a part of the physical town of Jamestown emerges, for this period
corresponds with the earliest known property records that exist. The
town had outgrown the original fort in some years past and now appeared
as a fairly flourishing settlement. The records reveal that many of the
property owners were yeomen, merchants, carpenters, hog-raisers,
farmers, joiners, shopkeepers, and ordinary "fellows," as well as
colonial officials. The "New Town" section of James City developed in
this period as the old section proved too small and the residents began
to build more substantial houses, principally frame on brick
foundations. Even so, the town was far from that of a city, perhaps,
only a village at best. It was, nonetheless, as close to a hub of
political, social, and economic life as completely rural Virginia had.
It was the Colony's capital in every sense.
The population figures taken in these years give a good idea of the size
of Jamestown in this period. In February 1624, it is recorded that 183
persons were living in Jamestown and 35 others on the Island outside of
the town proper. These are listed by name, as are the 87 who had died
between April 1623 and the following February. In the "census" of
January 1625 there was a total of 124 residents listed for "James Citty"
and an additional 51 for the Island. The over-all total of 175 included
some 122 males and 53 females.
Aside from the population statistics, the musters of January 1625 give
much more information. Jamestown had a church, a court-of-guard
(guardhouse), 3 stores (probably storehouses), a merchant's store, and
33 houses. Ten of the Colony's 40 boats were here, including a skiff, a
"shallop" of 4 tons, and a "barque" of 40 tons. There were stores of
fish, 24,880 pounds to be exact, corn, peas, and meal. There were four
pieces of ordnance, supplies of powder, shot and lead, and, for
individual use, "fixt peeces," snaphances, pistols, seventy swords,
coats of mail, quilted coats, and thirty-five suits of armor. The bulk
of the Colony's livestock seems to have been localized in the Jamestown
area, about half (183) of the cattle, a little more than half (265) of
the hogs, and well over half (126) of the goats. The one horse listed
for the Colony was shown to have been at Jamestown, but in this category
the "census" must have been deficient. Even in 1616 there had been 3
horses and 3 mares.
The massacre and its aftermath and the investigation and dissolution of
the Company dominated the Virginia scene in Wyatt's first three year
term as Governor. These things should not, perhaps, becloud the
continued expansion and growth of the Colony that resumed after the
fateful year of 1622 when the massacre was followed, in the summer, with
disease along the James and then by the more specific plague.
It was on March 22, 1622 that the great catastrophe struck Virginia in
the form of the well planned and carefully executed massacre by the
Indians under the crafty leadership of Opechancanough, successor to
Powhatan. Although the consequences were not enough to threaten the
survival of the Colony, they were deeply serious. At least a fourth, if
not a third, of all residents lay dead at the end of a single day. Many
plantations were abandoned and safety and security became the principal
order of the day. It spelled the end of numerous projects such as the
production of iron and of enterprises such as the attempt to found a
college. Jamestown, given timely warning because of the loyalty of an
Indian, Chanco, to his master, saw no damage. In this respect it was one
of only a few such areas. It did, however, see some resulting congestion
as survivors came in from distant, and even nearby, communities.
Regrouping, reorganization and revenge followed after the initial shock
was over. Punishment of the Indians occupied the center of the stage for
months. In January, 1623, however, the Governor and his Council could
report in answer to Company inquiries, some of which were critical of
Colony operations, that "We have anticipated your desires by settinge
uppon the Indians in all places." Directed by the Governor from
Jamestown, George Sandys, Sir George Yeardley, Capt. John West, Capt.
William Powell and others led expeditions against the various native
tribes. "In all which places we have slaine divers, burnte theire
townes, destroyde theire wears [weirs] & corne." The seizure of
considerable additional mature corn, likewise, was a blow to the Indian
and a help to the English. The Indian had been brought to heel, yet he
was still not impotent, a fact that the colonists now well recognized
and of which they had occasional reminder as when Capt. Henry Spelman
and his party were slain in April, 1623.
VIRGINIA AND THE DISSOLUTION
The Virginia Company established the first permanent English settlement
in America, but did not reap the profits that it had expected. Even
through reorganization and large expenditures, it never achieved its
full objective and was increasingly subject to criticism despite its
remarkable achievement. The devastating effect of the massacre ushered
in a period of attack that never subsided. Commissioners were sent to
investigate the Colony at first hand. Charge was met by countercharge
and tempers rose high. The Company stubbornly contended for its original
charters and James I and Company opponents seemed equally as determined
to break them. Matters reached a head in 1624 when James I dissolved the
Company, thereby removing the hand that had guided Virginia affairs for
17 years.
With this act Virginia became a royal colony and continued as such until
the American Revolution made it free and independent. From the point of
view of the people in the Colony, the change from Company to Crown was
almost painless although there was concern over land titles and a
continuance of the Assembly. The Company Governor gave way to the royal
appointee, but most institutions were left intact. Perhaps a glance at
the proceedings of the Assembly of March, 1624 is useful in pointing up
the matters of concern to the representatives of the people at this
particular time.
At the time Virginia was a going concern. It was well established,
economically sound, and expanding at a considerable rate. The business
at this session embraced some 35 laws, or acts. Of this total 7 dealt
with the economic situation, 8 with Indian affairs and security, 8 with
religious matters, 6 with local organization and welfare and 5 with
matters of personal and community rights. In the main they suggest
growth and an established order.
In the economic sphere there was concern for the planting of ample corn,
emphasis on fencing and planting "vines, hearbs, rootes, &c." Commodity
rates were in need of further enforcement. It was duly ordered, too,
that there would be "no waightes nor measures used, but such as shalbe
Sealed by officers Appointed for that purpose."
In matters of safety the chief concern was still the Indian. Trading for
corn with the natives was to be prohibited. It was required that "every
dwellinge howse shalbe pallizadoed," that guards be maintained and that
careful and constant inspection by commanders insure working and ready
arms and ammunition. Good watch was to be maintained even when at work
in the fields and powder was not to be wasted "unnecessarily in drinking
or entertainementes." It was determined that in midsummer the people of
"every corporatione" should fall on the Indians near them "as we did the
last yeere" presumably to burn their crops and houses.
Church affairs came in for considerable regulation. One act required
that a place be set aside for the worship of God in each and every
plantation, a place or "roome sequestred for that purpose" as well as "a
place sequestred onlye to the buryall of the dead." A fine, one pound
of tobacco for one Sunday but fifty pounds for a month of absences, was
imposed for missing the Sunday service. Ministers were exhorted to look
after their charges and the people were not to "disparage" their
ministers without "sufficient proofe." Payment of the minister's salary
was to be insured and there were regulations against "swearinge and
drunkennes." A formal order was passed that March 22, the date of the
massacre of two years before, be "solemnized as [a] hollidaye." In
matters of church conformity the action was specific, "That there be an
uniformitie in our Church as neere as may be, to the canons in Englande
both in [substance] and circumstance and that all persons yeeld redie
obedience unto them under pain of censure."
Government organization and operation was spelled out in a number of
instances. To meet the needs of a growing and spreading population
special courts were set up for Elizabeth City and Charles City. At least
in cases involving no more than 100 pounds of tobacco and for petty
offences, it would not be necessary to journey to Jamestown. It was
further ordered that all private holdings be duly surveyed, bounded, and
recorded. A public "grainary" was ordered to be established in each
parish. Control of trade was sought by specifying that no ships should
"break boulke [bulk] or make privatt sales of any comodities" before
reaching Jamestown. Taxes were not ignored either for a levy of ten
pounds of tobacco, already the common currency it appears, was laid on
each male above 16 years of age to help defray the "publique depte
[debt]." Lest it be forgotten, it was enacted that obedience was
required "to the presente government."
Old planters were given special exemption from public service, "they and
theire posteritie," while Burgesses were rendered exempt from seizure
during Assembly time. "Persones of qualitie" when found delinquent, it
was stated, could be imprisoned if not fit to take corporal punishment.
It is of note that service to the Governor, or the public, was made
contingent on Assembly consent. Of particular interest, too, was the
action on the principle of taxation. It was bold, indeed, at this time
for the Assembly to declare that;
The Governor shall not laye any taxes or impositiones uppon
the Colony, theire landes or comodities otherwi[se] then by
the awthoritie of the Generall Assemblie, to be levied and
imployed as the saide Assembly shall appoint.
This was an early word on taxation, but it was to be far from the last
word in the next century and a half.
[Illustration: Towns, Plantations, Settlements and Communities in
Virginia: 1607-1624. (The sites of Richmond, Williamsburg and Norfolk
are shown but the cities did not exist at the time.)]
THE SPREAD OF SETTLEMENT--1607 TO 1624
By 1624 the Colony had grown from a single settlement at Jamestown to a
series of communities along the James River and on the Eastern Shore.
Until 1611 only Jamestown had proven lasting. In this fourth year,
however, Kecoughtan (Elizabeth City) was established on a permanent
basis and Henrico was laid out. In 1613 the fourth of the Company
settlements was established at Bermuda which was to become Charles City.
For five years the center of population passed up river. The area in the
"Curls" of the James for a time was the preferred location. It looked as
if even the seat of government would be moved here where much official
business was transacted. In 1616 John Rolfe listed 6 settlements and
according to his report, some 68 per cent of the residents were in the
Henrico-Bermuda area.