The Founding of Jamestown

The English Tradition

• England was a monarchy limited by a lawmaking body called Parliament

• English law limited the king’s power

• English law guaranteed the right to trial by jury

• Parliament had to approve taxes

England Seeks Colonies

• England began to set up colonies in North America in the late 1500s

• Roanoke colony is established in 1585, but then abandoned

• England tries one more time in Roanoke in 1587. By 1590, the colony mysteriously disappeared

Founding Jamestown

• In 1607, a group of wealthy people formed the Virginia Company of London

• They want to permanently settle in North America, looking for:– Gold or silver– Trade with Native Americans– Raw materials (grapes, mulberry trees, lumber)

Founding Jamestown

• England’s King James I grants the company a charter

• In 1607, 100 men build a fort in Chesapeake Bay, establishing the first permanent settlement: Jamestown

Jamestown, 1607

On the Brink of Failure

• Jamestown almost fails in it’s first year, why?:– Colonists caught

diseases (malaria)– English “Gentlemen”

have no intention to work

• Local Native Americans supplied some food to the colonists to survive

John Smith and the “Starving Time”

• By 1608, 38 colonists were all that remained

• John Smith is sent from London to take control

• Sets the important rule: “He who works not, eats not.”

• Jamestown prospers, but Smith is sent back to England, initiating the “Starving Time” in the colony 1609 - 1610

Tobacco Saves Jamestown

• Tobacco saves Jamestown and becomes very profitable

• John Rolfe introduces a particular breed of tobacco he somehow found in South America

• Virginia becomes stable enough to create a society with a government

The House of Burgesses

• In 1619, Virginia creates a law making body called the House of Burgesses

• The house is a representative democracy• The house marked the start of representative

government in North America

The House of Burgesses

Africans Come to Virginia

• In 1619, a Dutch ship arrives in Virginia and sells 20 slaves to the colonists in Jamestown

• Slaves did not necessarily serve for life, but could earn their freedom

• Permanent slavery is not established in Virginia until the late 1600s