Successful Settlements

Some Englishmen invested money in what was called a "joint stock company," which was similar to a modern-day corporation, for the purpose of finding gold or other treasures. One of those joint stock companies was the "Virginia Company," which established the first permanent settlement for England in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. It was a disaster and the investors never received a profit. The men who settled in Jamestown were "English gentlemen" unaccustomed to working with their hands, and who expected to get rich with little effort. They lacked a common purpose and wasted their time searching for treasure, or simply doing nothing at all. Unwilling to work to grow their own food, they almost starved to death.

1607 is one of the few dates you should memorize. This was after the Spanish had settled in Florida, but before the French had settled in Quebec. So remember the sequence in settling America: Spanish, English, and then French.

Initially, from 1607-1608, the Jamestown settlement lived under socialism, whereby the group shared its food with everyone no matter how much or little each person worked. This economic system was a complete failure that led to "starving time" as no one had any incentive to do any work to provide the necessities of life. In September 1608, John Smith was elected president of the governing council. He ruled for a year and installed a conservative economic system: "don't work, don't eat!" Because free enterprise replaced socialism, after a few years food production began to increase significantly and by 1614 there was plenty to eat.

Jamestown settlers had come to America to find fortune, but there was not any gold or silver. Indians had discovered tobacco and shared it with Europeans who were beginning to become addicted on it. Many Europeans recognized that tobacco was bad for them, and some wanted to prohibit it. In 1613, Englishman John Rolfe, who married the Indian Pocahontas in Virginia, began growing tobacco to export to Europe. The King banned the growing of tobacco in England, so Rolfe had no competition. Cash began pouring in for the tobacco, and this so-called "cash crop" became highly profitable for the Jamestown settlers.

Labor was in short supply for working the fields. Settlers began importing indentured servants, who received free travel to the colonies in exchange for a promise to work for seven years. Virginia turned to a cheaper form of labor: importing slaves from West Africa beginning in 1619 to work the crops. The importation of slaves to the New World was not new in 1619; many European countries had been importing a total of 40,000 slaves to the New World prior to the 1600's based on the Portuguese plantation system for working the land.

The Virginia colony, despite all its troubles, later produced four of America’s first five presidents. Why? Because it was big and prosperous.

Let's turn to the Massachusetts settlements next. Massachusetts had a much harsher climate than Virginia, particularly in the wintertime. Its settlers were motivated by religion, not money. They were unhappy with the oppressions of the Church of England, feeling it was too much like the Catholic Church. Two different groups of these people set out for North America. The first group, the Separatists or Pilgrims, wanted to separate completely from the Church of England and establish a religiously pure community. The second group consisted of more mainstream Puritans who wanted to purify the church from within, without leaving it. Both groups were types of Puritans, and both groups landed by chance within 100 miles of each other in Massachusetts.

Encouraged by the success of the Pilgrims, a new group called the Massachusetts Bay Company obtained a royal charter and sent a larger group of Puritans to settle in New England, this time with the purpose of purifying the Church of England with a more perfect community than in England itself. It was well-financed and led by the very capable John Winthrop, who had been trained at Oxford. They landed in Salem, Massachusetts in 1629 and immediately moved to Boston Harbor. They never looked back, thriving almost immediately despite the harsh winter climate. Within five years the Great Migration of religiously motivated settlers followed them from England. Their numbers and power grew. By the 1640s, the community was participating in robust trade by sea with England, the West Indies, and on occasion with West Africa. In all New England communities schools were established. The first college was Harward, founded in 1636, 16 years after landing of the Pilgrims.