Which Statement is True of the British Colony of Jamestown

British colony in North America (1606–1776)

Colony of Virginia
1606–1776
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: “En dat Virginia quartam” (English: “Behold, Virginia gives the fourth”)[1]
Seal
Status	Colony of the British Empire in Eastern Due north America
Capital	Jamestown (1607–1699) Williamsburg (1699–1776)
Common languages	English, Siouan languages, Iroquoian languages, Algonquian languages
Organized religion	Church of England (Anglicanism)
Government	Constitutional monarchy
Governor
• 1606	Edward Wingfield (first)
• 1776	Lord Dunmore (last)
Legislature	House of Burgesses (1619–1776)
Historical era	European colonisation of the Americas
• Founding	April 10, 1606
• Became Purple Colony	1624
• Independence	July 4, 1776
Currency	Virginia pound (1624-1794)
Preceded by Succeeded by Tsenacommacah Virginia
Today role of	United States

The
Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English language colony in Due north America, following failed proprietary attempts at settlement on Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey Gilbert^[2]
in 1583, and the subsequent farther south Roanoke Island (modernistic eastern Northward Carolina) past Sir Walter Raleigh in the belatedly 1580s.

The founder of the new colony was the Virginia Visitor,^[3]
with the first two settlements in Jamestown on the northward banking concern of the James River and Popham Colony on the Kennebec River in mod-day Maine, both in 1607. The Popham colony quickly failed due to a famine, disease, and conflicts with local Native American tribes in the first two years. Jamestown occupied country belonging to the Powhatan Confederacy, and was besides at the brink of failure earlier the arrival of a new group of settlers and supplies by ship in 1610. Tobacco became Virginia’south first profitable consign, the production of which had a significant touch on the society and settlement patterns.

In 1624, the Virginia Company’due south charter was revoked by Rex James I, and the Virginia colony was transferred to royal authority equally a crown colony. After the English Civil War in the 1640s and 50s, the Virginia colony was nicknamed “The Onetime Dominion” by King Charles 2 for its perceived loyalty to the English monarchy during the era of the Protectorate and Commonwealth of England.^[iv]

From 1619 to 1775/1776, the colonial legislature of Virginia was the General Assembly, which governed in conjunction with a colonial governor. Jamestown on the James River remained the capital of the Virginia colony until 1699; from 1699 until its dissolution the capital was in Williamsburg. The colony experienced its start major political turmoil with Bacon’southward Rebellion of 1676.

After declaring independence from the Kingdom of Nifty United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland in 1775, earlier the Declaration of Independence was officially adopted, the Virginia colony became the Commonwealth of Virginia, one of the original xiii states of the United States, adopting as its official slogan “The Old Dominion”. The entire modern states of West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois, and portions of Ohio and Western Pennsylvania were later created from the territory encompassed, or claimed past, the colony of Virginia at the fourth dimension of farther American independence in July 1776.

Names and etymology

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Virginia

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The name “Virginia” is the oldest designation for English claims in Due north America. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh sent Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to explore what is at present the N Carolina declension, and they returned with word of a regional rex (weroance) named
Wingina, who ruled a country supposedly called
Wingandacoa.

The name Virginia for a region in Northward America may take been originally suggested past Sir Walter Raleigh, who named it for Queen Elizabeth I, in approximately 1584.^[5]
In add-on, the term
Wingandacoa
may have influenced the name Virginia.”^[vi]
[7]
On his next voyage, Raleigh learned that while the chief of the Secotans was indeed called Wingina, the expression
wingandacoa
heard past the English upon arrival actually meant “What good clothes you wearable!” in Carolina Algonquian, and was not the name of the state as previously misunderstood.^[eight]
“Virginia” was originally a term used to refer to North America’due south entire eastern coast from the 34th parallel (close to Cape Fear) due north to 45th parallel. This area included a large section of Canada and the shores of Acadia.^[ix]

The colony was besides known as the
Virginia Colony, the
Province of Virginia, and occasionally as the
Dominion and Colony of Virginia
or
His Majesty’due south Virtually Aboriginal Colloney[sic] and Dominion of Virginia
^[10]
[11]

Erstwhile Dominion

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It is said, co-ordinate to tradition, that in gratitude for the loyalty of Virginians to the crown during the English Civil War, Charles II gave information technology the title of “Old Rule”.^[12]
[13]
The colony seal stated from Latin (en dat virginia quartam), in English ‘Behold, Virginia gives the fourth’, with Virginia claimed as the fourth English dominion after England, France, Scotland and Ireland.

The state of Virginia maintains “Onetime Rule” as its state nickname. The able-bodied teams of the Academy of Virginia are known equally the “Cavaliers,” referring to supporters of Charles Ii, and Virginia has another state public university called “Onetime Dominion University”.

History

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Although Spain, France, Sweden, and kingdom of the netherlands all had competing claims to the region, none of these prevented the English from becoming the get-go European ability to colonize successfully the Mid-Atlantic coastline. Earlier attempts had been made by the Spanish in what is now Georgia (San Miguel de Gualdape, 1526–27; several Spanish missions in Georgia between 1568 and 1684), S Carolina (Santa Elena, 1566–87), North Carolina (Joara, 1567–68) and Virginia (Ajacán Mission, 1570–71); and by the French in South Carolina (Charlesfort, 1562–63). Farther south, the Spanish colony of Spanish Florida, centered on St. Augustine, was established in 1565, while to the northward, the French were establishing settlements in what is now Canada (Charlesbourg-Royal briefly occupied 1541–43; Port Royal, established in 1605).

Elizabethan colonization attempts in the New World (1584–1590)

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In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh sent his commencement colonisation mission to the island of Roanoke (in nowadays-day Northward Carolina), with over 100 male person settlers. Yet, when Sir Francis Drake arrived at the colony in summer 1586, the colonists opted to return to England, due to lack of supply ships, abandoning the colony. Supply ships arrived at the now-abased colony later in 1586; 15 soldiers were left backside to hold the island, simply no trace of these men was subsequently establish.^[xiv]

In 1587, Raleigh sent some other grouping to once again attempt to establish a permanent settlement. The expedition leader, John White, returned to England for supplies that aforementioned year but was unable to return to the colony due to war between England and Spain. When he finally did return in 1590, he found the colony abased. The houses were intact, simply the colonists had completely disappeared. Although there are a number of theories about the fate of the colony, it remains a mystery and has come up to be known every bit the “Lost Colony”. 2 English children were born in this colony; the get-go was named Virginia Dare – Dare Canton, North Carolina, was named in laurels of the baby, who was amongst those whose fate is unknown. The discussion
Croatoan
was found carved into a tree, the name of a tribe on a nearby island.^[14]

Virginia Company (1606–1624)

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Following the failure of the previous colonisation attempts, England resumed attempts to prepare up a number of colonies. This time joint-stock companies were used rather than giving extensive grants to a landed proprietor such as Gilbert or Raleigh.^[3]

Charter of 1606 – creation of London and Plymouth companies

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Rex James granted a proprietary charter to two competing branches of the Virginia Company, which were supported by investors. These were the Plymouth Visitor and the London Company.^[15]
By the terms of the charter, the Plymouth Company was permitted to plant a colony of 100 miles (160 km) square betwixt the 38th parallel and the 45th parallel (roughly between Chesapeake Bay and the current U.Southward.–Canada border). The London Company was permitted to establish betwixt the 34th parallel and the 41st parallel (approximately betwixt Cape Fearfulness and Long Island Sound), and also owned a large portion of Atlantic and Inland Canada. In the area of overlap, the two companies were non permitted to plant colonies within one hundred miles of each other.^[15]
During 1606, each company organized expeditions to establish settlements within the area of their rights.

The London visitor formed Jamestown in its exclusive territory, whilst the Plymouth company formed the Popham Colony in its exclusive territory nearly what is now Phippsburg, Maine.^[16]

Jamestown and the London company

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The London Company hired Captain Christopher Newport to lead its expedition. On December 20, 1606, he set sail from England with his flagship, the
Susan Constant, and two smaller ships, the
Godspeed, and the
Discovery, with 105 men and boys, plus 39 sailors.^[17]
After an unusually long voyage of 144 days, they arrived at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and came ashore at the point where the southern side of the bay meets the Atlantic Ocean, an event that has come to exist called the “First Landing”. They erected a cross and named the betoken of land Cape Henry, in honor of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Male monarch James.^{[
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Their instructions were to select a location inland along a waterway where they would exist less vulnerable to the Castilian or other Europeans also seeking to institute colonies. They sailed west into the Bay and reached the oral cavity of Hampton Roads, stopping at a location at present known as One-time Point Comfort. Keeping the shoreline to their right, they then ventured up the largest river, which they named the James, for their male monarch. Subsequently exploring at to the lowest degree as far upriver as the confluence of the Appomattox River now-day Hopewell, they returned downstream to Jamestown Island, which offered a favorable defensive position against enemy ships and deep water anchorage next to the land. Within two weeks they had constructed their kickoff fort and named their settlement Jamestown.^{[
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In addition to securing gilt and other precious minerals to transport dorsum to the waiting investors in England, the survival plan for the Jamestown colonists depended upon regular supplies from England and trade with the Native Americans. The location they selected was largely cutting off from the mainland and offered lilliputian game for hunting, no fresh drinking water, and very express ground for farming. Helm Newport returned to England twice, delivering the First Supply and the 2d Supply missions during 1608, and leaving the
Discovery
for the use of the colonists. However, death from illness and conflicts with the Natives Americans took a fearsome price on the colonists. Despite attempts at mining minerals, growing silk, and exporting the native Virginia tobacco, no profitable exports had been identified, and it was unclear whether the settlement would survive financially.^{[
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Powhatan Confederacy

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The Powhatan Confederacy was a confederation of numerous linguistically related tribes in the eastern part of Virginia. The Powhatan Confederacy controlled a territory known every bit Tsenacommacah, which roughly corresponded with the Tidewater region of Virginia. It was in this territory that the English established Jamestown. At the time of the English language arrival, the Powhatan were led by the paramount chief Wahunsenacawh.

Popham colony and Plymouth visitor

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On May 31, 1607, nearly 100 men and boys left England for what is at present Maine. Approximately three months later, the group landed on a wooded peninsula where the Kennebec River meets the Atlantic Ocean and began building Fort St. George. Past the end of the twelvemonth, due to limited resources, half of the colonists returned to England. Belatedly the next year, the remaining 45 sailed habitation, and the Plymouth company fell fallow.^[18]

Lease of 1609 – the London company expands

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In 1609, with the abandonment of the Plymouth Company settlement, the London Company’s Virginia charter was adjusted to include the territory north of the 34th parallel and south of the 39th parallel, with its original littoral grant extended “from sea to body of water”. Thus, at least according to James I’southward writ, the Virginia Colony in its original sense extended to the coast of the Pacific Sea, in what is now California, with all the states in between (Kentucky, Missouri, Colorado, Utah, etc.) belonging to Virginia. For practical purposes, though, the colonists rarely ventured far inland to what was known as “The Virginia Wilderness”, although the concept itself helped renew the interest of investors, and boosted funds enabled an expanded try, known equally the Third Supply.^{[
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1609 Third Supply and Bermuda

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For the Third Supply, the London Visitor had a new ship built. The
Sea Venture
was specifically designed for emigration of boosted colonists and transporting supplies. It became the flagship of the Admiral of the convoy, Sir George Somers. The Third Supply was the largest to date, with viii other ships joining the
Sea Venture. The new Captain of the
Sea Venture
was the mission’s Vice-Admiral, Christopher Newport. Hundreds of new colonists were aboard the ships. However, conditions was to drastically touch the mission.^{[
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A few days out of London, the nine ships of the 3rd supply mission encountered a massive hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. They became separated during the three days the storm lasted. Admiral Somers had the new
Sea Venture, conveying nearly of the supplies of the mission, deliberately driven aground onto the reefs of Bermuda to avoid sinking. Nevertheless, while there was no loss of life, the ship was wrecked beyond repair, stranding its survivors on the uninhabited archipelago, to which they laid claim for England.^[19]

The survivors at Bermuda eventually built two smaller ships and most of them continued on to Jamestown, leaving a few on Bermuda to secure the claim. The Company’s possession of Bermuda was made official in 1612, when the 3rd and final charter extended the boundaries of ‘Virginia’ far enough out to sea to comprehend Bermuda.^[20]
Bermuda has since been known officially too every bit
The Somers Isles
(in commemoration of Admiral Somers). The shareholders of the Virginia Company spun off a 2d company, the Somers Isles Company, which administered Bermuda from 1615 to 1684.^{[
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Upon their arrival at Jamestown, the survivors of the
Bounding main Venture
discovered that the x-month delay had greatly aggravated other agin conditions. Seven of the other ships had arrived carrying more colonists, but fiddling in the fashion of food and supplies. Combined with a drought, and hostile relations with the Native Americans, the loss of the supplies that had been aboard the
Sea Venture
resulted in the Starving Fourth dimension in late 1609 to May 1610, during which over 80% of the colonists perished. Conditions were so agin it appears, from skeletal evidence, that the survivors engaged in cannibalism.^[21]
The survivors from Bermuda had brought few supplies and food with them, and information technology appeared to all that Jamestown must be abandoned and information technology would exist necessary to render to England.^{[
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Abandonment and Fourth supply

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Statistics regarding mortality rates

Dates	Population	New arrivals
Easter, 1619	~i,000
Easter, 1620	866
1620–1621		1,051
Easter 1621	843
1620–1624		~four,000
Feb 1624	i,277
During this time, perhaps 5,000 Virginians died of disease or were killed in the Indian massacre of 1622.[22]

Samuel Argall was the captain of one of the seven ships of the Third Supply that had arrived at Jamestown in 1609 subsequently becoming separated from the
Sea Venture, whose fate was unknown. Depositing his passengers and limited supplies, he returned to England with word of the plight of the colonists at Jamestown. The Male monarch authorized another leader, Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, later better known as “Lord Delaware”, to have greater powers, and the London Company organized another supply mission. They set sail from London on April ane, 1610.

Just afterward the survivors of the Starving Fourth dimension and those who had joined them from Bermuda had abandoned Jamestown, the ships of the new supply mission sailed up the James River with nutrient, supplies, a dr., and more colonists. Lord Delaware was determined that the colony was to survive, and he intercepted the departing ships about 10 miles (xvi km) downstream of Jamestown. The colonists thanked Providence for the Colony’s salvation.

Due west proved far harsher and more belligerent toward the Indians than any of his predecessors, engaging in wars of conquest against them. He kickoff sent Gates to drive off the Kecoughtan from their village on July 9, 1610, then gave Primary Powhatan an ultimatum to either render all English subjects and property, or face up war. Powhatan responded by insisting that the English either stay in their fort or leave Virginia. Enraged, De la Warr had the hand of a Paspahegh captive cutting off and sent him to the paramount chief with another ultimatum: Return all English subjects and property, or the neighboring villages would be burned. This time, Powhatan did not fifty-fifty answer.

Showtime Anglo-Powhatan War (1610–1614), John Rolfe and Pocahontas

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On August 9, 1610, tired of waiting for a response from Powhatan, West sent George Percy with lxx men to assail the Paspahegh capital, burning the houses and cutting downwards their cornfields. They killed 65 to 75, and captured ane of Wowinchopunk’s wives and her children. Returning downstream, the English threw the children overboard and shot out “their Braynes in the water”. The queen was put to the sword in Jamestown. The Paspahegh never recovered from this assail and abandoned their town. Some other small strength sent with Samuel Argall confronting the Warraskoyaks establish that they had already fled, but he destroyed their abandoned hamlet and cornfields every bit well. This event triggered the first Anglo-Powhatan War.

Among the individuals who had briefly abandoned Jamestown was John Rolfe, a
Ocean Venture
survivor who had lost his married woman and son in Bermuda. He was a businessman from London who had some untried seeds for new, sweeter strains of tobacco with him, likewise as some untried marketing ideas. It would turn out that John Rolfe held the key to the Colony’s economic success. By 1612, Rolfe’s new strains of tobacco had been successfully cultivated and exported, establishing a start cash ingather for consign. Plantations and new outposts sprung upwardly starting with Henricus, initially both upriver and downriver along the navigable portion of the James, and thereafter along the other rivers and waterways of the area. The settlement at Jamestown could finally be considered permanently established.^[23]

A period of peace followed the marriage in 1614 of colonist John Rolfe to Pocahontas, the daughter of Algonquian chief Powhatan.

2nd Anglo-Powhatan State of war (1622–1632)

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Indian Massacre of 1622

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The relations with the Natives took a plow for the worse later the decease of Pocahontas in England and the return of John Rolfe and other colonial leaders in May 1617. Disease, poor harvests and the growing demand for tobacco lands caused hostilities to escalate.

After Wahunsenacawh’due south death in 1618, he was before long succeeded past his ain younger brother, Opechancanough. He maintained friendly relations with the Colony on the surface, negotiating with them through his warrior Nemattanew, but by 1622, after Nemattanew had been slain, Opechancanough was fix to society a express surprise attack on them, hoping to persuade them to move on and settle elsewhere.

Chief Opechancanough organized and led a well-coordinated series of surprise attacks on multiple English language settlements along both sides of a 50-mile (80 km) long stretch of the James River, which took place early on the morning time of March 22, 1622. This event came to be known as the Indian Massacre of 1622 and resulted in the deaths of 347 colonists (including men, women, and children) and the abduction of many others. The Massacre caught nearly of the Virginia Colony by surprise and virtually wiped out several unabridged communities, including Henricus and Wolstenholme Town at Martin’s Hundred.

Jamestown was spared from destruction, however, due to a Virginia Indian male child named Chanco who, after learning of the planned attacks from his brother, gave warning to colonist Richard Step with whom he lived. Pace, after securing himself and his neighbors on the south side of the James River, took a canoe across the river to warn Jamestown, which narrowly escaped destruction, although there was no time to warn the other settlements.

A year later, Captain William Tucker and Dr. John Potts worked out a truce with the Powhatan and proposed a toast using liquor laced with poison. 200 Virginia Indians were killed or made ill by the poison and 50 more were slaughtered past the colonists. For over a decade, the English settlers killed Powhatan men and women, captured children and systematically razed villages, seizing or destroying crops.

Past 1634, a half dozen-mile-long palisade was completed beyond the Virginia Peninsula. The new palisade provided some security from attacks by the Virginia Indians for colonists farming and fishing lower on the Peninsula from that point.

On April 18, 1644, Opechancanough over again tried to force the colonists to carelessness the region with some other series of coordinated attacks, killing nearly 500 colonists. Yet, this was a much less devastating portion of the growing population than had been the example in the 1622 attacks.

Crown colony (1624–1652)

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In 1620, a successor to the Plymouth Visitor sent colonists to the New World aboard the
Mayflower. Known as Pilgrims, they successfully established a settlement in what became Massachusetts. The portion of what had been Virginia north of the 40th parallel became known equally New England, according to books written by Captain John Smith, who had made a voyage there.

In 1624, the charter of the Virginia Company was revoked past King James I and the Virginia Colony was transferred to imperial authority in the class of a crown colony. Subsequent charters for the Maryland Colony in 1632 and to the eight Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina in 1663 and 1665 further reduced the Virginia Colony to roughly the coastal borders it held until the American Revolution. (The exact border with N Carolina was disputed until surveyed past William Byrd 2 in 1728.)

Third Anglo-Powhatan War (1644–1646)

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Later twelve years of peace post-obit the Indian Wars of 1622–1632, another Anglo–Powhatan War began on March 18, 1644, every bit a last effort by the remnants of the Powhatan Confederacy, all the same under Opechancanough, to dislodge the English settlers of the Virginia Colony. Around 500 colonists were killed, but that number represented a relatively low percentage of the overall population, as opposed to the earlier massacre (the 1622 attack had wiped out a third; that of 1644 barely a 10th). Still, Opechancanough, notwithstanding preferring to use Powhatan tactics, did not make any major follow-upward to this attack.

This was followed by another effort by the settlers to decimate the Powhatan. In July, they marched confronting the Pamunkey, Chickahominy, and Powhatan proper; and south of the James, confronting the Appomattoc, Weyanoke, Warraskoyak, and Nansemond, as well as ii Carolina tribes, the Chowanoke and Secotan.

In February – March 1645, the colony ordered the structure of four frontier forts: Fort Charles at the falls of the James, Fort James on the Chickahominy, Fort Purple at the falls of the York and Fort Henry at the falls of the Appomattox, where the modern city of Petersburg is located.

In Baronial 1645, the forces of Governor William Berkeley stormed Opechancanough’s stronghold. All captured males in the village over age eleven were deported to Tangier Island.^[24]
Opechancanough, variously reported to be 92 to 100 years erstwhile, was taken to Jamestown. While a prisoner, Opechancanough was shot in the dorsum and killed by a soldier assigned to guard him.^[25]
His expiry resulted in the disintegration of the Powhatan Confederacy into its component tribes, whom the colonists continued to attack.

Treaty of 1646

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In the peace treaty of October 1646, the new
weroance, Necotowance, and the subtribes formerly in the Confederacy, each became tributaries to the King of England. At the same time, a racial frontier was delineated between Indian and English language settlements, with members of each group forbidden to cross to the other side except by a special pass obtained at ane of the newly erected edge forts. The extent of the Virginia colony open to patent by English colonists was defined equally: All the land between the Blackwater and York rivers, and up to the navigable betoken of each of the major rivers – which were continued past a directly line running directly from modern Franklin on the Blackwater, northwesterly to the Appomattoc village abreast Fort Henry, and standing in the aforementioned direction to the Monocan village to a higher place the falls of the James, where Fort Charles was built, then turning sharp right, to Fort Royal on the York (Pamunkey) river. Necotowance thus ceded the English vast tracts of notwithstanding-uncolonized state, much of it between the James and Blackwater. English settlements on the peninsula northward of the York and below the Poropotank were also allowed, as they had already been at that place since 1640.

English language Civil State of war and Commonwealth (1642–1660)

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While the newer, Puritan colonies, most notably Massachusetts, were dominated by Parliamentarians, the older colonies sided with the Crown. The Virginia Company’southward two settlements, Virginia and Bermuda (Bermuda’due south Independent Puritans were expelled equally the Eleutheran Adventurers, settling the Commonwealth of the bahamas under William Sayle), Antigua and Barbados were conspicuous in their loyalty to the Crown, and were singled out past the Rump Parliament in An Deed for prohibiting Trade with the Barbadoes, Virginia, Bermuda and Antego in Oct 1650. This dictated that:

[D]ue punishment [exist] inflicted upon the said Delinquents, practise[es] Declare all and every the said persons in Barbada’s, Antego, Bermuda’southward and Virginia, that take contrived, abetted, aided or assisted those horrid Rebellions, or have since willingly joyned with them, to exist notorious Robbers and Traitors, and such as by the Law of Nations are not to be permitted any maner of Commerce or Traffique with whatsoever people any; and do[es] forbid to all maner of persons, Foreiners, and others, all maner of Commerce, Traffique and Correspondency whatsoever, to be used or held with the said Rebels in the Barbada’s, Bermuda’s, Virginia and Antego, or either of them.

The Act also authorised Parliamentary privateers to act against English vessels trading with the rebellious colonies: “All Ships that Trade with the Rebels may be surprized. Goods and tackle of such ships not to be embezeled, till judgement in the Admiralty; Two or 3 of the Officers of every ship to exist examined upon oath.”

Virginia’s population swelled with Cavaliers during and afterward the English Civil War. Under the tenure of Crown Governor William Berkeley (1642–1652; 1660–1677), the population expanded from 8,000 in 1642 to 40,000 in 1677.^[26]
Despite the resistance of the Virginia Cavaliers, Virginian Puritan Richard Bennett was made Governor answering to Cromwell in 1652, followed past ii more nominal “Democracy Governors”. All the same, the colony was rewarded for its loyalty to the Crown by Charles the II following the Restoration when
he dubbed it the
Quondam Dominion.
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Crown colony restoration (1660–1775)

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With the Restoration in 1660 the Governorship returned to its previous holder, Sir William Berkeley.

In 1676, Salary’due south Rebellion challenged the political order of the colony. While a military failure, its handling did event in Governor Berkeley being recalled to England.

In 1679, the Treaty of Centre Plantation was signed between King Charles II and several Native American groups.

Williamsburg era

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Virginia was the largest, richest, and most influential of the American colonies, where conservatives were in total command of the colonial and local governments. At the local level, Church of England parishes handled many local affairs, and they in turn were controlled not by the minister, but rather by a closed circumvolve of rich landowners who comprised the parish vestry. Ronald 50. Heinemann emphasizes the ideological conservatism of Virginia while noting there were too religious dissenters who were gaining strength by the 1760s:

The tobacco planters and farmers of Virginia adhered to the concept of a hierarchical society that they or their ancestors had brought with them from England. Nigh held to the general idea of a Groovy Chain of Existence: at the top were God and his heavenly host; next came kings…who were divinely sanctioned to rule, then an hereditary aristocracy who were followed in descending order by wealthy landed gentry, small, independent farmers, tenant farmers, servants….Aspirations to rise above ane’s station in life were considered a sin.^[27]

In actual practice, colonial Virginia never had a bishop to represent God nor a hereditary aristocracy with titles like ‘duke’ or ‘baron’. However, information technology did take a royal governor appointed by the rex, as well as a powerful landed gentry. The condition quo was strongly reinforced by what Jefferson called “feudal and unnatural distinctions” that were vital to the maintenance of aristocracy in Virginia. He targeted laws such as entail and primogeniture past which the oldest son inherited all the land. As a outcome increasingly large plantations, worked by white tenant farmers and by blackness slaves, gained in size and wealth and political power in the eastern (“Tidewater”) tobacco areas. Maryland and S Carolina had similar hierarchical systems, as did New York and Pennsylvania.^[28]
During the Revolutionary era, all such laws were repealed by the new states.^[29]
The most fervent Loyalists left for Canada or Britain or other parts of the Empire. They introduced primogeniture in Upper Canada (Ontario) in 1792, and it lasted until 1851. Such laws lasted in England until 1926.^[30]

American Revolution

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Relations with the Natives

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Every bit the English expanded out from Jamestown, encroachment of the new arrivals and their ever-growing numbers on what had been Indian lands resulted in several conflicts with the Virginia Indians. For much of the 17th century, English contact and conflict were mostly with the Algonquian peoples that populated the littoral regions, primarily the Powhatan Confederacy. Following a serial of wars and the decline of the Powhatan equally a political entity, the colonists expanded w in the tardily 17th and 18th centuries, encountering the Shawnee, Iroquoian-speaking peoples such as the Nottoway, Meherrin, Iroquois and Cherokee, as well every bit Siouan-speaking peoples such as the Tutelo, Saponi, and Occaneechi.

Iroquois Confederacy

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As the English settlements expanded beyond the Tidewater territory traditionally occupied by the Powhatan, they encountered new groups with which there had been minimal relations with the Colony.

In the tardily 17th century, the Iroquois Confederacy expanded into the Western region of Virginia every bit part of the Beaver Wars. They arrived soon earlier the English settlers, and displaced the resident Siouan tribes.

Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood made further advances in policy with the Virginia Indians along the borderland. In 1714, he established Fort Christanna to help educate and merchandise with several tribes with which the colony had friendly relations, as well as to aid protect them from hostile tribes. In 1722 the Treaty of Albany was signed past leaders of the 5 Nations of Iroquois, Province of New York, Colony of Virginia, and Province of Pennsylvania.

Lord Dunmore’due south State of war

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Geography

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The cultural geography of colonial Virginia gradually evolved, with a variety of settlement and jurisdiction models experimented with. By the late 17th century and into the 18th century, the primary settlement pattern was based on plantations (to grow tobacco), farms, and some towns (mostly ports or courthouse villages).

Early settlements

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The fort at Jamestown, founded in 1607, remained the primary settlement of the colonists for several years. A few strategic outposts were constructed, including Fort Algernon (1609) at the archway to the James River.

Early on attempts to occupy strategic locations already inhabited by natives at what is now Richmond and Suffolk failed owing to native resistance.

A curt altitude farther up the James, in 1611, Thomas Dale began the structure of a progressive development at Henricus on and virtually what was later known equally Farrars Isle. Henricus was envisioned as possible replacement capital for Jamestown, and was to have the kickoff college in Virginia. (The ill-fated Henricus was destroyed during the Indian Massacre of 1622). In addition to creating the new settlement at Henricus, Dale also established the port town of Bermuda Hundred, as well as “Bermuda Cittie” (sic) in 1613, now office of Hopewell, Virginia. He began the excavation work at Dutch Gap, using methods he had learned while serving in The netherlands.

“Hundreds”

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Once tobacco had been established as an export greenbacks crop, investors became more interested and groups of them united to create largely self-sufficient “hundreds.” The term “hundred” is a traditional English proper name for an administrative division of a shire (or county) to define an area which would back up 1 hundred heads of household.^[31]
In the colonial era in Virginia, the “hundreds” were big developments of many acres, necessary to back up land hungry tobacco crops. The “hundreds” were required to be at least several miles from any existing customs. Soon, these patented tracts of land sprang upward along the rivers. The investors sent shiploads of settlers and supplies to Virginia to establish the new developments. The administrative centers of Virginia’s hundreds were essentially small towns or villages, and were often palisaded for defense.

An example was Martin’s Hundred, located downstream from Jamestown on the due north banking concern of the James River. It was sponsored by the Martin’s Hundred Society, a grouping of investors in London. Information technology was settled in 1618, and Wolstenholme Towne was its administrative center, named for Sir John Wolstenholme, one of the investors.

Bermuda Hundred (now in Chesterfield County) and Flowerdew Hundred (now in Prince George Canton) are other names which have survived over centuries. Others included Berkeley Hundred, Bermuda Nether Hundred, Bermuda Upper Hundred, Smith’s Hundred, Digges Hundred, West Hundred and Shirley Hundred (and, in Bermuda,
Harrington Hundreds).

Including the creation of the “hundreds”, the various incentives to investors in the Virginia Colony finally paid off by 1617. Past this time, the colonists were exporting 50,000 pounds of tobacco to England a twelvemonth and were kickoff to generate enough profit to ensure the economic survival of the colony.

Cities, Shires, and Counties

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In 1619, the plantations and developments were divided into four “incorporations” or “citties” (sic), as they were called. These were Charles Cittie, Elizabeth Cittie, Henrico Cittie, and James Cittie, which included the relatively pocket-size seat of regime for the colony at Jamestown Island. Each of the 4 “citties” (sic) extended across the James River, the main conduit of transportation of the era. Elizabeth Cittie, known initially every bit Kecoughtan (a Native word with many variations in spelling by the English), also included the areas now known as South Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore.

In 1634, a new system of local government was created in the Virginia Colony by club of the Male monarch of England. Viii shires were designated, each with its own local officers. Inside a few years, the shires were renamed counties, a system that has remained to the present day.

Later settlements

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In 1630, under the governorship of John Harvey, the first settlement on the York River was founded. In 1632, the Virginia legislature voted to build a fort to link Jamestown and the York River settlement of Chiskiack and protect the colony from Indian attacks. In 1634, a palisade was built well-nigh Heart Plantation. This wall stretched beyond the peninsula between the York and James rivers and protected the settlements on the eastern side of the lower Peninsula from Indians. The wall too served to comprise cattle.

In 1699, a new capital was established and built at Middle Plantation, soon renamed Williamsburg.

Northern Neck Proprietary

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In the menses following the English language Ceremonious War, the exiled King Charles Ii of England hoped to shore up the loyalty of several of his supporters by granting them a significant surface area of mostly uncharted state to control as a Proprietary in Virginia (a claim that would only be valid were the king to return to power). While under the jurisdiction of the Virginia Colony, the proprietary maintained complete control of the granting of land within that territory (and revenues obtained from it) until later the American Revolution. The grant was for the land between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers, which included the titular Northern Neck, but as time went on also would include all of what is today Northern Virginia and into W Virginia. Due to ambiguities of the text of the various grants causing disputes between the proprietary and the colonial regime, the tract was finally demarcated via the Fairfax Line in 1746.

Government and law

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In the initial years under the Virginia Company, the colony was governed by a quango, headed by a quango President. From 1611 to 1618, under the orders of Sir Thomas Dale, the settlers of the colony were under a regime of civil law that became known as Dale’s Code.^[32]

Under a charter from the visitor in 1618, a new model of governance was put in place in 1619, which created a new Business firm of Burgesses.^[32]
On July 30, 1619, burgesses met at Jamestown Church equally the commencement elected representative legislative assembly in the New World.^[32]
The legal system in the colony was thereafter based effectually the English mutual law.

For much of the history of the Royal Colony, the formal appointed governor was absentee, oft remaining in England. In his stead, a series of interim or Lieutenant Governors who were physically present held actual authority. In the later years of its history, as it became increasingly civilized, more than governors fabricated the journey.

The first settlement in the colony, Jamestown, served as the capital letter and primary port of entry from its founding until 1699. During this time, a series of statehouses (capitols) were used and after consumed by fires (both accidental, and in the case of Bacon’s Rebellion, intentional). Following such a fire, in 1699 the capital was relocated inland, away from the swampy clime of Jamestown to Middle Plantation, soon to be renamed Williamsburg.

The capital of Virginia remained in Williamsburg, until it was moved further inland to Richmond in 1779 during the American Revolution.

Economy

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The entrepreneurs of the Virginia Company experimented with a number of means of making the colony profitable. The orders sent with the starting time colonists instructed that they search for precious metals (specifically gilt). While no gold was constitute, various products were sent back, including pitch and clapboard. In 1608, early on attempts were made at breaking the Continental agree on glassmaking through the creation of a glassworks. In 1619, the colonist built the beginning ironworks in North America.

In 1612, settler John Rolfe planted tobacco obtained from Bermuda (during his stay there as part of the Third Supply). Within a few years, the crop proved extremely lucrative in the European market. Every bit the English increasingly used tobacco products, the product of tobacco in the American Colonies became a significant economical commuter, especially in the tidewater region surrounding the Chesapeake Bay.

Colonists developed plantations along the rivers of Virginia, and social/economical systems developed to grow and distribute this cash crop. Some elements of this system included the importation and utilise of enslaved Africans to cultivate and process crops, which included harvesting and drying periods. Planters would accept their workers fill up large hogsheads with tobacco and convey them to inspection warehouses. In 1730, the Virginia Firm of Burgesses standardized and improved the quality of tobacco exported by establishing the Tobacco Inspection Act of 1730, which required inspectors to course tobacco at 40 specified locations.

Culture

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Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1620	2,200	—
1630	2,500	+13.vi%
1640	10,442	+317.vii%
1650	18,731	+79.4%
1660	27,020	+44.3%
1670	35,309	+30.7%
1680	43,596	+23.5%
1690	53,046	+21.7%
1700	58,560	+ten.4%
1710	78,281	+33.7%
1720	87,757	+12.i%
1730	114,000	+29.9%
1740	180,440	+58.iii%
1750	231,033	+28.0%
1760	339,726	+47.0%
1770	447,016	+31.6%
1780	538,004	+20.iv%
Source: 1620–1760;[33] 1770–1780[34]

Ethnic origins

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England supplied the great majority of colonists. In 1608, the first Poles and Slovaks arrived as part of a grouping of skilled craftsmen.^{[35]
[36]
[37]
[38]}
In 1619, the first Africans arrived. Many more Africans were imported as slaves, such equally Angela.^[39]
In the early 17th century, French Huguenots arrived in the colony every bit refugees from religious warfare.^[forty]

In the early 18th century, indentured German language-speaking colonists from the iron-working region of Nassau-Siegen arrived to found the Germanna settlement.^[41]
Scots-Irish settled on the Virginia frontier.^[42]
Some Welsh arrived, including some ancestors of Thomas Jefferson.^[43]

Servitude and slavery

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With the boom in tobacco planting, there was a astringent shortage of laborers to work the labor-intensive crop. One method to solve the shortage was through the usage of indentured servants.

By the 1640s, legal documents started to define the changing nature of indentured servants and their status equally servants. In 1640, John Punch was sentenced to lifetime servitude as punishment for trying to escape from his master Hugh Gwyn. This is the earliest legal sanctioning of slavery in Virginia.^[44]
After this trial, the relationship between indentured servants and their masters changed, as planters saw permanent servitude a more than highly-seasoned and assisting prospect than vii-year indentures.

As many indentured workers were illiterate, particularly Africans, there were opportunities for corruption by planters and other indenture holders. Some ignored the expiration of servants’ indentured contracts and tried to keep them as lifelong workers. 1 example is with Anthony Johnson, who argued with Robert Parker, some other planter, over the condition of John Casor, formerly an indentured servant of his. Johnson argued that his indenture was for life and Parker had interfered with his rights. The court ruled in favor of Johnson and ordered that Casor be returned to him, where he served the balance of his life as a slave.^[45]
Such documented cases marked the transformation of Black Africans from indentured servants into slaves.

In the late 17th century, the Royal African Company, which was established by the King of England to supply the great demand for labor to the colonies, had a monopoly on the provision of African slaves to the colony.^[46]
As plantation agriculture was established earlier in Barbados, in the early years, enslaved people were shipped from Barbados (where they were seasoned) to the colonies of Virginia and Carolina.

Religion

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In 1619, the Anglican Church was formally established as the official religion in the colony, and would remain and so until shortly afterwards the American Revolution. Institution meant that local revenue enhancement funds paid the parish costs, and that the parish had local civic functions such as poor relief. The upper grade planters controlled the vestry, which ran the parish and chose the minister. The church in Virginia was controlled past the Bishop of London, who sent priests and missionaries, but at that place were never plenty, and they reported very low standards of personal morality.^[47]
By the 1760s, dissenting Protestants, especially Baptists and Methodists, were growing rapidly and started challenging the Anglicans for moral leadership.^{[48]
[49]
[l]}

Education and literacy

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The first printing press used in Virginia began functioning in Jamestown on June 8, 1680, though within a few years it was shut down past the Governor and Crown of England for want of a license.^[51]
It was not until 1736 that the get-go paper, the
Virginia Gazette, began circulation under printer William Parks of Williamsburg.^[51]

The Syms-Eaton Academy, started in 1634, became the first costless public school in America. Private tutors were often favored amidst those families who could afford them.^[52]

For near of the 17th century, a university didactics for settlers of Virginia required a journey to England or Scotland.^[52]
Such journeys were undertaken by wealthy young men. In the early years, many settlers received their education prior to immigrating to the colony.^[52]

In 1693, the Higher of William and Mary was founded at Middle Plantation (soon renamed Williamsburg). The college included a common school for Virginia Indians, supplemented by local pupils, which lasted until a 1779 overhaul of the institution’due south curriculum.^[52]
The college, located in the capital and center of the Tidewater region, dominated the colony’s intellectual climate until after independence.^[52]
[53]

After 1747, some Virginians began to attend institutions at Princeton and Philadelphia. Generations began to move westward into the Piedmont and Blue Ridge areas.^[52]
It is in this region of Virginia that two future Presbyterian colleges trace their origins to lower-level institutions founded in this time period. First, what would become Hampden–Sydney College was founded in 1775, immediately prior to the American Revolution. Likewise, Augusta University was a classical school that would evolve into Washington and Lee University (though would not grant its first available’south degree until 1785).

Run into likewise

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References

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Further reading

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External links

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• Library of Congress: Evolution of the Virginia Colony, 1610–1630