John Smith Accomplishments

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.

The most iconic and era defining figure during the colonial time period was John Smith because he helped Jamestown flourish and he made the opposing cultures of the old and new worlds collide. The colonial era was directly tied to John Smith because thy both had to do contact and colonization. Smith was one of the founders of Jamestown, the first colony to survive. Smith had sent a letter to Queen Anne, the queen of England at the time, describing his first encounters with the new world. This letter was important because it was one the ways that the old world got to hear about what the new world was like and what it had to offer. In Smith’s writing The General History of Virginia he describes the first settlement before the first supply ships came. He talks of savages roaming

David A. Price, Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Heart of a New Nation (New York: Alfred A. Knopf)

Jamestown was founded in the spring of 1607. It was to be the first permanent English settlement in the “New World” - where it was commonly thought that this new land would contain riches, a myriad of hidden trade routes to China, and more! However, Jamestown wasn’t without it’s dangers - they didn’t have the best environment, most settlers had little to no survival skills, and their relationships with the Indians were strained.

One of the lessons that the colonist learned was leadership. One of the acts of leadership for the colonies was an Englishman by the name of John Smith. On review page 21 its states that “He later recalled his vision of the opportunities that awaited those who settled the Americas. Smith would need all of his abilities to steer the new colony, Jamestown, through what turned out to be a disastrous beginning.” In this statement, this show that John Smith takes initiative to take leadership for the colonist in Jamestown. Some examples of his leadership would be on review page 23, its states “Smith held the colony together by forcing the colonist to farm and

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

John Smith was an english soldier, author and explorer who wrote The General History of Virginia. In this book he speaks about the settlement of Jamestown. Unlike in Of Plymouth Plantation,written by William Bradford where he speaks about the settlement in Plymouth. From the excerpts we have read, I got to learn a lot about their differences and similarities.

In Virginia, 1624, some of the first North American had settled and began to build the colony of Jamestown. The voyage to the new world, which was supposedly only supposed to take around three months, ended up taking a staggering five months. As a result of this the Jamestown colonists used all of their reserve and emergency food, and landed in Virginia in late Fall, not in early Spring. The colonists died from lack of food and starvation, and had to result to cannibalism until John Smith was kidnapped by Powhatan, the leader of the local Native American tribe. Powhatan was supposedly going to “execute” John Smith until his twelve-year-old daughter, Pocahontas, saved him. Many historians believe that Powhatan did not abduct Smith to kill him but to show him his immense power. While Powhatan may have had positive intentions, John Smith clearly did not get the memo as he often called the native Americans “Savages” in his writings. Turning the other cheek to this hate, Powhatan gave Jamestown supplies and food to show his desire for an alliance between the Native Americans and the colonists.

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

A young Captain named John Smith got the town of Jamestown into action by his moto, “He who shall not work, shall

Jamestown Colony was established by John Smith. He only cared about economic purposes, so he went out on a search hoping to find gold rather than to help the people around him. Since this colony was made out of higher class and tradesmen, the colony gave most people little chances of staying and being able to be a part of John Smith’s colony. “He that will not work shall not eat” (Smith). The colonist were hoping for the best such as gold and other easy riches. Instead, they found that just trying to survive in this colony would be a complex challenge due to poor equipment to deal with the environmental struggles. Especially when Smith had the colonists work individually. Which eventually led this colony to

In the excerpt 2.2 John Smith is addressing a letter to King Charles regarding the progress of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. Smith compares the progress of Jamestown to that of the Spanish and Portuguese and he explains to the king why Jamestown won’t be as profitable as previously settled land. He believes they won’t be able to have the same outcome in Jamestown

Jamestown, the birthplace of America was the first permanent english settlement in North America. In April 1606, King James I established Jamestown and on May 13, 1607, colonists began to arrive at Jamestown. When establishing Jamestown as a colony, the Virginia Company was in search of economic opportunities. The citizens wanted to escape poverty and prosecution. They wanted to be able to believe in what they wanted. The first month in Jamestown was a struggle for all passengers. The moment the passengers came ashore, they immediately began on settlement. Serious problems soon emerged when about 15,000-25,000 Indians were already living in the Chesapeake Bay when the colony was founded. The Indians were part of the Powhatan Confederacy which was ruled by Powhatan, a powerful leader. At this time, the English settlers were looking for gold that no one was farming. In this situation, Captain John Smith became the colony’s leader and established a “no work, no food” policy. Smith had been instrumental in trading with the Powhatan Indians for food but their relationship was tense in all aspects. After he was injured by a burning gunpowder in 1608 and left for England, the “starving time” began. This was a period of warfare between the colonists and Indians and the depth of many English men

He started scouting around and began drawing maps immediately. He met Pocahontas by almost shooting her by a water fall, and later they fell in love. He was captured later in the movie while venturing out alone at night to meet Pocahontas. John Smith was going to be executed on top of a rock at dawn, in front of an army of colonists who planned to rescue him. In reality, John smith was arrested and chained in irons during the voyage over, and he was released a month after arriving to Jamestown, Virginia. After he was set free, he did a lot of exploring and trading with the Indians. John Smith mapped most of the Jamestown area. He was eventually captured while seeking food along the Chickahominy River. John Smith was brought to Chief Powhatan and was sentenced to be executed. This is when he actually met Matoaka, the real name of Pocahontas, and she rescued him from execution. Matoake was the oldest daughter of Chief Powhatan. John Smith became good friends with Matoake, and eventually Chief Powhatan adopted Smith as his son. (Squidoo, Inc., 2012)

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