Building the Jamestown Colony

3-4Pages 87-91

First English Colony• Sir Walter Raleigh and 100 men established the

colony of Roanoke off the coast of NC in 1585• After a year, they grew tired of the conditions

and returned to England• John White returned in 1587 to reestablish the

colony• White returned to England to get more supplies

for the colony.• Due to war with Spain, he could not return to the

colony for three years• There were no traces of the colonists when he

returned (CROATOAN)

Jamestown: Challenge and Survival

• England did not make another colonization attempt for 20 years

• VA Company receive charter from James I to establish a colony

• The charter guaranteed colonists same rights of Englishmen

• 1607-colonists arrive and build homes along James River

• Colony called Jamestown in honor of King James I

• Problems existed:– Built on marsh disease/malaria– Little future planning done by government officials– Starvation b/c colonists were looking for gold more than

they were planting corn• John Smith helps save the colony by enforcing that all

people work if they wanted food• Secured supply of corn from Powhatan (Indian chief)– Colonists threatened natives with force when they refused

to given them more corn– Violent encounters – Peaceful relations for a short time when John Rolfe

marries Pocahontas

• Conditions in Jamestown improved when colonists began growing tobacco

• This crop secures the Jamestown economy

Representative Government

• Initially the colony was run like a military outpost-harsh rule and consequences

• This type of lifestyle did not attract new colonists• 1619 establish a representative form of

government with the election of burgesses-representatives

• House of Burgesses-representative body of Jamestown

• VA Governor + representatives made laws

• English tradition of representative government:– Magna Carta– Great Council Parliament

• Initially, VA colonists had more freedoms than Englishmen under new government

• No voting restrictions on men until 1670 (white property owners only)

New Arrivals

• Begin to push for women to come to Jamestown by 1619

• Men who married new women colonists were charged 150 pounds of tobacco to be paid to VA Company

• Women made everything from scratch and suffered the same struggles of colonial life as men

• 1624 population record: less than 300 women and over 1,000 men

• 1619 Dutch sailor sold Africans to colonists• African agrarian skills valued by colonists• 1644-330 Africans in VA:– Servants– Slaves– Free planters (could vote for short time)

• By 1700s, African property owners couldn’t vote and slavery began to expand