Premium Essay

Virginia Colony Research Paper

Submitted By
Words 987
Pages 4
Adrion Green
Wood, Jennifer
Humanities 7, Block ¼
October, 24

From the start, the investors of the Virginia Company in England were unhappy with the accomplishments of the colonists of Jamestown, Virginia. The colonists who founded Virginia, chose a terrible location to start their colony. It’s true, the settlers that established themselves in Jamestown were making considerable amounts of money growing tobacco and trading with the native tribes. But that didn’t last for very long. The settlers were becoming more and more greedy and began stealing women and land from the natives. And due to harsh environmental conditions, the spread of disease, and a lack of strong rule, the settlement began to decline only a year after the charter was awarded. …show more content…
It began with a wealthy group of london businessmen who petitioned King James I to establish a charter, so they could form a colony in the New World(The americas.). Virginia was backed up by two companies the London Company, and the Plymouth Company initially given the name of the Virginia Company located in different parts of Virginia. Virginia generally received it’s name from Queen Elizabeth I , considering she was the “Virgin Queen”. The reasoning for Virginia to be founded was to trade with the inhabitants(The natives.) that lived there to make a profit. The settlers made most of their money by cultivating and selling …show more content…
The colonists in turn for food, water, and shelter gave the natives guns, sugar, and molasses. Sometimes the natives would entertain the colonists with tribal dances. It was all great, until all of the Jamestown colonists grew with greed. The colonists took advantage of a the Powhatan tribe ruled by a man named Powhatan (Whose real name is Wahunsenacawh.). Powhatan ruled over 30 tribes, he was considered a wise and brave man. He had a daughter named Pocahontas (As I mentioned) who married one of the colonists who founded Virginia, John Rolfe. The Powhatan tribe had undecided feeling towards the Jamestown colonists. Jhon Smith, another colonist who founded Virginia was nearly killed by the Powhatan tribe at multiple attempts. Have you ever heard of the story when; Chief Powhatan ordered John Smith be beat to death, but Pocahontas came to his rescue? In 1614 Pocahontas moved to England and married John Rolfe and had a child named Thomas Rolfe. In 1617 Pocahontas perished in Gravesend, United Kingdom. Around the time of 1618 Powhatan died and his brother, Opechancanough took over. As the Jamestown colony grew bigger the natives were losing their hunting grounds. In 1622 Opechancanough led an attack on the outskirt villages outside of Jamestown killing up to 347 settlers. The Jamestown colonists retaliated soon after, and a bitter cycle of attacks continued for ten years. In 1632, the two sides made

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Salem Witch Trials

...From there, the project research was moved to the colony of Connecticut. The resources detailing witchcraft in Connecticut also revealed a variety of approaches to narrating historical events. Take the work by John Demos titled Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England. In this article, Demos detailed witchcraft in Connecticut through the veil of Gender Studies as a social movement primarily targeted at women living on the fringes of colonial society. According to Demos, this phenomenon explained why women were victims at a ratio of four to one verses their male counterparts. This methodology is markedly different than the narrative approach utilized by Cynthia Wolfe Boynton. Using an approach based on corroborating evidence from firsthand accounts, arrest records, and government documents preserved in the Connecticut state archives, Boynton attempted to relay each instance of witchcraft in the colony with as much detail as historical evidence could allow. This allowed her to piece together the story of the first recorded instance of a condemned witch being hanged in the British colonies: Alyse Youngs of Windsor Connecticut was publicly executed for witchcraft in 1647. After exploring the tragic end of Youngs and other cases depicted by Boynton, this research project moved southwards from...

Words: 1799 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Colonial Virginia During the Seven Years War

... This research paper contains an analysis of the culture in the colony of Virginia over the whole year of 1755 and beginning of 1756. Most of the research drew upon weekly issues of the Virginia Gazette, the only printed newspaper in the colony at that time. Three dimensions of culture were explored: Virginia’s involvement in the French and Indian War (which was beginning right around 1755), Virginia’s economy, and its religious affiliations. A section on colonists’ relations with Native Americans was also written, of which The Virginia Gazette gave detailed insights and accounts, but due to the page limit of the assignment, the section was omitted. Involvement in the French and Indian War In 1730, the population of the Virginia colony was about 114,000. The next 20 years saw an explosion of growth in population due to the increasing demand of indentured servants needed on plantations. Also, Governor Spotswood encouraged immigration to the outskirts of Virginia in the hopes that immigrant townships could alert Virginia’s ports of any possible attacks from Native Americans before their arrival. By the time the French and Indian War had begun, Virginia’s population had climbed to just under 300,000 (Virginia History Series). Virginia’s most profitable crop at the time was tobacco, which exhausted land very quickly, and spurred the plantation owners to make gradual movements inland from the coast. Due to their plans to develop land further West, Virginia plantation...

Words: 2313 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Role Of Slavery In Colonial Virginia

...Colonists living in Great Britain’s Virginia colony during the second half of the seventeenth century witnessed a dramatic shift in the demographics of their labor force. Although the first African slaves arrived in the colony in 1619, their numbers remained insignificant to the overwhelming English population until the 1670s. From then on, African laborers constituted an ever increasing proportion of the colony’s bound labor force. The British crown’s revoking of The Royal African Company’s monopoly on West African trade in 1698 opened the Atlantic slave trade to private merchants. This resulted in a huge influx of black slaves directly from Africa into the colony. However, it was not simply the sheer volume of slaves in the colony that differentiated the eighteenth...

Words: 508 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Paper

...     Describe the events that helped create American nationalism and lead to the American Revolution. SLO4.     Explain the Constitutional Convention, the Articles of Confederation, and the emergence of a democratic nation. SLO5.     Explain the U.S. Constitution as it related to the separation of powers, checks and balances, the Bill of Rights, and the major principles of democracy. SLO6.     Evaluate the Jeffersonian dream of expansion and its effect on Native Americans SLO7.     Describe Jacksonian democracy and the creation of a two party system SLO8.     Explain slavery and associated issues that led to the Civil War and its aftermath.     Module Titles Module 1—Early American exploration and colonization (SLO1) Module 2—British colonies (SLO2) Module 3—Road to the Revolution and the American Revolution (SLO3) Module 4—Early Republic (SLO4 and SLO5) Module 5—Jacksonian America (SLO 6 and SLO7) Module 6—Road to the Civil War (SLO8) Module 7—Civil War (SLO8) Module 8—Shaping American history: Signature Assignment (all SLOs) Module 1 Early Exploration and Contact with Native Americans Welcome to HIS 120: U.S. History and the Constitution How to be Successful in the Course Each module has a lecture homepage, reading assignments, required videos, and two threaded discussions. You should can find your required reading articles through the internet and TUW library databases to learn more about the subject matter pertinent to the module. Although there are no...

Words: 6289 - Pages: 26

Free Essay

African American Business

...To a larger degree, historians have examined the white American businesspeople about the economies and market cultures. This paper going to talk about the African American business and consumer cultures, such as blacks’ culture and entrepreneurship, African American and immigrant self-employment in the United States. Also the African Americans’ buying behavior like the selling strategy makes it success to African American, and what is the reason. At the end going to talk about cross-cultural business, how to do business in the African American community. Known African American’s culture and background history is always helps to be success to avoid the mistakes which you shouldn’t do. Directly relating African American History and African American Business leaders, Pharrell Williams would be the perfect example of how the Black history influences the ways of business in the African American community. A lot of people might argue that he is not business man but he is the biggest entertainment business leader. “Every one of us is an amalgamation not only of all our ancestors, but of their decisions, and in 1831, Ambrose Hawkins was contemplating moving his family from America to Africa. Had he done so, his son Joseph would have been raised in Liberia instead of North Carolina and never would have become Pharrell Williams’s third great-grandfather. As it happens, Ambrose did go to Liberia, but opted for a solo round trip, rather than a family migration. If not for this last minute...

Words: 3061 - Pages: 13

Free Essay

Macro Essay- Why Are Tropical Countries so Poor?

...profitable economic institutions, seem to have faired off better than colonies in tropical countries that lacked them. This can be rationalized since European countries set up institutions in different locations with varying intentions. (Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson 1370). By identifying the characteristics and the resulting influences of various colonial institutions, in addition to why different locations were more suitable for these separate institutions, it will become apparent as to why tropical countries turned out poorer than areas with temperate climates today. One type of colony set up by Europeans was an extractive state. “The main purpose of the extractive state was to transfer as much of the resources of the colony to the colonizer” (1370). These colonies were exploited by Europeans and didn’t offer institutions that protected their native citizens against the ruling government. Their existence was solely to produce profit for the elite, which was done through extracting the lands’ gold, silver, and cash crops (Easterly and Levine 8). The ruling government would generally extract these colonies valuables, then “set up a complex mercantilist system of monopolies and trade regulations to extract further resources from the colonies” (Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson 1375). Since there was an overwhelming economic motive behind the colonization of these lands, Europeans would focus on controlling the colonies population by establishing an authoritarian state (1375). This...

Words: 2372 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Venture

...ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Thomas Jefferson and the Purchase of Louisiana Annotated bibliography 1. Esmond Wright, “THE RELEVANCE OF MR. JEFFERSON, “Virginia quarterly review 76, no.3 (2000): 379, http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/eds/detail?vid=18&hid=120&sid=cb07f42a-e296-4a5d-baa5-5b4c39975cbe%40sessionmgr13&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=3313415 (accessed November 28, 2012) Database: Academic Search Complete, (accessed November 28, 2012) My research topic is on Thomas Jefferson and the purchase of the Louisiana Territory. I have chosen the database above because Part of the article describes the family background and political liabilities of Thomas Jefferson former president of the United States. Thomas Jefferson was a powerful advocate of liberty. He was born in 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia from a wealthy family. He went to a very good school and also attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg where he received a good training in Philosophy and law. He became a linguist and also loved to read books on diverse subjects. According to Esmond Wright, Thomas Jefferson’s interests were catholic. He married a widow Martha Skelton in 1772 and took her to his house in Monticello. After Martha died in 1872, Jefferson was suspected to have an intimate relationship with Martha half-sister Sally Hemings who was biracial. Even though his political liabilities were impressive, he was...

Words: 1038 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

“the Contribution of Baptists in the Struggle for Religious Freedom”

...LIBERTY UNIVERSITY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY A Research Paper on the “The Contribution of Baptists in the Struggle for Religious Freedom” Submitted to Dr. Jason J. Graffagnino, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of CHHI 665 – B04 History of Baptists by Elizabeth Linz Barthelemy February 1, 2015   Contents Introduction 1 The Baptist Origin 2 The separatists/puritans 2-3 The First Baptists Believers 4-5 The American Baptist Contribution to “religious liberty ideal”...............................................6 Rhode Island, Plymouth, and Pennsylvania Colonies......................................................7-8 The South Colonies and Their Struggle for “Religious Liberty” 9-11 Conclusion 12 Bibliography.............................................................................................................................13-15 Introduction “Religious Liberty” is a good and perfect gift from above. Contrary to populace belief “the separation of church and state,” did not originate with the ACLU but for the most part, it originated with the first British Baptists that arrived in Colonial America they were defenders of true “religious liberty.” Moreover, the distinction between religious liberty and tolerance of religion is significant. “Religious liberty” is a right of every men, however, tolerance is...

Words: 4302 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

Summary Of The Attempt Is Praise By Great Britain

...following conflict between the Americans and the Britain’s brought forth another country. The New World sustained new thoughts regarding the way of citizens, society, and government. In the Old World, few individuals born to such permanent surroundings challenged to question their humble societal position however European immigrants were not easily extinguished. In the American wild, they experienced the world that was theirs to make. During this period the people of America were subjected to hostility, heavy taxes were imposed on to them to finance the colonial expenses. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the thesis of the four articles that are being closely related to the theme England was the safest place to live between the years of 1763-1775. This paper will effectively focus on the social, economic and political stands of England to its citizens as well as the colonies. Women in the American Revolution The author has clearly defined the term patriotism as an act of being an active member in the progression of a specific idea similar to independent from the states that are being denied. For this situation, there is a solid connection between the acts of women being patriotically active in the achievement of the war. In this circumstance, the poem “The Attempt is Praise,” was published in the Maryland Gazette, composed by an anonymous soldier. The poem demonstrated the subject according to the suggestion of the title, to praise the role played by women amid of...

Words: 1895 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

None

...the death penalty. II. How do you got put on the death row “death penalty” A. What state uses what method? B. What states don’t use any method? III. What do the people think about the death penalty in the U.S.? A. Why are people for the death penalty? B. Why are people against the death penalty? Conclulusion-The death penalty isn’t the right way to go for punishment after a crime it just as worse as the person that committed the crime. Fighting Crime with Murder The death penalty is a common topic and one of the major’s topics today. This research paper as you can already see is about the death penalty and it will show and tell what it is, how it works also how it is wrong because, two wrongs do not make a right even though two negatives make positive. I have learned many of things about the death penalty more than what I expected to learn. I hope by you reading my research paper you will learn how the death penalty isn’t the right way to go just like abortions some people say abortions are right but not the death penalty or the other way around it does not make any sense they both are murdering someone. Yes, the person on the death penalty did something wrong to get there but like I said before two wrongs does not make a right. Make them suffer in the prisons for what they have done instead of dying painless. Also now days you never can tell if that person truly committed that crime unless you were there or not. The death penalty has been around...

Words: 2659 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

The Difference Between Indentured Servants and Slaves

...Differences between Indentured Servants and Slaves Whether someone was an indentured servant or a slave does not matter because one is not better than the other, but there are differences between the two. An indentured servant was a person who came to America and was placed under contract to work for another over a period of time, in exchange for food, clothing, shelter, or transportation, especially during the 17th century. A slave was someone’s personal property. The difference between indentured servants and slaves has never really been addressed but it’s important that we know the difference between the two, to better understand history. Indentured servants first arrived in America in 1607 following the settlement of Jamestown by the Virginia Company. The idea for indentured servants was born because there was a need for cheap labor. The earliest settlers realized that they had lots of land to care for, but no one to care for it. Indentured servants became an important part of colonial America. Indentured servants had to complete hard years of work but after the specified period of time they would be granted freedom. Most of the indentured servants were young (under the age of 21) and worked on farms doing the majority of the manual work. Others did things in the home such as complete domestic services. The jobs that the servants did do, they did not get paid for but they did receive certain amenities for their services. Once a servant completed their obligation, the agreement...

Words: 785 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Artificial Intelligence Fact or Fiction

...Artificial Intelligence: Fact or Fiction Virginia Vidaurri INF 103 Computer Literacy Instructor: Jeanette Cobabe December 3, 2012 Artificial Intelligence: Fact or Fiction What is Artificial Intelligence? The term Artificial Intelligence came into being in 1956, when it was proposed by John McCarthy (Bowles, 2010). This refers to the ability to “create a computer that could perform logical operations so well that it could actually learn and become sentient or conscious.” (Bowles, 2010). Our text defines intelligence as “the capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity.” (Bowles, 2010). The problem with this definition is it’s not so clear cut when it is referring to machines (Bowles, 2010). The ultimate goal with Artificial Intelligence is to create a machine that can actually think, as a person thinks, but I’m not sure this goal is capable of being fully realized. In 1937, Alan Turing, a mathematician, developed what he called a Turing Machine, which was supposed to be an intelligent machine (Bowes, 2010). Then in 1950, using this machine, Turing proposed the Turing Test, which he thought “could prove whether or not a computer was intelligent” (Bowles, 2010). In this experiment, there was a judge who would communicate with a person and a computer, each hidden behind a different curtain. If the judge couldn’t tell the difference between the computer and the “real person”, then the computer would be considered...

Words: 2190 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Prison History

...A truly American legal system was non-existed prior to the American Revolution (1775-83), a very loose English system was in place. This was one of the leading reasons for the American Revolution. The founding fathers took a broader view of the world, and of governing people. As the American Revolution ends, a very limited system of justice exists. Courts, punishments criminal codes varied widely from colony to colony. After many decades of experimentations in court decisions and legislation began to form a modern criminal justice system. The declaration of rights (1776, Virginia) was the model for the U.S Bill of Rights, this was added to the U.S. Constitution in 1791. A good example of experimentation or the different colonies approach to crime and punishment. This would be the Quakers of Pennsylvania; their religious beliefs led them to incarceration verses execution. To this day the death penalty is still different from state to state, and from person to person. The Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons (1787), this was the first prison reform attempts, rehabilitation over beatings. And a separation of prisoners in to four different categories, a system to help the criminals. So, society tries to evolve a more humane prison, although the rural jails were run poorly with a primitive setting. As early as 1794 Pennsylvania recognizes the difference between first degree murder(planned act to kill) and second degree murder, this starts the states...

Words: 1063 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

The History of Marijuana and Medical Marijuana

...Washington DC, in which marijuana is being, used for medicinal purposes and not break any laws. Eighteen states’ are pending Legislation to legalize medical marijuana. There are documents stating that the Chinese used marijuana for paper, the process consisted of hemp around 2000 BC. According to Guither, P. Drug Warrant (2006), “America’s first marijuana law was enacted at Jamestown Colony, Virginia in 1619. It was a law “ordering” all of the farmers to grow Indian hempseed. There were several other “must grow” laws over the next 200 years. A person could be jailed for not growing hemp during times of shortage in Virginia between 1763 and 1767, and during most of that time, hemp was legal tender a person could even pay their taxes with hemp and try that today. Hemp was such a critical crop for a number of purposes including essential war requirements and rope, excreta. That the government went out of its way to encourage growth” Guither, P. ( 2006) (para 6). The history of marijuana Marijuana has many different names, Hemp, Ma, and Marihuana are just a few of the names in which marijuana is called. Marijuana and hemp are the same plant but they have different uses. According to Cannabis MD (2008), “during the early days of the American colonies, industrial hemp products became indispensable to the world trade; hemp was a government-mandated crop” (para 26). Two of the United States past Presidents, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson had “repeatedly extolled the...

Words: 1713 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Natives and Their Role in the American Frontier

...Natives and their Role in the American Frontier As Americans, we do not usually question how we came to this land or why we are able to live here as we do. We believe that the American frontier is this grand historical past of our growth as a nation. However, the country we know today as the United States of America was originally inhabited by natives such as the Native Americans, or Indians as they are commonly known as, and Mexicans who were robbed of their homeland in order for the white man to take over control. As citizens of this country, it is important to know how the natives were treated and portrayed in literature in order to become educated about our country and the people that inhabited this land before us. Being ignorant about a particular culture leads to misguided feelings and judgments that are not normally acceptable. By looking at examples from John Smith’s The Chesapeake Indians, Mary Rowlandson’s A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, and Frederick Jackson Turner’s The Significance of the Frontier in American History, we will see that natives were portrayed negatively in popular literature and why it is important to understand how they are represented is justified by the colonial expansion of the American frontier. In early literature written by English settlers, Native Americans were portrayed with very negative connotations. The writers often used words such as: brutal, dark, uncivilized, and savage to depict the native...

Words: 1447 - Pages: 6