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Read to BEseocnerr
t" Why were people in England
ffic6Eree
interested in founding
Jamestown, and when was the colony'established?
2. How did the Jamestown colonists interact with local
American lndians?
3. How did the English plantation system begin?
4. What role did indentured servants and enslaved Africans
have in Virginia's economy?
Many important historical places in the United States
have been protected and preserved. Use €Nl![,g,', or
other current events sources to f ind out about a histor-
.
.
headright
indentured servants
o planters
Edeue€Effy
. John Smith
r Powhatan Confederacy
. John Rolfe
. Pocahontas
. Nathaniel Bacon
. Bacon's Rebellion
ical site in the United States today. Record your findings
in your journal.
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g all
fucl'st;.x:ll
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Cwva{6ffi&&ss
Tn 1605 a cornpany of English merchants asked the Crown for
Ithe right to found a new settlement in North America. They
Virginia
extended from present-day Maine to South Carolina. In 1606
Kirg James I granted the request. He promised the London
Company the rights to "all the lands . . . rivers . . . [and] commodities [goods]" along part of the Virginia coast. The
company's efforts, wrote Kirg James, "*uy in time bring . . . a
asked to settle in a region called Virginia. At the time,
7
E
a
Posters like this one
settled and quiet government."
promoted the
opportunities that
were to be found in
the colonies.
Tf Settlement in Jamestown
The members of the London Company knew about the Roanoke colony's
failure. Theywanted to start a settlement without depending on the u'ealth
of just one person. Instead, investors formed a joint-stock company, which
allowed a group to share the cost and risk of founding a colonl'. Colonies
formed in this way were called company colonies. To attract investors and
settlers, the London Company printed advertisements praising Virginia.
Chapter
3
63The land yields . . .
[an] abundance of fish, infinite store
[endless supply] of deer, and hares, with many fruits and
roots. . . . There are hills and mountains making a sensible
proffer [offer] of hidden treasure, never yet searched.!?
-The
fualyzinq Primary Sourcos
ldentifying Bias What might
this report have left out of its
description of Virginia?
Virginia Company of London, quoted in Ordinary Americans,
edited by Linda R. Monk
The promise of such wealth attracted adventurers and people who were
suffering economic hardship in England.
On April 26,7607, the first three ships senr by the London Company
arrived off the virginia coast. The fleet brought 105 male colonists to
found a settlement. The ships sailed into Chesapeake Bay and up the
]ames River. About 40 miles upstream, the colonists founded their first
settlement, named /amestow,n after the English king.
The men who came to Iamestown were.poorly prepared to start a
settlement. IVIost were adventurers interested ir-r making their fortune
and returning to England. One of the colonists, Captain Iohn Smith,
complained that "ten good workmen would have done more substantial
work in a day than ten of these [colonists] in a week." In fact, verv t'ew.
colonists had farming experience or useful skills such as carpentrv.
/amestown was also a poor site for a settlement. The settlement was surrounded by marshes full of disease-carrving n-rosquitoes. In addition, the
river water was too saity to drink safely. These conditions proved deadlv.
By the time winter arrived, two thirds of the original colonists had died.
The few survivors were hungry and sick. The situation temporarily
improved after Smith took control of the colony in September 1608. He
forced the settlers to work and to build better housing. This reduced the
number of deaths from starvation and exposure.
,nprqfi
lf],
I {$)i
The London Company
founds Jamestown.
Jamestown The settlers at
Jamestown settled close by the
James River. Why do you think
the colonists built their settlement in the manner shown
l.t;.rr*ro*".
The English
Colonies 55
X
The Fowhatan Confederacy
The coionists also received help from the pou,erful Powhatan
Confederacv. \\rahunsonacock ( rvah -hoohn - slr H -nuh -kahk) led this
alliance of Algonquian Indians. At times, the Poul'ratan brought food to
aid the colonists. The Porr,hatan also taught them hort, to grou,corn.
The relationship betr.r,een the Pou,,hatan and the \rirginia colonists
was not entirelv peaceful, ho\,r,ever. The colonists at times took food
from the Pbu'hatan by force. f'hese actions led Wahunsonacock to sa\r:
66Why
will you take by force what you may obtain by love?
Why will you destroy us who supply you with food? What
can you get by war? . . . We are unarmed, and willing to give
you what you ask. if you come in a friendly .anne..?l
Analyzing Frimary Sourcos
ldentifying Points of View
.._Wahunsonacock, quoted in The Portable North American lndian Reader,
edited by Frederick W. Turner lll
How does Wahunsonacock
describe his people's view of
the colonists?
In 1609 some 400 ntore settlers arrived in Jamestorvn. An injurt.
from an accident forced |ohn Smith to return to England, ieaving the
settlers r'r,ithout a strong leader. That r,r,inter, disease and famine once
again hit the colonu The colonists called this pericld the "starving time."
Bv the spring cf 1610, onl1. 60 colonists \vere still alive.
Because the colonl,struggled to sur\.ive, |amestor,r'n failed to make a
profit fcrr the London Compant.. Colonist Iohn Rolfe helped solve this
problem in 1612. Smoking tobacco had been a favorite pastinte in
England since the 1560s. Tobacco greu,r,r,ell in \rirginia. Horvever, the
localvarietv 8ro\vn b), the Powhatan tryas too bitter for European tastes,
so Rolfe introduced a s\4reeter West Indian r.ariety. Soon the coionists
w'ere able to export tobacco to England successfullr,. As \rirginia colonist
John Porv wrote in 1 6I 9, 'All our riches for the present doe consiste in
[come from] Tobacco." Another important change in the colon,v was a
shift in land orvnership from the London Companr- to individual
colonists. The possibility of owning land attracted neu, settlers and thus
helped the colonv survive.
d
Readlmg ehee8<: Finding the Main ldea When did English settlers arrive
in Virginia, and what challenges did they face?
Research
on the
Yf War in Virginia
Free Find:
Pocahontas
After reading about
Pocahontas on the Holt
Researcher CD-ROM,
write a short essay
describing the way the
Powhatan treated the
English settlers of
Jamestown.
66
Chapter
3
John Rolfe married Pocahontas, Wahunsonacock's daughter, in 1614.
Their marriage helped the Jamestown colony form more peaceful relations with the Powhatan. Honever, in 1617 Pocahontas died while visiting England, and \\rahunsonacock died the next year. By that time, the
colonists no longer depended on the Powhatan for food. They lost interest in allying with their American Indian neighbors. Many colonists also
wanted to grow tobacco on American Indian lands. As the colony grew,
the Powhatan and the Virginia colonists came into greater conflict.
&i
1.1:
In
7622, colonists killed a Powhatan leader, Opechancanough
(ou-puh-chan-kuh-noh), the brother of Wahunsonacock, responded
by attacking the Virginia settlers iater that year. The Powhatan killed
about 350 men, women, and children. Among the dead was John Rolfe.
Angry survivors then burned American Indian villages. Fighting
between the colonists and the Powhatan continued for the next 20 years.
The war in Virginia showed that the London Company could not
help its colonists. Settlers were running short of supplies and were angry
that the Company failed to send thern any military support. These problems persuaded the English Crown to cancel the London Company's
charter in 1624. Virginia became a royal colony under the authority of a
governor chosen bv the king.
t/
meadEmg eBtee8<: Sequencing List the events that marked the Jamestown
colonists' changing relationship with American lndians in the proper
Pocahontas had this portrait
painted when she visited
England with John Rolfe in
sequence.
1615.
X' ffiaily Lite in Virginia
In early Virginia, people lived on scattered thrms rather than in towns.
Tobacco farmers soon began founding large farms called plantations.
These plantations were made possible in part by use of the headright
system. Under this system, colonists who paid their own rvay to Virginia
received 50 acres of land. A colonist could earn 50 acres more for er.erv
\--ffi1
MARYLAND i'
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&ouihr,.ro,r]1,*'r,ruo",
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N
"f
English Settlernent
in the Chesapeake
Region, 1607*X6VS
lmterpreting Maps English
colonies in the Chesapeake Bay
area were often located near
American lndian villages. The
contact between the two cultures
was sometimes cooperative but
often turned violent.
7
\\' w.ro*orofr5lo F
7\x- (F,owhatan Vlllaqe)
?
","r\,H"t- i
'$
s
'!
. The Worid in Spatial Terrns
What lndian villages were
located on the York River?
2. Analyzirng lnformation Near
what geographic features
were most English settlements
located? Why do you think
settlers chose these areas?
The English
h--.
Colonies 57
additional person brought from England. Rich colonists brought servants or relatives to Virginia and gained large amounts of land.
Those rvho brought relatives to Virgir-ria found that raising a famil,v
was difficult. Loved ones often died of deadlv diseases, such as malaria.
The London Companl,tried to bring women to the colonl.by offering
promises of marriage. However, during the early vears of the settlement
men outnumbered women seven to one. Colonial families in Virginia
focused on providing the basic necessities fbr themselves. ir'{ost colonists
pror,ided their ou,n food and shelter. Thel, also made eating utensils,
tools, furniture, and clothing b1' hand. Parents gar.e iessons in reading
and religion at home because there were no schools and feu,churches.
d
ReadEmq ehecE< Summarizing How and why did the plantation system
develop in the South?
X
The first enslaved Africans to
arrive in the English colonies
were brought in the early
1
600s.
*'i9t5l15ilil3l9l113-
*&nb
q
t-abor in Virginia
Colonists in \rirginia faced a hard life. Ther. suffered ven' high death
rates, which led to labor shortages ir-r the colonr,. N,iore laborers were
needed to u,ork on plantations and farms. The majoritl. of these r,r,orkers were indentured servants. These colonists signed a contract to r'r,ork
from four to se\.en years for those who paid their ship fare to America.
Of the earlv Virginia colonists, some 75 percent arrived as indentured
servants. In one such contract, Margarett Williams promised to u,ork
for plantation orvner Richard Srnyth for four vears. Srn1.tl-r agreed "to
pa,v for her focean] passing, and to find and allorv [provide] her meate,
drinke, apparrel Iclothes] and lodging."
Lir,ing conditions were poor, and sickness \\'as cornmon. As a result,
many indentured servants died before their term had ended. One servant u/rote to his parents: "I have eaten more in a day at home than I
have lhadl here for a week." Hou,ever, servants who survived their
period of indenture gained their freedom and lvere able to claim land.
Not all laborers in Virginia came from Europe. The first Africans
came toVirginia on a Dutch ship in 1619. SomeAfricans were indentured servants. Others had been enslaved.
African indentured servants worked and lir.ed
side by side with white indentured serr.ants and
had similar contracts. Some of them became
successful farmers when their contracts ended.
**r:
At first, indentured servants were more common than slaves in Virginia. These servants were
clearll, less expensive to bring to the colonies
than slaves. However, the demand for workers
h,as greater than the supply. of people willing to
work as indentured serrrants under the harsh
cor-rditions. Over time the cost of slaves fell.
particularly planters-wealthy farmers with large plantations-to turn to slave labor. By the late 1500s most
Africans in Virginia were being kept in lifelong slavery. The widespread
use of slave labor helped some tobacco plantation owners become rich.
However, this wealth came at a great cost in human life and liberty.
These factors led some colonists,
X
Bacon's Rebellion
During the mid- 1600s many colonists grew increasingly unhappy with
conditions in the colonv. They were angered by the governor's tight control over the colony and his refusal to call elections. Poor colonists also
believed that members of Virginia's assembly were ignoring their concerns. Thev complained about higher taxes and the lack of available
farmland. N,lanv of them began farming on land belonging to American
Indians. In doing so, they ignored treaties between the government and
local American Indians.
In 1676 a group of former indentured servants attacked some peaceful American Indians. These angry colonists lvere led b1, Nathaniel
@, a wealthy frontier planter and a relative of the governor. \\hen
the governor tried to stop Bacon, he and his fbllow'ers attacked and
burned lamestown. The uprising was known as Bacon's Rebellion. At
one point Bacon controlled much of the colony. After he died of fever,
however, the rebellion soon ended, and 23 of the remaining rebels were
eventually hanged. Following the rebellion, the Virginia colonists found
it difficult to make peace with American Indians. In addition, fears of
future uprisings by former indentured servants led some planters ir-r
Virginia to depend more on slavery.
y' meadamg ChecB<: Analyzing lnformation What factors led to the
Bacon's Rebellion This scene
shows a confrontation
between Nathaniel Bacon at
the right and Governor William
Berkeley on the left. What is
th reaten i ng a bout Ba co n's
appearance in this image?
increased use of slave labor in Virginia?
@
Uefine and explain:
headright
o indentured servants
o
o
@
copy
the graphic organizer
below. Use it to
planters
ldentify
expl
a
i
ano
"
o
Pocahontas
" Nathaniel
Bacon
u
\
Problems
fnghnd
)
/
f
\
Advantages
\
ol
t
Bacon's
Rebellion
@ Writing
colony in 1607.
in
Jamestown Colony,
1607
finaing the Main ldea
a. Provide examples of the cooperation and conflict
between American lndians and Virginia colonists.
h. Why did the plantation system develop in
Virginia, and what economic role did tobacco play?
explain the reasons
people from England
decided to establish
the Jamestown
n:
John Smith
u Powhatan
Confederacy
o John Rolfe
/
ffi
@ Summarizing
\
Ameritaal
and CriticalThinking
Supporting a Point of View lmagine that you are
a wealthy planter in colonial Virginia. Create a
pamphlet for investors in England explaining why
indentured servants and enslaved Africans are
important for the colonial economy.
Consider the following:
o the headright system
u the development of tobacco plantations
n high death rates in the colony
The English
Colonies 59