Migration to Virginia
Early American Social History
Term 1 Week 4
After Roanoke
• 20 year wait for colonisation to restart
• Nothing possible until succession decided, too much
uncertainty
• James I (1603-25) ends war with Spain 1604. Ends
profits from privateering
• Forces reconsideration of colonisation
• Importance of getting a charter, royal sanction/support,
sets out claims, regardless of other powers
• 1606 charters given to Virginia Company of London and
Virginia Company of Plymouth to settle between 34 and
45 degrees N latitude, (NC to Maine)
Grant to Va
Co.
The Virginia Company
• Basically made up of merchants, charter
talks of trade and bringing Xnty to natives.
• Needs colonists as traders, potential
soldiers to defend vs Indians or Spanish
• Offers free land for settlers; gets 144
young men to go on first voyage on board
3 ships (Godspeed, Discovery and Susan
Constant)
• Arrives Jamestown May 1607
James Fort
Migrants 1
• All migrants before 1618 = male, most young (under 25)
• Free land offered by Va Co obvious draw to poor, as well
as to younger sons of gentry, i.e. those with little
prospect of riches in Eng
• Main motivation = economic, seeking fortune and status,
many migrants see Va as temp home
• Imp of indentured labour, sold for number of years in
return for passage. Possibility of land at end of service.
• Problems of flight, seen as form of slavery, main source
of labour in Va before 1680
Migrants 2
• Campbell / Galenson debate over social status
• Were migrants ‘middling people’ or ‘common sort’ ?
• Problem of source materials, mainly from 1650s,
incompleteness of data, need for interpretation.
• Va migrants probably broadly reflected Eng popn, i.e.
mainly poor (farmers, labourers, artisans), but not the
truly destitute, and few merchants, aristocrats, or wealthy
people (why would they leave riches in Eng?)
• Some suggestion that religion had a role in colonisation,
mentioned in charter, used in promotional literature as
recruitment tactic by Va Co, but little attention paid by
colonists once there.
Problems of Authority
• Authority derived from either tradition (elders),
law (officials) or charisma (dictators)
• Va has crisis of authority, first two governors lose
control quickly, since can’t prevent a high death
toll amongst early settlers, only 38 of 144
original migrants still alive in Nov 1607.
• Only solved by John Smith, elected Gov in Dec
1608, introduced system of Martial Law, moved
colony inland, learned survival techniques from
Indians, reduced death rate.
Capt
John
Smith
‘The Starving Time’
• New fleet arrives June 1609, brings 900 new
settlers.
• Smith ousted, and returns to England.
• No effective leadership during harsh winter of
1609-10; lack of planning sees no food
stockpiled, widespread starvation, some
cannibalism.
• Spring 1610 only 60 survivors; decision to return
to England
• Prevented by arrival of new Governor Lord De
La Warre – Va on edge of extinction
Laws Divine, Moral and Martial
• De La Warre, formally introduces the Laws DMM
in 1611, similar to Smith’s martial law
• Very strict, aims to control populace, all to work
collectively for survival of colony
• Begins to deter potential colonists, since
widespread attachment to ‘rights of Englishmen’
• Response of Va Co, = House of Burgesses, first
elected body in North America, July 1619.
• Va Co charter revoked 1624, becomes royal
colony
Economic Development
• No economic purpose to early settlement,
until planting of Trinidadian tobacco by
John Rolfe, 1612.
• Rapid growth of production, 2,000 lbs in
1615, 1.5m lbs 1629
• Vast wealth possible, high prices by 1620
meant single farmer with no extra labour
could make £200/yr profit.
• Also cause of instability.
Tobacco Pipes
Indians 1
• Problems with Indians major factor in Va devt
• Powhatan confederacy more powerful than
English, probably numbers 10,000 in 1620
• Initial antagonism, disputes over property,
Smith’s role, situation calmer in 1610s, Rolfe
marries Pocahontas
• Powhatan sees Eng as potential allies vs interior
tribes, never imagines they would be threat to
him, trade for weapons etc
Indians 2
• Powhatan dies 1622, succeeded by brother
Openchancanough, more hostile to Eng,
especially encroachment on lands
• Role of tobacco in taking Indian lands, inability of
Eng authorities to prevent it
• Decision to attack on Good Friday (March 22)
1622; achieves total surprise, kills 347 whites,
out of popn of 1200.
• Opec. thought Eng would leave, but attack
cements negative image of Indians among Eng,
and makes their destruction easier to live with
Conclusions
• Virginia in 1624 in turmoil
• Politically unstable, eg Va Co loss of
charter 1624
• Endured disease, war, death.
• Only about 1000 whites in Va after 17yrs
of colonisation, settlement still in balance,
could easily still fail.