Jamestown - First English Settlement In America (1958)

may it please God on this day of July 30 in the year of our Lord sixteen hundred and nineteen guide and sanctify all our proceedings for his own greater glory and for the good of this plantation of Virginia in this our first General Assembly to grant to these freely elected Englishmen wisdom and policy to frame goodly laws they are past sins be forgiven our lust for Bill our idleness and wanted in I we have reason for thanksgiving we men are Virginia and especially I John wrong secretary of this colony remembering this day those who sailed hither from England 12 years ago oh look like the last thing out well they sailed on ships owned by the Virginia Company of London which was a venture of Commerce founded to bring glory to the king of England God to the savages and profit to its shareholders in this first group there were 105 people some of them gentlemen shareholders of the Virginia Company a few jobless laborers and a handful of soldiers its day the nine and twentieth of April in the year of our Lord 1607 do we hear file a claim to the land of it India in the name of our Sovereign Lord King James ruler of England Scotland and Ireland more he let us name this river the jeans and by his name shall we call our first town in this new world James how you so was this first landing baptized in blood but they went ashore again a few miles upriver fearing the savages they all bent their backs behind the Hammers to build a fort gentlemen soldiers and laborers a life so that they could be free to search for gold and such riches as the Spaniards had found in the lands across the seas for these men were united by one common purpose only to bring a fair profits to the Virginia Company and quick well for themselves difficult years followed years of hunger and dissension ships came and went bringing new settlers and new problems in one of the ships I John Rolfe arrived to become a witness to the story of our new Commonwealth from the river I first sighted the Palisades which were built to defend the fort against Spaniards and savages even before we had landed it was rumored that things were not well in the colony soon I was to find out how true the rumors were these men who had come to the new world hoping for easy wealth now lay in the streets sick starving and demoralized our 500 who had ventured here since the founding of our colony only 50 was still alive and they scarcely recognizable as men in their wretchedness in one of the houses I saw some wretches eating their food raw hiding their meager rations in their filthy quarters why I wanted did they not gather fuel to cook their food soon I found out why all these men were shaken by fears fear of savages fear of unknown illnesses that made some of them lose their minds and others wither away in the merciless heat neglect and ignorance compounded their misery these improvident men had suffered all their fishing nets to spoil and rock while searching for gold that first day i met john leyden a laborer from london whom I soon began to love and respect the woodlands all about why is that not gathered fuel from outside instead of tearing down dwellings for it I I wouldn't all about they're savages in them ready to tear the scalp from inches off the counter them soon enough blau is our only protection against them but not fear alone lack of government and leadership contributed to dissension the Virginia Company failed to provide a government with authority for the colony and so each man desire to be a commander scorning the value of all others and some desperate men tried to burn down the fort in order to force commander gates to take them all back to England finally when the stores were destroyed by rats our meeting was called not sufficient for three weeks well let's say he been are we agreed to go back ah taiga like with you there's no for our survival here you can't know what sufferings we go through if we don't go back to England now we'll all be lost I say this weakness we must find a way to stay on how should we look in England you come crawling back like shipwrecked men to bankrupt the company I care thats how we shall look in England and how are often corpses shall look to the savages if we die what thank you master ropes I think how we were come here some of us leading lands and homes back in England to build a better life here to erect a Commonwealth for England descends wrong profits for the company and now to abandon all this I would it be with you but see how we are placed we have no supplies to sustain us these men are beyond hope beyond work beyond government what can we make your in such circumstances hi if we had at first what governments and I've own leaders things might have come out differently but we were sent out without darling be without done Oh white tongue no no it is too late to discuss such matters your bonus for removing the flag it was ass for Qing day in July of 1610 when Sir Thomas Gage let it out of the port of James done so we started back we Englishmen and the few women who had come to the colony to make it a home those who did not succumb to the rigors of the wilderness gave in to the apathy of an aimless life on this hot and unhealthy Island indeed it was a dispirited band with dreams of gold forgotten it was abandoning this English colony across the seas seemed doomed It was as if Spain and France were to remain the only power in the newly discovered world but it was not the will of God that we should abandon Jamestown at the last minute ships appeared law Delaware came to us from England bearing fresh supplies and men and a commission to be our governor so was our colony born again the Lord governor and captain-general Delaware brought with him the authority of the crown and a strong one-man rule gentlemen we are come to reestablish the colony of james i come to be governor here to hearten in sustain this Commonwealth that it may flourish I come to supply and defend you but let all men take heed of what I say henceforth they will be laws he strong laws to be upheld by all this same sort of the pins which I now hold for this same sword I shall not hesitate to raise injustice against old elephants let us spin try to label in concord together and if we cannot then must we labor in fear but labor we must if we are to live let us now raise the flag of our sovereign from now on everyone knew that in order to eat he must work it was decreed that we all were to work and live on a communal basin producing one for all and all for the company under the governor's orders we joined forces in rebuilding Jamestown repairing the walls and dressing the thatch hammering and sawing and building from the first we tried our hands at many industries in the shadows of the Palisades we set out to make pitch and tar for instance from native wood with the hope of turning a profit for the Virginia Company from the savages we learn to plant corn the Indian Way and stern measures were enforced for those who did not work every day after prayers and equal measure of grain was distributed to each working member but such working and living on a communal basis displeased those who were industrious blatant I like your new government yeah well I part now it's you soon as before we liked it entirely just earn why to stern now we're forced to work whether we will to know now we must work or we hang it's not any this if we could work crowd benefit it wouldn't be so hard no all the fruits of our labor go into the comic cooking patent for the common good now i miss timmy as to produce a bowl of porridge for my neighbors now what's their advance within this what is Buster would you have you came as a seven to the company what we do for becoming the only servant if I astern then a new governor was a but our dissensions were put down and never have a colony worked as it worked now as more settlers arrived from England the colony spread along the James River like savages we clung to the water's edge for better transportation and easier supplying each group of men selected a suitable place in the wilderness and settled it under the leadership of one commander in this way new communities sprang up Charles City Elizabeth City Bermuda hundred Martin hundred and others in those remote places dealings with the Indians became more frequent the savages brought us many unknown plants and herbs our apothecary try to find some which would be of medicinal value or spices that might turn a profit for the company the Indians were eager to trade for goods they could not produce themselves from these first tinted contacts gradually a lively barter developed but the colony was still not able to sustain itself without help from London much less to pay a profit to the shareholders many colonists still owed their passage to the company and found it impossible to free themselves from death John I did not expect to find you here what trouble now my trouble is a tone it speaks the truth I called our Labor's here buying life and for what crime am I in the stocks and wife Anne hey finally cosby a few men in the wilderness are seeking to produce what others in the old world I've striven four years and the circumstances of these pitch Towey I chon us some right here on need is for some commodity native to these pots and unobtainable at home a useful crop I use the models are laden about this time I had begun to take it interest in that plant the Indians here call or pookie tobacco learning their methods of cultivation this Indian tobacco has a bitter flavor unpalatable to the English tongue the Spaniards found in the West Indies are different sweet tasting tobacco it had occurred to me that I might produce from the native plant a sweeter variety that might find favor in England a fortuitous event made my interest in tobacco served the colony in more than one way from one of the expedition's upriver our captain Argyll brought back with him Pocahontas the daughter of the Indian chief poet on this Indian princess came willingly not suspecting that the sailor had in fact of dr. her to keep her as a hostage against the return of some Englishman held by her father so it was that Pocahontas came into my life it was soon after her arrival in Jamestown that we met Pocahontas and I the princess having free access to walk wherever she would in these Indian societies the women tend all crops so I was curious to learn from Pocahontas the Indian methods of curing tobacco the princess recognized immediately the difference between the native tobacco and the plants I was growing from foreign seeds the seedlings of my crossbred plants waxed both taller and healthier than any of the Indian types Pocahontas soon became my constant companion in the study and cultivation of tobacco together we selected the best plants to be spared for seeds and the best leaves to be cure for our first shipment to England together we stood watching the first barrels of our Virginia tobacco being taken to the ships was this finally to be the useful crop we were all looking for our new high marshal sir thomas dale looked favorably upon my friendship with the indian princess and gladly consented wise and given the Christian name Rebecca she was wedded to me by our Reverend Richard buck in the presence of the high marshal by next year many koloman had planted peels with my seeds of sweet-smelling tobacco soon bales and hogsheads full of our leaves were loaded on tobacco ships for England our great movement of Commerce have begun in Virginia as one of the first growers of Virginia tobacco I undertook the voyage to London with my good wife Rebecca in 1617 hoping to strengthen the hand of those members of the Virginia Company who understood that the Englishmen of the colonies could not be ruled forever by one firm hand with no right to speak up in their own affairs soon I was given the inglese problems before the court and the company my wife Rebecca and I were graciously received by the Queen and I was made secretary of the colony but this moment of success was quickly saddened by Rebecca sudden illness it was the will of God that she should never see her native Virginian again meanwhile new immigrants were coming to virginia by the boat loads the offer of free land and the chance of gaining wealth from tobacco attracted the English people to the wilderness the diligent the resourceful and the thrifty lived to see success settlements grew trade with the homeland and the Indians increased and the need for government became more urgent so it came about that in the year 1619 the London company granted us the right to elect our own representatives by the free vote of each male settler right by name for those who favor I don't know how's your right said where should as like these learn how to write in England I'm down gentlemen well tell me then whom do you like to go to Jamestown for our County paulin Tynan doors of course you else mark across beside the names Valentine Dwarfs make me mark like an Indian I know gentlemen love it I John wrote out what do you think I've made me first booked by first election I volunteer at are satisfied now then lighten up though eternal complainings over now well where in England could I be doing this five pigs true but it's time enough for England to recognize our right what do they know about our troubles with the Indians in the lands and the crops well us by the wise and forward policies of our Virginia Company in employee it happened that we men of Virginia should be allowed to cast our votes to elect 22 men out of all our counties to represent us at our first general and Lee in Jamestown gentlemen we have now this privilege that we made by common consent issue what laws read beneficial and further we may consider on all private to be sent home to Inc many I know will have words to say in the matter of our dealings with the Indian many on the establishment of the price of tobacco on subjects of trade in public conduct so let us all consider these matters with care for the forthcoming days of our aesthetic and his is how this colony and plantation of Virginia commenced here in jamestown in the wilderness I we came a long way from misery to hope of a prosperous life from argument and dissension to our own government a government of our own Commonwealth in a new world Virginia