Notes:BC1.AH.Colonial Virginia and Maryland charters and conditions
2014/05/16 User:Jeff
This is the first section
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, 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. The reasons are not apparent.
- One of the council recommended including all surviving members be consulted on governing, but this was considered too democratic and despotic rule was to continue.
- 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. One of his errors was his inability to gauge the character of the colonists. It was a different kind of person who would leave a relatively comfortable homeland for wilderness and hardship. But his fundamental error was philosophical. Perhaps he is to be forgiven when one try's to take on his perspective as an educated member of the upper class. America was born out of a unique American perspective - which we get to in other articles. But we digress.
- 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. This did not yet mean, however, having a local representative legislature. But that was soon to come.
New people came forward ready to continue the effort to colonize America. Some of these were motivated by politics (expanding the sphere of the English empire), some by missionary zeal, and some by a desire for material gain and to improve their current condition.
The failure of the 1st Virginia Charter was attributed to the fact that common stockholders had no say in its governance or direction. This was changed in the 2nd Virginia Charter as mentioned above.
The 2nd charter was given to a group of partners who set to work to raise money and recruit emigrants.
- They printed pamphlets which were designed to sell investors and emigrants on the venture and were, whether or not by intent, deceptive.
- In the current language, 'planter' referred to anyone who emigrated to America and 'adventurer' referred to a stockholder who remained in England.
- Each adventurer received one common share in return for 12 pounds ten shillings.
- Each planter, male or female, over the age of 10 received one common share.
- Each planter, no matter their rank or station in England, was promised meat, drink, clothing, a house, orchard, garden and 100 acres for himself and each family member. (sign me up!)
- 200,000 pounds were raised and 500 emigrants were recruited from every English class.
- 500 sailed for the James River in 9 vessels on June 2, 1609. About 100 were women and children.
- 32 died of disease during the voyage.
- One vessel sank in a hurricane and another was driven into the Bermudas.
- 7 vessels reached the James River (the eighth did arrive later)
- Upon their arrival, these emigrants were undeceived of the conditions that they were to encounter in their new home.
- The English people that had survived from the previous attempt to colonize were dispersed and hungry, some living with the Indians.
- For all - newcomers and previous survivors - life was grim to the point of being hard to read about. Without recounting the details and all the causes, a year after this second sailing, 900 had actually landed in Virginia and 150 were still there.
- These were tough people and survivors and became the nucleus of what was ultimately a successful colony.
- In 1619, 1650 people had sailed from England for Virginia. 300 had returned to England and there were 350 English living in Virginia. So 1000 had died enroot or in Virginia.
As mentioned above, the company established by the 1609 charter was to govern the plantations rather than the king, but it was still a despotic rule in that the company wrote the governing regulations without taking the planters or their representatives into council. This they did and the code had the title "Articles, Laws and Orders, Divine, Politique, and Martial for the government of Virginia". The title is a good statement of the scope of these regulations.
- There was no religious tolerance. Only those who had taken the "Oath of Supremacy" could go to Virginia - which excluded Roman Catholics. There was a list of religious offences for which one could be flogged or sent to service in the galleys for six months. Some repeated offences could result in a death sentence. But, apparently, carrying out a death penalty was quite rare.
- It should be remembered that this mirrored practice in England and it was, in practice, much more lenient than in England.
- Whatever the settlers produced went into a common stock and they were clothed and fed alike from it. They were, in effect, employees of the company.
- For that reason, much of the code addressed offenses to keep people as honest as possible in this regard with severe punishments. But it can be imagined how effective that must have been. One did not have to be guilty of stealing, but how could a requirement for everyone to work to his best ability be enforced? In fact, this approach had to, later, be abandoned with people given a right to keep what they produced. Not until then did the colony start to prosper.
- Perhaps the savior of the Virginia colony was tobacco. It grew well in Virginia, but did not sell in England until it was learned how to cure tobacco for the English market. Then it became a profitable crop.
this is the 4th section
