Jamestown

1. Jamestown

2. King James I, in 1606, granted charters to two joint-stock companies, dividing British claims in North America between the Virginia Company of London and the Virginia Company of Plymouth. The original charters had no western boundaries; hence in theory, they ran from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The London Company was made up of merchants and gentry from the west of England and from London, itself. On December 20, 1606, three ships, the Susan Constant (120 tons), the Godspeed (40 tons), and the Discovery (20 tons) sailed with 144 passengers, under the command of Captain Christopher Newport. The ships briefly laid over at the Canary Islands and the Bahamas, before arriving in Virginia at Chesapeake Bay on April 26th with 104 survivors.

3. Following the orders of the London Company, and after facing a brief conflict with the local Indians, the Powhatan, the ships landed up the newly-named James River and encamped at what became Jamestown on May 13, 1607. Of the 104 survivors, 39 were noblemen and 36 gentlemen. The others were attendants, soldiers, and artisans skilled at metalwork —that is to say, they were goldsmiths and jewelers. Among the soldiers was a boorish troublemaker of immense ego, Captain John Smith. Smith’s mouth more than once got him into trouble with his commanders, as near the Canaries he was accused of trying to foment a mutiny and so was locked up for the rest of the voyage.When the settlers unsealed their orders, however, they found that Smith was named to the Council of the Colony and put in command of the day-to-day running of the settlement.

4. From the outset, the settlement was in trouble. Located on the site of an abandoned Indian village and in the Powhatan hunting grounds, it continually faced Indian attack. Many of the settlers refused to work. Instead they searched for gold and left the chore of building shelter to the soldiers. Instead of gathering or hunting for food, many stole it from the Indians, causing no small amount of hostility. The Indians raided Jamestown to steal weapons and gunpowder. Smith tried to force all to work and, failing that, traded for Indian maize. The English also made Chief Powhatan an ally of King James. This briefly improved relations with the Indians,but did little to guarantee the success of the colony, neither did the arrival of some women to the community. Conditions hit bottom during the winter of 1609-1610, after Smith returned to England as a result of an illness. That winter was known as “the Starving Time.” Crop yields were miniscule because of a drought, but there was still game in the woods and fish in the river. Despite that, however, starvation reduced the settlement’s population from nearly 500 down to 54 by the time a ship came with fresh provisions and new settlers inMay 1610.Shockingly, settlers resorted to cannibalism to survive. They dug up graves to eat the remains. Equally shocking, the new Assistant Governor recorded the settlers’ activities as he sailed in. They were not out foraging for food in the spring forests. They were bowling in the street! Obviously, this settlement needed a reworking.

5. In June 1610, Gov. Lord De la Warr restored order through a new code, the Lawes Divine, Moral, and Martiall. All settlers had to work in work gangs under military discipline. The new rules helped save the colony. The colony had still not found its purpose and the London Company’s investors were beginning to wonder whether it had been worth it, particularly after a new round of conflict with the Powhatan emerged about 1611. Eventually, an enterprising settler named John Rolfe did find a profitable crop. Rolfe arrived in Jamestown in May 1610. He brought with him some Spanish tobacco plantings. By 1612, he gave his friends a small sampling of his produce to see if it suited their tastes. While not of as good as Spanish tobacco at the time, it was palatable enough for larger-scale cultivation.By 1617, Virginia shipped 20,000pounds of tobacco to England and the crop was so profitable that it became known as “brown gold.”

6. Rolfe also brought peace with the Indians. In 1614, the First Powhatan War ended when Rolfe married the daughter of Chief Powhatan, Pocahontas. In 1616, Rolfe, Pocahontas, and their son traveled to England and Pocahontas met the King. Tragically, just before they set sail to return to the New World, the 22-year-old Pocahontas died, likely of pneumonia. She is buried in a churchyard at Gravesend.

7. With the colony saved, the London Company created a new policy for land distribution to entice more settlers. The headrightsystem promised that every new shareholder who settled in Virginia would get 50 acres of land for himself and 50 acres for each “family member” he brought over, including servants. The company also created a new constitution, granting settlers the “Rights of Englishmen.” In July 1619, Virginia created the House of Burgesses, America’s first legislative assembly. Its twenty-two members represented their settlements and governed along with a Governor and executive council. Two other events in 1619 expanded the colony: (1) more women arrived as the company sponsored the sale of women for wives – 90 women were bought for the princely sum of 125 pounds of tobacco – creating a better gender balance in the colony; (2) the first Africans arrived – they came on a Dutch trade ship, but were indentured servants, not slaves. In return for the master’s paying passage to America, an indentured servant contracted to work for him for seven years. After the term, the servant was free and received a headright of 50 acres.

8. Powhatan’s brother, Opechancanough, seems never to have accepted the settlers or his brother’s peace. Upon his brother’s death, in March 1622, he led raids on the settlement that turned into nearly two years of warfare. As a result of the war, James I revoked the Company’s charter and made Virginia a Royal Colony. Under the king’s authority for most of the remainder of the 1620s, Virginia stabilized and slowly began to prosper.

9. Maryland With settlements established in Virginia, others began to look at the Chesapeake region for opportunities. Many English Catholics faced intolerance and sought escape to religious freedom. In 1628-29, George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, visited the region to check out its prospect as a refuge for persecuted Catholics. His son, Cecil Calvert, Second Lord Baltimore, carried out the project.In 1632, King Charles I granted all lands from the Potomac River north to the Delaware River and a few hundred miles west to the Appalachians to Calvert.In return for a pledge of allegiance and a token payment of two Indian arrowheads and a royalty of one-fifth of any gold or silver discovered in the region,Calvert could create whatever type of government he chose, so long as any legislation was passed with the “Advice, Assent, and Approbation of the Free-Men.” Maryland was the successful first proprietary colony. Whereas the original colonies were run by a joint-stock company, and Virginia had become a royal colony run by the king, Maryland was given to a single man to do with whatever he chose. Saint Francis Xavier Church, Leonardtown, MD Rebuilt on original site (1766)

10. The hope of a religious sanctuary in Maryland was a failure. Puritans from Virginia moved into the colony. In the 1640s, as a Civil War raged between Puritans and the Catholic King in England, religious warfare erupted in Maryland. With Calvert's death, the Puritan William Stone became governor. Tensions continued until passage of the Maryland Act Concerning Religion in 1649. The law guaranteed religious toleration to all followers of Jesus Christ who believed in the Trinity. It is important to note, however, that the law promised toleration only for Trinitarian Christians. Under the Act, Jews and non-Trinitarian Christians (Quakers, Unitarians) were not permitted freedom of religion. The Act did, however, put an end to the broader religious strife. With the good chances for prosperity in tobacco production, settlement increased. By the 1670s, the population of Maryland neared 13,000, including: Catholic planters, Protestant farmers, indentured servants, and a small but increasing number of black slaves.

11. An Act Concerning Religion, Maryland 1649 Forasmuch as in a well governed and Christian Common Wealth matters concerning Religion and the honor of God ought in the first place to bee taken, into serious consideracion and endeavoured to bee settled, Be it therefore ordered and enacted by the Right Honourable Cecilius Lord Baron of Baltemore absolute Lord and Proprietary of this Province with the advise and consent of this Generall Assembly: That whatsoever person or persons within this Province and the Islands thereunto belonging shall from henceforth blaspheme God, that is Curse him, or deny our Saviour Jesus Christ to bee the sonne of God, or shall deny the holy Trinity the father sonne and holy Ghost, or the Godhead of any of the said Three persons of the Trinity or the Unity of the Godhead, or shall use or utter any reproachfull Speeches, words or language concerning the said Holy Trinity, or any of the said three persons thereof, shalbe punished with death and confiscation or forfeiture of all his or her lands and goods to the Lord Proprietary and his heires. And bee it also Enacted by the Authority and with the advise and assent aforesaid, That whatsoever person or persons shall from henceforth use or utter any reproachfull words or Speeches concerning the blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of our Saviour or the holy Apostles or Evangelists or any of them shall in such case for the first offence forfeit . . . the summe of five pound Sterling or the value thereof [in] goods and chattells, . . . but in case such Offender or Offenders, shall not then have goods and chattells sufficient [to pay] shalbe publiquely whipt and bee imprisoned. . . . And that every such Offender or Offenders for every second offence shall forfeit tenne pound sterling or the value thereof to bee levyed as aforesaid, or in case such offender or Offenders shall not then have goods and chattells within this Province sufficient for that purpose then to bee publiquely and severely whipt and imprisoned as before is expressed. And that every person or persons before mentioned offending herein the third time, shall for such third Offence forfeit all his lands and Goods and bee for ever banished and expelled out of this Province. . . .

13. New England Colonies: Plymouth

14. In 1541, the Reformation in Europe to a new twist when John Calvin created his church in Geneva, Switzerland. Calvin attracted “religious dissenters” from all over Western Europe, including John Knox who took Calvinism to Scotland creating the Presbyterian Church. Several Englishmen also went to Geneva, learned Calvin’s ideas, and brought them back to England. In 1564, they coin the term “Puritan,” meaning a person who wishes to purify the Church of England of its Catholic rituals. Specifically, they wished to reform the church organization and refocus church doctrine away from “works” and toward the belief that salvation comes by God’s grace alone. Organizationally, they wanted the church organized from the bottom up—the reverse of the Catholic Church. They wanted the congregation to be the primary force in decisions as to church personnel, calendar, and focus of lessons. For this reason, in America the descendant of Puritanism is called Congregationalism.

15. During the reign of King James I,the Puritans split into two groups: Puritans (who would reform the English church from within) and Separatists (who said England is lost beyond redemption; let’s find somewhere else to live). So they left the town of Scrooby in England and moved to the town of Leyden in the Netherlands in 1609. After years in Holland, the Scrooby Separatists feared the moral decay of their community amid the permissive Dutch culture. St. Wilfrid's Church in Scrooby

16. In 1619, the Separatists contracted with the London Company to settle in Virginia and the crown ensured that they could practice their religion freely there. With financial help from a group of merchant adventurers, they set up their voyage. In July 1620, the Separatistssailed to Southampton aboard the Speedwellto meet more Separatists and the 180-ton Mayflower. After two false starts, including a forced docking at Plymouth after the Speedwell turned out to be too leaky, 103 men, women, and childrenset sail aboard the Mayflower for Virginia. The Separatists called themselves Saints – those elected to heaven; the others, a majority of passengers who were going to Virginia to strike it rich, they called strangers. Two months later, they landed along Cape Cod, some 500 miles off course. Since they were outside the jurisdiction of the London Company, the men aboard wrote up a new contract for the settlement. Called the Mayflower Compact, it represented the first example of self-government in the New World. The settlers agreed to create a system of laws, to elect leaders, and to obey those laws and leaders.

17. A month later, on December 20th, after several reconnaissance missions, the settlers chose an abandoned Wampanoag village as the place to build their Plimoth Plantation. Out of food and exhausted, they discovered that they had made the right choice; for in the abandoned village they found buried a large store of maize, enough, when replenished with fish and game, to see the settlement through the winter.

18. In March of 1621 a truly strange coincidence further proved to the pilgrims that they were destined to come to Plymouth. A Mohegan Indian named Samoset arrived at the plantation to inform them that Massasoit, the Wampanoag chief, intended to visit. Another Indian, named Tisquantum, arrived with Samoset.Remarkably, Tisquantum began talking to the pilgrims in English and told them that he had seen London.Calling him Squanto, the pilgrims learned that he had been captured by European fishermen and sold into slavery to Spain. He had been in the West Indies and the Canaries and had escaped his Spanish captors and fled to England. While in England he learned English and then he arranged to board an English ship and sail back to America; just in time for him to be here when the pilgrims arrived. Squanto taught the pilgrims how to grow maize, fertilizing the ground with rotting fish. By the autumn, the pilgrims harvested their first crop and gave thanks to God for the bounty.

19. Massachusetts Bay Colony In 1628, in search of more capital to generate more settlement, the sponsors of several New England villages formed a joint-stock company, the Massachusetts Bay Company. They petitioned the king for a charter to land between the Charles River and the Merrimac River. The company’s primary goal was economic opportunity, but as conditions for Puritans in England worsened a second motive arose: freedom to practice their religion. In March 1630, led by Governor Winthrop, 400 Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Winthrop set out his plan for the colony in a sermon, titled “A Model of Christian Charity.” He declared that Massachusetts Bay should be a model community: a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people [upon them]. During the 1630s, some 80,000 people left England for the New World. It was known as the Great Migration. Of those, about 20,000 came to Massachusetts Bay.

20. “I durst not officiate to an unseparated people. [Unless they] make a public declaration of their repentance for having communion with the churches of England.” Roger Williams Though Winthrop was a devout Puritan, and was interested in maintaining power, he was not “puritanical” in his governance. He realized that the real threat to the colony was from religious zeal, not from internal social wickedness. Thus, he was rather a lenient ruler; and it was his leniency, not his chicanery, which forced him out of office. One of Winthrop’s main detractors was Roger Williams. Williams was a Separatist, but he came originally to Boston, not Plymouth.He would likely not have been happy anywhere, but he was especially unhappy in Boston. He believed that the Puritans’ earlier unwillingness to leave the Church of England contaminated him and would have nothing to do with them. So Williams made his way up to Salem to try out their congregation, but he found them just as unsatisfactory. Then he moved on to Plymouth to see if the Separatists themselves would meet his criteria. They did not.

21. Williams’ problem with the colonies was that they were too worldly. He believed that there should be complete separation of church and state and that no one could be coerced into belief. He held that the “perfect church” could have no contact with the unregenerate. This eventually led him to believe that no true church was even possible on Earth. Williams claimed that magistrates had no authority in religious matters. As his criticisms became less restrained and more dangerous to the stability of the colony,he was brought before the court to renounce his opinions. He refused, and talk began about deporting him to England. Before that happened, Governor Winthrop allowed him to escape Massachusetts. In 1636, he established the first permanent settlement in Rhode Island. He called it the Providence Plantation. • At Providence, Williams fulfilled his goals: • he bought the land from the Indians, something he had always criticized the settlers of Massachusetts Bay for not doing; • he permitted believers of any Faith and non-believers to live there; • government service required no religious test—there was complete separation of church and state.