Difference between revisions of "Notes:BC1.AH.Colonial Virginia and Maryland charters and conditions"

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The First Virginia Charter

In 1606 James I issued a patent which is generally cited as the first Virginia Charter^[1]. This document is remarkable in several ways. First, it asserts the right of the English king to colonize America between the 34th and 45th parallels - from Cape Fear River to Halifax. These were the southern and northern limits of Virginia - almost the entire eastern seaboard of North America. The Spanish considered Virginia part of the Spanish Indies. James I essentially said - no, we found it, so it's ours.

What is most important about the charter, for our purposes, is its constitutional declarations.

• In it there is a clause which states that the colonists and their posterity "shall have and enjoy all liberties franchises, and immunities within any of our other dominions, to all intents and purposes as if they had been abiding and born within this our realm of England or any other of our said dominions."

• James I had previously declared similar rights in the patents given to Walter Ralegh and later to Bartholomew Gilbert.

In these, James established that English colonies would not be like those of France and Spain - or those of any country's colonists before them.

• English colonists would be considered citizens who enjoyed the protection of English Common Law in the same way as those at home.
• Historian Edward Channing notes that

• this is of interest but not highly important since the English king "is under no man, but is under God and the law."
• And that, "Go where he would, so long as he settled on land claimed by England and acknowledged allegiance to the English crown, the Englishman carried with him as much of the Common Law of England as was applicable to his situation and was not repugnant to his other rights and privileges."^[1]

I.e., an Englishman anywhere in the English empire enjoyed the protection of English Common Law and that even the king was ruled by it.

This is a good start on rule of law.

This first charter lacked the self-rule allowances of subsequent charters, but it had a start as demonstrated by the declaration of English rights mentioned above.

• The charter created a Council for Virginia in England which was over all.
• Each 'colony' or 'company' should manage its affairs in England, and
• these to be appointed by king

• Each plantation had its council in America
• to be appointed as the king determined.

This was interesting, but a bit much when considering that the first colonies had difficulty surviving due to conditions that had nothing to do with the king's charter. But, as Channing points out, they were breaking new ground. Complete royal oversight was later abandoned in favor of giving more control to the investors who in turn invested partial self-government in the colonists. But the first colonists to land in Virginia in were to be governed by "Articles and Instructions for the Government of Virginia" issued by James I. These instructions went so far as to tell the emigrants how they were to determine a proper site for a plantation.

• The charter contained "Articles and Instructions for the Government of Virginia" issued by King James I.

• The supreme council had executive, legislative, and judiciary functions. Its authority was absolute - as was considered necessary due to the high risk nature of the venture.
• The articles contained much legislative matter including how to deal with crime. Punishment for crime was more liberal than in England or of that attained in England for many years.(see pg 166 of Channing Vol 1)^[1]

• An interesting thing to note is that,

• while guaranteed English rights, the colonists seem to have been regarded almost as employees to conduct themselves as directed by councils appointed by the king.

In hind sight - they would have been better served by granting local autonomy as was later demonstrated in Jamestown.

The charter for follow three years later provided a higher degree of self-rule.

The colonists who travelled to America under this charter met with hardship that ended in the death of many of them.

• December 20, 1606, The Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery sailed for the southern part of Virginia.

16 of the 120 died on the voyage.

• They entered Chesapeake Bay on May 6, 1607.

A few went to shore and were attacked by natives - 2 wounded.

• They built a fort on the James River.

• Six months later, less than half of those who reached Virginia were still alive due to malaria, Indian arrows, and hunger.
• There was also much internal strife. In January 1608, two of the colonial council appointed by the king one had died of disease, one had been executed, two were waiting execution, leaving only two others alive and at large.
• One of the council recommended including all surviving members be consulted on governing, but this was considered too democratic.

• On an important point comparing the results of despotic vs. democratic rule, Channing writes: "In connection with his description of this expedition, Gardiner (History of England, ii, 253) makes the extraordinary statement that such enterprises needed strong government and not representative institutions, a dictum which is in direct opposition to the teaching of American history, as is evident from a comparison of the history of Virginia and Plymouth. In one there was a council with sufficient power to hang the king's subjects; in the other the majority ruled. Or compare new Netherland under the tyranny of the Dutch regime with the neighboring English colony of Connecticut, where the franchise, in those days, was most liberal."

Gardiner was a fine historian - writing in the 1880s - but he put greater trust in the rule of the elite class than in the choices made by a broader electorate as democracy would provide.

• Of these first 197 colonists who sailed for Virginia from England, in November, 1606, 53 were alive in April 1608.

This was typical of the first groups to sail to America and an important thing to understand and remember. Primarily men, but also women and children; these were the first heroes of American history.

The Charter of 1609

This was the 2nd Virginia charter. It went a step further in the granting of self-rule. In the charter of 1606 (the first Virginia charter), the common stockholders had no say in how the company was to be run. In this charter, the king placed government of the corporation and its plantations in their hands.

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1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Channing, Edward. A History of The United States Volume I. London: MacMillan & Co., Ltd. 1909. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Channing_I" defined multiple times with different content