In 1699, Virginia’s government and capital moved from Jamestown to Middle Plantation, renaming it Williamsburg.But why did they abandon Jamestown? In this final episode of our series, Don and Willie Balderson of Jamestowne Rediscovery uncover the colony’s last great struggles - from the loss of its charter, to fire and to rebellion.Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds.American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.
Chapter 1: What is the historical significance of Jamestown?
Welcome back, I'm Don Wildman. This is American History Hit. Did Jamestown fail? It was the first permanent English settlement in what would become the United States. Yet it was eventually abandoned. Over the past three weeks, we've uncovered the hard history of the place, ravaged by disease, war, famine. But Jamestown did endure for a time to become Virginia's capital.
For 92 years, until 1699, there it was, when the seat of power was finally moved to Williamsburg. So today, let's tell the last chapter and unravel the mystery of what happened to Jamestown. To find out, I am joined by Willie Balderson, Director of Living History and Historic Trades at Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation, down there at Jamestown itself. Nice to have you back again.
Chapter 2: Who were the key players in Jamestown's history?
Don, I'm so happy to be back with you.
Thanks. For anyone who hasn't heard the three prior episodes of this series, we've been going through the founding and development and finally settling down of Jamestown Colony so that it eventually becomes a success story. Willie, I want to make this clear because we're going to talk about a charter being revoked at the end here.
So we have not really been clear about the fact that there were three other charters before this. When we talk about charter, what are we talking about?
It is official approval from the king to start a business that is as succinct as I can make it.
Chapter 3: What role did charters play in Jamestown’s governance?
Sure. And there was one in 1606, the first charter. A second comes in 1609, just a few years later. The third charter, 1612. And we're going to be talking in this episode about 1624, when that last charter is revoked. Each one of these is a kind of a readjustment for the Virginia company back in England.
But how this whole thing is running, the size of it and so forth, is creating problems and challenges and how it's governed and so forth. But we really find, I mean, this is the real headline of the series, the basis of the governance of Virginia is really created here in Jamestown, correct?
That's absolutely correct. The first charter allowed that they could come into the Chesapeake Bay and wherever they landed, 50 miles in any direction was theirs. John Smith will explore the Chesapeake Bay in 1608 and he writes a letter back saying, we haven't asked for enough land. And that's why the 1609 Charter is granted. And Virginia then extends 200 miles.
and to the north or to the south, but because of John Smith's exploration and the discovery that the continent apparently continued further than anybody dreamed, it's the 1609 Charter that allows that the claim by the English and the Virginia Company extends to the western shore. So it's the 1609 Charter that allowed England to believe on paper that
They extended all the way to what is today California in the Pacific Ocean.
Wow.
Charter of 1612 adds Bermuda to the mix. Not only Virginia, but Bermuda will be taken in. And then there's a charter that was granted in November of 1618. And that is the charter that allows that they can have their own
They are allowed to send word up and down the James River to the 11 largest settlements and at a time determined, which will be determined to be the last of July, beginning of August 1619. Two elected representatives from the 11 largest settlements would gather. They were to review all of the laws of the former charters, the instructions.
They were to review all of the laws that had been stated in martial law. And they were to determine which ones they felt were necessary to be continued. And it was not written into that charter in 1618, but they took advantage of sort of a non-existent loophole, the appointed governor, Sir George Yardley, allowed them then to consider laws that they felt they needed.
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Chapter 4: Why did the Native American uprising occur in 1622?
Leider stirbt Pocahontas in 1617, ihr Vater, der König, in 1618, als mehr Menschen kommen, um Tabak zu wachsen. Palatans Successor and his successor, Oprah Chatkanu, the former war chief of the Pamunkey Indians, recognized that more and more of their land was being taken up. And in March of 1622, everything reached flashpoint.
An incredibly well planned and well executed revolt, an uprising by the native people along the James River. At that point, there are about 23 settlements along the James River from where Richmond is today down to where the James feeds into the basin of the Chesapeake. And almost every one of those settlements was in some way attacked. We don't have an accurate measure.
It's oft guesstimated around 1250 English men, women and children were living along the James and we know of 347 that were killed that day. Wow. The reprisals were slow in coming because for so long the English had accepted that the natives were willing to see the English arrive.
Sure. What's interesting to me is that after these 20 years, there's still these threats. I mean, the threat has not been mitigated. You would have thought, I would imagine, through all that governance and all those times, that measures would have been taken, negotiations would have happened, but apparently not.
They relied so heavily on the 1614 Peace of Pocahontas. Yeah. And they had been Es war schmerzhaft, dass die nativen Menschen nicht glücklich waren. Und die nativen Menschen hatten Autonomie. Und es gab Fragen über ihre Gerechtigkeit. An einem Punkt, im Frühjahr 1622, bevor der Uprising am 22. März, hat der König Opa Chankanao Wow.
And this is going to mark the beginning of a whole longer period of conflict that goes into the 1630s. You know, this is a decade and more of lots of problems that eventually lands with even a rebellion within itself, right?
Correct. Things will settle down in the 1630s, but there will be one final uprising in 1644 on April 18th. And this now very aged leader, Opachanka now, Why would the Crown revoke this Charter that had been in place in various iterations for 20 years? Das ist ein weiterer einer dieser komplizierten Antworten, die ich versuchen werde, so einfach wie möglich zu machen.
Die Firma hat sich mit den 16, den frühen 1620er Jahren, die Offiziere in London, sehr dividiert darüber, wie sie vorwärts vorgehen sollten. Einige von ihnen wollten die Idee fortsetzen, dass sie unter dem Tisch die Städte in Virginia nutzen könnten, as safe havens for piracy. They couldn't come out and say this, but that was an underlining cause.
Some of the officers were fearful of the Virginians being allowed so much autonomy, the colonists being allowed so much autonomy to create their own laws. That was a little unnerving. And King James was brought into the middle of this, when several of his favorites fell on both sides of these arguments.
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Chapter 5: How did the revocation of the charter affect Jamestown?
Ja. I'll be back with more American History after this short break.
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Babyborn, Babyborn
Just a recap right now. I want to say it is a fascinating thing that we really discussed in the previous episode that's worth reminding people of right now. What has happened was the creation of a commercial entity of a whole company that's down here creating a profit-making organization. die nur auf Geld basiert, als gegen eine religiöse Organisation, die den Show leitet.
Das hat funktioniert, es ist ein sehr schrecklicher Weg, es ist immer noch so, aber es passiert. Und als Ergebnis wurde es dem Kronen attraktiv, um diese jetzt offizielle englische Kolonie zu erschaffen, die nicht nach Norden für ein paar mehr Jahre passieren wird. Aber das ist der Prozess, der unterwegs ist. Du hast etwas erwähnt, ich weiß nicht, vor zehn Minuten, das faszinierend war.
That there was a point where one of those charters actually drew that Virginia all the way out to the Pacific Ocean. That's the beginning of Manifest Destiny, isn't it?
Absolut. Wie ich es in dem vorherigen Segment eröffnet habe, wird John Smith die Chesapeake Bay zweimal besuchen, im Sommer von 1608. Und die Liste überlebt, die John Smith im Sommer von 1608 zurück zu seinem Home Office, zurück zur Firma, und sagt, wir haben genug Land gefragt. Du wirst es nicht glauben. Anstatt 50 Meilen in jede Richtung, müssen wir 200 Meilen fragen. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
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Chapter 6: What led to Jamestown's ultimate decline?
Well, it's going to lead to a lot of class tension, isn't it?
And when some of these large landowners set these indentures free, they've worked their term three to seven years, the indentures have it in their head that we're going to get some of this new land because they've got it. But the planters wind up vetting out the worn out tobacco land.
It's a little bit like Ireland, isn't it?
It absolutely is.
Yeah.
The governor that arrives in 1642, William Barclay, will do all that he can after the uprising of 1644 to establish friendly natives just to the west of the settled land. And he will protect them. And as these newly freed indentures look to the west, Who do they see on this land that they really want to get at? It's the native people.
So you've got a tension of class, you've got a tension of land acquisition, and you've got a growing hatred of an indigenous people that are perceived to be being protected by a governor. And it only takes a small match, an Es kommt immer daraus, dass man nicht in der Mitte der Klasse werden kann, die man erwartet, oder? The expectation. Managing the expectation.
It's that way over and over and over again.
Yeah. The French Revolution. You name it. Wealth disparity. It's amazing how often this has happened in the history of man. And this is what causes the rebellion in 1676. How long does it last? A year. Mm-hmm.
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