The General Assembly

Government in the colony was to be undertaken by a local council which was to carry out the instructions of the Virginia Council in London. It became clear in London that there were problems with the government in Jamestown and that a change was in order. A new charter was created in May 1609.

The Virginia Colony’s landscape included coastal plains, valleys, and mountains. The Virginia Colony was located in the Southern Colony, which was the warmest of the three colonies and due to its climate the spread of disease was higher than in the colder colonies to its north.

It started as indentured servitude then turned to slavery. How did the government of Virginia change over the period between 1607 and 1763? Later, they established a House of Burgesses as a representative group for Virginia. This group originally just advised the governor, but later gained more powers, such as taxing.

It failed for four key reasons. Firstly is the voyage itself. When setting sail, the voyage left England too late to be able to plant crops in Virginia as it wasn’t the right season to do this. Secondly the colonists were taken ill which weakened their ability to build a new life.

Most people lived in one-room houses with dirt floors. Some people, such as wealthy farmers, lived in larger homes. Households used the resources available to them to make their own clothes. Most clothing was made of cotton, wool, and leather.

The land was undeveloped, and had to be hacked out of the wilderness. Relations with the Native tribes were often testy at best, and it made it difficult to increase settlement on the frontier. It was difficult to get labor to the colony.

Since Virginia was the site of the first permanent English settlement, the state is known as “the birthplace of a nation.” As well as the “Mother of Presidents” Eight Virginia born gentlemen succeeded to the highest office in the land, including four of the first five presidents.

10 Fun Facts About Virginia

• They Didn’t Start Out Growing Tobacco.
• William & Mary Is The Second Oldest College In The Country.
• Virginia Gave Birth To West Virginia & Kentucky.
• Around Half Of The Civil War Was Fought In Virginia.
• The First Thanksgiving Was In Virginia.

Colonial Virginia depended on agriculture, (mostly tobacco growing), as its main source of wealth/money. African men, women & children were brought to the Virginia Colony & enslaved to work on tobacco plantations. Colonial Virginia was dependent on slave labor.

The Virginia Colony’s economy relied heavily on the mass production of tobacco. Tobacco changed their way of life forever. Before the incredible introduction of tobacco, Virginia was mostly a series of small farms and communities packed together like sardines.

The Virginia Colony became the wealthiest and most populated British colony in North America, with an elected General Assembly. The colony was dominated by rich planters who were also in control of the established Anglican Church.

The Virginia colony became dependent on slave labor, and the dependence lasted a long time. The culture of colonial Virginia reflected beliefs, customs, and architecture of Europeans, Africans, and American Indians living in those areas.

1619

The Powhatan people contributed to the survival of the Jamestown settlers in several ways. The Powhatan traded furs, food, and leather with the English in exchange for tools, pots, guns, and other goods. They also introduced new crops to the English, including corn and tobacco.

The first colony was founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Many of the people who settled in the New World came to escape religious persecution. New World grains such as corn kept the colonists from starving while, in Virginia, tobacco provided a valuable cash crop.

In 1606, a group of wealthy London businessmen petitioned King James I for a charter to establish a colony in the New World. They formed the Virginia Company and set out to establish a permanent English settlement in the Americas.

In 1607, 104 English men and boys arrived in North America to start a settlement. On May 13 they picked Jamestown, Virginia for their settlement, which was named after their King, James I. The settlement became the first permanent English settlement in North America.

The turning point for Jamestown was when a settler named John Rolfe discovered that tobacco could be grown in Virginia and that it was profitable. Farms were then established and the English settlement was considered permanent.

In the re-created 1610-14 colonial fort, visitors can ride wooden hobby horses, roll a hoop with a stick, and play ninepins, a bowling game, and quoits, a type of ring toss.

Famine, disease and conflict with local Native American tribes in the first two years brought Jamestown to the brink of failure before the arrival of a new group of settlers and supplies in 1610.

The Prevalence of Typhoid, Dysentery, and Malaria Poor water quality almost destroyed the Jamestown colony. Most colonists were dead within two years. Between 1609 and 1610 the population dropped from 500 to 60, and the colony was nearly abandoned, an episode known as “starving time”.

In 1676, Jamestown was deliberately burned during Bacon’s Rebellion, though it was quickly rebuilt. In 1699, the colonial capital was moved to what is today Williamsburg, Virginia; Jamestown ceased to exist as a settlement, and remains today only as an archaeological site, Jamestown Rediscovery.