The Rise of the Stuarts Western Civilization II Marshall High School Mr. Cline Unit Three JB
England's Involvement If I walked into a random place, let's say our local movie theater, and asked 50 people what they knew about Jamestown, Virginia, there's some hope I'd hear it was an early American settlement. Someone might even correctly tell me it was the first permanent English settlement in America, and there were lots of conflicts between the settlers and the natives. However, if I dug deeper and asked what England's response was to these conflicts, I'm guessing I'd get a bunch of blank stares, and people excusing themselves to get popcorn in time for the previews. The reasons for this lack of knowledge problem are varied, but I can think of two right off the bat. First, lots of people doodled or slept through history class. Second, those who were awake were mostly taught American history, in which England is consigned to the role of bad guy in the American Revolution.
England's Involvement Yes, England gets a role, but is never the star of the show. Today we're going to remedy this by discussing how England responded to the problems at Jamestown. To get things rolling, let's get to know the English of Jamestown. The Charter To begin, we have Scene One - The Charter. In 1606, the Virginia Company of London, a group of investors, was given a charter, or a written grant, by King James I to settle the parts of North America not already claimed by Spain and France. Desiring a place that would be easy to defend, the company chose land near a river in the Chesapeake Bay region. In honor of their king, they named the river the James, and the settlement Jamestown.
The Problems This brings us to Scene Two - The Problems. Within a very short time, the English settlers met with serious problems. First, they had settled near lands occupied by the powerful Powhatan natives, a chiefdom of well over 10,000 members. Although trade was established between the English and the natives, the relationship was shaky at best. Adding to the woes of the settlers were undrinkable water, lack of food and a very unfamiliar climate. Making matters worse, many of the settlers were from the upper-crust of English society, and were unaccustomed to manual labor. Put this together with the fact that they had no farming skills, and it's no wonder things went poorly.
John Smith and Starving Time This brings us to Scene Three - The Hero and the Starving Time. Fortunately, Captain John Smith emerged as the settlers' leader in 1608. One of his first acts of business was to let everyone know those who didn't work, didn't eat! Unfortunately, Smith's role as leader was short lived, as in 1609 he sustained an injury and returned to England. Once Smith left the scene, things went further downhill. A period of warfare between the settlers and the natives, as well as the deaths of many English from starvation and disease, ensued. This has come to be known as The Starving Time. In 1610, the few surviving settlers had reached their limit and decided to abandon Jamestown and head back to England.
John Smith and Starving Time Ironically, as the exhausted settlers made their way up the James River they were met by an English ship bringing not only supplies, but a second charter from King James. It seemed Mother England and the Virginia Company were not willing to give up their investment quite so easily. The exhausted settlers were ready to run from further conflict, but England was poised to keep up the fight. However, this time Mother England would play a larger role as the second charter called for stronger central leadership. Along with supplies, the new ships brought a governor who would rule the settlement through military law. This allowed for harsh punishment of any dissenters and brings us to Scene Four - The Military Rule.
John Smith and Starving Time Military Rule On an interesting side note, this governor was none other than Thomas West, the Lord De La Warr, whom the state of Delaware is named after. Under this rule, the governor's first action was to force the bedraggled survivors to return to Jamestown for another go at settlement. In order to make Jamestown a success, England's appointed governor had a plan. Rather than simply rely on trading with the natives for food, the new settlers tried their hand at things like glassmaking and woodworking. However, it wasn't until one of the colonists, the famous John Rolfe, introduced tobacco in about 1613 that things started to really hum.
Military Rule To solve the labor shortage, Mother England again got involved through a system known as headright. Under this system, wealthy Englishmen would pay a poor worker's passage to Jamestown in return for a portion of land. While the wealthy Englishman reaped the profits from the acreage, the poor workers were known as indentured servants, consigned to work until their passage fees were paid. Indentured servants were, for all intents and purposes, slaves, with little to no rights until their debt was paid. The terms of their contracts, however, made it very difficult for them to ever repay their debt and receive manumission or their freedom.
Military Rule Nathaniel Bacon led a revolt of mostly indentured servants unhappy with the terms of their contracts. It was eventually put down after several years by military forces from England. However, in the interim, indentured servants were fleeing from their contracts, and there was no way to enforce them As a result, many large farms, or plantations, were forced to look for laborers to replace these runaway indentured servants. But who could you find that could not easily run away and hide? The answer was people who could not blend in easily with the general population, and could be gotten cheaply: Africans.
Military Rule Massacre and Charter Dissolved This was how the African slave trade, and America s greatest original sin, slavery, began. To solve the land problem, settlers further encroached on the lands occupied by the Powhatan natives, giving us Scene Five - The Massacre. Of course, the native populations were none too thrilled about this new English tactic and violence soon ensued. In 1622, these conflicts came to a major head with the 1622 Massacre, in which the Powhatan attacked the settlement and killed over 300 settlers, including women and children. When news of the massacre reached England, it responded by sending more supplies, men and weapons.
Massacre and Charter Dissolved With this, all constraints seemed to lift from the settlers and they began killing the natives en masse. During this time, English soldiers wiped out entire native villages. This brings us to our last Scene - The Charter Dissolved! While these conflicts waged and profits plummeted, the Virginia Company of London began to lose credibility in the eyes of the king. This is not surprising when you realize thousands of English lives had been lost at Jamestown. With this in mind, the throne of England had had enough of lives lost and money wasted. In 1624, King James let the final boot drop by dissolving the charter and the rights of the Virginia Company to rule Jamestown.
Massacre and Charter Dissolved He claimed all of Virginia as a royal colony, under complete control of the throne. It would remain as such until the dawning of the Revolution. Henry VIII Splits from the Church Remember, remember the 5 th of November, the gunpowder treason and plot, I see no reason that gunpowder and treason should ever be forgot. November 5th is Bonfire Night in England. During this celebration, fireworks fill the sky, and children burn life-size paper dolls fashioned in the shape of a man. Although this sounds like an odd combination of a college pep rally and the 4th of July, the roots of Bonfire Night are firmly planted in English history, specifically in the Gunpowder Treason.
Henry VIII Splits from the Church The Gunpowder Treason was a plot by a small band of disenfranchised English Catholics to murder King James I and his entire parliament. Before we uncover the details of this story, we need to understand what brought these English to consider such an act of treason. The unhappiness of these Catholic Englishmen was a result of years of religious oppression, beginning decades earlier in the reign of King Henry VIII. During the 1530s, Henry VIII's desire to divorce his first wife (in order to marry his second) put him at odds with the church. When the pope refused to allow the divorce, Henry VIII split from the Roman Catholic Church and declared himself head of the new Church of England. After the death of Henry VIII, the split from the Catholic Church was upheld.
Henry VIII Splits from the Church Apart from a brief, yet violent, return to Catholicism led by Henry's Catholic daughter, Mary I, the Protestant faith held its place as the official religion of England. Elizabeth Persecutes Catholics This was solidified under the rule of Henry VIII's other daughter, Elizabeth I. Elizabeth, perhaps more than any other monarch, had great reason to distrust Catholics. To explain, Elizabeth was Henry VIII's daughter through his second wife, Anne Boleyn, whom he married after divorcing his first wife. In the eyes of many Catholics, his divorce and remarriage were completely invalid. Since these Catholics refused to recognize the marriage, they considered Elizabeth illegitimate and unworthy to wear the crown.
Elizabeth Persecutes Catholics This was solidified under the rule of Henry VIII's other daughter, Elizabeth I. Elizabeth, perhaps more than any other monarch, had great reason to distrust Catholics. To explain, Elizabeth was Henry VIII's daughter through his second wife, Anne Boleyn, whom he married after divorcing his first wife. In the eyes of many Catholics, his divorce and remarriage were completely invalid. Since these Catholics refused to recognize the marriage, they considered Elizabeth illegitimate and unworthy to wear the crown. Knowing these Catholics were a threat to her throne, Elizabeth embarked on a course of repression and persecution toward her Catholic subjects.
Elizabeth Persecutes Catholics James Continues Persecution In 1559, she passed the Act of Uniformity, which made attendance at Protestant services mandatory. Catholics were forced to abandon their loyalty to the pope and declare their allegiance to the crown of England. Those who didn't were subject to fines, persecution, and even death. Facing such threats, many Catholics outwardly turned to Protestantism but secretly held to their Catholic faith. Although Elizabeth was successful in keeping Catholic revolt at bay, religious tensions simmered and festered just below the surface of her very long reign. After the death of Elizabeth in 1603, James VI of Scotland was the next in line for the English throne.