American Genesis By Alden T. Vaughan

This book begins by describing all of the many different events that are occurring around the world during the year 1606, such as the opening of the play Macbeth and Galileo Galilei publishing a book of the observations of supernova in the sky. During the same year, in late December, three small ships were anchored in London’s River Thames waiting to depart to a new settlement. The three ships were the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery. The Virginia Company of London organized and financed the voyage to begin the new settlement of Jamestown. The crew is very excited to search for gold, silver, and other riches that have supposedly been found in North America. Their previous knowledge of the Spanish enrichment of gold and silver created a group dominated by money hungry, wealthy gentlemen. Aboard the ships were a great deal of gentlemen, but unfortunately lacked in soldiers and working men. The majority of the men were not accustomed to any type of hard labor, and this caused many problems because the conditions the crew were in clearly called for difficult laborious work. One of the few commoners on board was John Smith, a former soldier who proved to be a key leader to the survival of the colony. Although he was looked down upon by the upper class, he was a hard worker, and also very intelligent and a jack of all trades.

When the name John Smith is mentioned, people of all ages are familiar with it and could tell a lot about him. Why is this? How is it that a man who lived over 400 years ago still so popular today, more specifically to our children? The answer to that question is because John Smith can be viewed as one of America’s earliest heroes. His leadership was vital to the survival of the Jamestown colony. Most people are familiar with his famous quote, “he that will not work shall not eat.” He carried all the qualities of an influential leader, and even had a mystical legend with Pocahontas, in which no one truly knows what happened. His leadership characteristics and qualities possessed hard work, grit, and determination. He was an individualist that had an “American” dream. However, during his time, the colonists did not look at it as an “American” dream. Without him and his leadership, America may not be what it is today.

John Smith, from book 3, chapter 2 of his book, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles, wrote about his adventures in the new land of the Indians where he experienced new people, a new governance system and a new culture (Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England & the Summer Isles 43). Smith, who was an English soldier, explorer and author, ventured into a new and unfamiliar territory where he experienced many unknown and unusual conditions and his writings depict his initial experience with the natives of this new and hostile land. He referred to the indigenous people as “savages” based on their hostile nature and brutal behavior towards him and his men. Initially the native chief, Powhatan, wanted to torture and Kill Captain Smith but he

Discuss how your investigation of the generic conventions of poetry has influenced your understanding of at least one poem that you have studied in this unit.

The Jamestown landing was on May 14th, 1607 and was the beginning of the first English settlement in America. The Virginia Company of London financed this journey to Virginia to extract profits from gold, silver and many other riches expected to be found. Additionally, they hoped to create a trade route to the Pacific. Of the many men that were selected to make this journey, there was a John Smith, who was a former soldier and an arrogant impatient natured man. Smith would eventually meet a young Indian princess named Pocahontas. He and Pocahontas would later become known as the two people who saved Jamestown.

The leadership strengths and weaknesses of John Smith evoked a profound effect on the Jamestown colony. The fact that Smith actually arrived in the colony as a common prisoner and was able to achieve the leadership role that he gained is amazing. His creativity and knowledge in certain areas actually saved the colonists from attack and starvation in the early days. Some of the rules he enforced as a leader were actually instrumental in saving the colony. His skill in dealing with the natives allowed him to gain their support and continue trade that resulted in the survival of the colony.

When Jamestown was founded in 1607 many of the settlers were unsure of what to expect. John Smith preserved the first English Virginians from the ravages off their own sloth as well from the hostility of their native neighbors. John Smith called them savages and barbarians but also thought they were kind. Jamestown’s John Smith led an expedition of the Chesapeake Bay and was almost killed by a ray on the first of his two explorations. In the 1620’s jamestown expanded from James fort into a new town built in the East and is now the capitol of

To many Europeans in the early 17th century the Americas seemed as a new land of opportunity. John Smith and William Bradford were two of the first men who left England seeking adventure and freedom in the New World. Both groups had difficulties while trying to form their colonies and Smith and Bradford were both elected to lead. While they were both great leaders they had very different lives before their journey from England. While starting their new colonies they also took different approaches to making the land habitable. One of the most notable differences between John Smith and William Bradford was their writing style. John Smith and William Bradford were very different people in

Smith was badly burned in 1606 from a gunpowder explosion and forced to return back to England. In 1614 he returned with an expedition to map the New England coastline. He would never return to Virginia again after this. He would from then on only promote colonizing the New England area. His efforts to promote colonizing were blocked by weather, pirates and lack of funding. He then resorted to writing about colonization. In his writing he elaborated about how wonderful it was in the new world. He would say that the fish practically jump into your boat when you go fishing and things such as that. He made the new world seem better than it really was so people would want to travel here and settle in it. His plan worked because year after year more and more people flocked to the New England hoping to colonize and not have to worry about running out

The Virginia colony was founded by John Smith a english explorer and some other colonist in the year 1607. The colony was one of the first 13 colonies that was located on the atlantic coast of North america . The colony was named after Queen Elizabeth l. John Smith was also a solider, map maker and a trader. He was captured and taken in december of 1607 by a Powhatan hunting party. Later he was saved by chief powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas by coming in between him and a blow from her father.

While it is impossible to truly elaborate or even go into much detail on the exploits of Captain John Smith’s life, in this paper I will be covering several of his many achievements. In addition, I will be dispelling several of the popular myths in regards to his life that many modern day Americans believe in. Some of these more modern day myths or false narratives are due to his story being adapted and changed in order to make a children’s video by Disney, while others have been debated by historians ever since they were penned by Smith in one of his most famous works consisting of six volumes: The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles.

John Smith was an English explorer and a soldier who has remained in the books of history for his role in the establishment of a British colony in America. He reigned Virginia British colony which was based at Jamestown for one year between late 1608 and late 1609. During his reign, he used his experience as a soldier and an explorer to lead exploration of major rivers around the colony. Smith was first involved in plans to establish a British colony in North America in 1606 for personal gains with a London company which had been granted a charter by the King of England. Towards the end of

One of the writers who wrote about the hardships they had experienced was John Smith. Captain John Smith was a soldier and the governor of Jamestown. In Smith’s writings, he speaks mostly about the colonization coming to the new land. He and his men believed they were going to build a successful colony. But due to disease, famine, and the occasional attacks from the neighboring Powhatan Indians, and

The TED talk, “Seeds of Our Ancestors, Seeds of Life,” by Winona LaDuke was really sad. Thinking about how many types of foods of gone extinct, and that there are companies that keep trying to patent and genetic engineer our food. Food is more than something we just buy, it keeps us living, yet we don’t seem to put much thought into it anymore. The statement about only about 30 different varieties of food giving us our calories makes sense, but I can see why it’s so sad. It’s depressing that species of food are going extinct, we think about animals going extinct, but we don’t often think about our food. I’m curious about all of the types of food that I will never be able to try because they have gone extinct.

John Smith was selected because he was a Colonizer, soldier and an author as he wrote his first book in English in the New World called “A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia since the First Planting of that Colony (1608)”. While he was only in America for two years, Smith was in charge of the survival of England's first English colony in the New World. He is best known for being in