Virginia Essay

As Colonial Virginia entered into the 17th century, it was a land marked with opportunity to make a new and also, most importantly, profitable life in the New World. (Cutter Lecture) When the century began, however, it was not the citizens as a whole hoping to make a profit from this new land but rather a small group of greedy landowners profiting off of the work of their indentured servants. (CL) Sure the indentured servants were given a chance to fulfill their contract and one day become free to pursue their own dreams, but the likelihood of this in the beginning was next to none due to harsh living conditions. (CL) According to Richard Frethorne in 1623, "nor is there nothing to be gotten here

The Virginia Company initially colonized the Chesapeake area of Jamestown as a search for gold and as an exploration of the area’s natural resources. The company realized that for the colony to survive it would have to forget their search for gold and instead find a profitable economy. Tobacco became Virginia’s substitute for gold. This new crop enriched a growing class of tobacco planters and many members of colonial government. By 1624, more than 200,00 pounds of tobacco were grown and by the 1680’s, crops totaled 30 million pounds. There was a get rich quick mind set and a frantic rush for land and labor. Despite the severe conditions of the fields and a high death rate, the colony still attracted immigrants. Of the 120,000 English immigrants, 3/4 came as servants. Jamestown became an agrarian society with extensive farmlands along the region’s rivers.

In 1606, King James I granted a charter to establish a settlement in North America. The expectation of this movement was to find riches, spread the teachings of Jesus Christ, and possibly find a new route to China. The founding of Jamestown (The United States’ first permanent English colony) in Virginia on May 14, 1607 commenced a series of cultural encounters that helped shape the nation. The government, language, customs, beliefs and desires of these early settlers are still part of the United States’ heritage today. However, the survival of this colony was achieved by a hair's breadth. Certain circumstances caused drawbacks and problems for the Jamestown Settlers such as: disease, conflict with the local Native American tribes, incapability of survival due to occupations, and starvation so brutal they even resorted to cannibalism. These complications nearly brought the settlement to an end.

Attempts at English colonization of what would later become the United States of America in the early 1600’s had appeared wholly unsuccessful. Between 1608 and 1624, only 3,400 of the 6,000 English settlers of Jamestown survived due to starvation, disease, and attacks from the natives (Stahle). Notoriously, there is evidence that the settlers of Jamestown resorted to cannibalism to feed themselves (O’Brien). Even earlier than Jamestown, the colony of Roanoke seemingly vanished from Roanoke island without a trace (Kupperman). Among the multitude of leading figures in the new world, John Winthrop voyaged to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 with hopes for a

The founding of Jamestown was brought about in June of 1606 when King James I, granted a charter to the Virginia Company of London. The Virginia Company of London was a joint stock company established during this time with the purpose of growing settlements in North America. This group of London entrepreneurs had hopes of profit in building a secure settlement on Jamestown Island, and with the help of three ships and 100 colonists, The London Company became the first English Settlers in North America.

During the 1600s when England began colonizing in the New World, different colonies had their own concept of freedom backed by their beliefs and/ or motives for settling in America. Massachusetts and Virginia were settled for very different reasons therefore life in their settlements differed greatly. The political, economic, social and of course physical aspects of the colonies were not at all the same, yet they both resulted in their colonies prospering and successfully settling the land. The settlers of each colony had searched for a place to express two contrasting beliefs of what freedom meant to them. Massachusetts and Virginia are two prime examples of how freedom can mean something

In hope of a new beginning 110 people traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to a small area in Virginia. In 1607, at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, hopeful spirits had arrived. With a blessing from King James these people had arrived to start a settlement. They had no idea what was in store for them. If only they knew that the story of their death would later be told for many years. The colonists who came to Jamestown from 1607 - 1611 died because of polluted water, starvation, and different reasons for death.

The Plymouth colony was originally intended to be in Virginia but the Mayflower veered off course and landed in Cape Cod, modern day Massachusetts. The Plymouth colony was founded by the radical Puritan sect called the Separatists (also known as the Pilgrims). This colony was founded to escape the persecution of the British crown. Conveniently, the location of their colony placed them outside the jurisdiction of British rule which allowed them to form their own government based on the Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact allowed them to create their own laws and made them no longer subjects of British

The United States Supreme Court was, and still is today, the important backbone of America’s judicial system. This court deals with numerous cases throughout the year and keeps the country and government fair with its decisions. However, being responsible for giving justice where it is due, the Court is sometimes faced with hard choices that will make a lasting impression on the U.S. and its people. In the case of Loving v. Virginia, it did just that. As a Supreme Court landmark case, Loving v. Virginia definitely indicated a critical moment of change in civil rights for America and interracial couples everywhere.

Queen Elizabeth I desired to establish a permanent English settlement in America, known then as "the New World." In the summer of 1587 a group of nearly 120 men and women from England arrived on Roanoke Island, one of a chain of barrier islands now known as the Outer Banks, off the coast of what is now known as North Carolina. This group of settlers set sail from England with the mission of making the Queen's wishes a reality.

Settlement of Virginia started with James I becoming king and making peace with Spain who at that time had control over North America; as well as the Native Americas. Charter London Company was mainly started to fund the vogue to Jamestown. The idea behind the company was to give investors land, gold, and goods, for investing in help of settlement in Virginia. The settlement of Jamestown was to find more trade and resources. In 1607 Jamestown was colonized but early on there was crises. Lack of food, and new diseases caused many settlers to die. As well as Spanish and Native American attacked the new settlers seeing them as threats and intruders. With low farmers food was scarce and Atlantic crossing was a 3 months sail in order to send messages to England. In order to survive Jamestown

Jamestown was the first successful permanent British settlement in the new world. Jamestown was part of the Virginia Joint Stock Company. When Jamestown was first found the colony almost didn’t survive due to harsh conditions and a lack of fresh water due to its swampy conditions. The colony’s original goal was to find gold

They established the settlement called Jamestown. It was at first not an easy adventure. The settlers’ primary focus was on finding gold. While they were so consumed with finding gold, they were not producing any exports to bring money to them and often times barely had enough food for survival. Virginia began growing tobacco.

Colonists arrived on Roanoke Island in 1587, with the hopes of becoming the first English colony in America (Bernstein 2:55). The colony was to be governed by John White and was composed of English families who wished to make a new home for themselves, among the colonists was John White 's daughter, Virginia Dare. Several months later the colony 's governor sailed back to England for supplies. The shortage of supplies was due to skirmishes with the Natives, loss of supplies due to storms, and with the time for planting over the colonists had no way to find enough food. John White promised to return as quickly as possible, but due to unforeseen circumstances was unable to return as soon as was expected. Three years later, John White returned only to find

The English settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, was founded on May 14, 1607 by Captain Christopher Newport and his fleet of a hundred or so Englishmen. During the next nine decades, this settlement would begin as "a verie fit place for the erecting of a great cittie(Tyler, 33)", and develop into "nothing but Abundance of Brick Rubbish, and three or four good inhabited houses(Miers, 107)." Two major factors led to the gradual decay and destruction of Jamestown: (1) The profit-before-survival attitude of the English settlers, and (2) the persistence of the Indians of the area to drive the English from their native lands.