WEBVTT 1 00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:22.719 In April sixteen oh six, Sir Thomas Dale returned to 2 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:26.359 England along by him in the ship where John Rolfe 3 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:29.879 and now Pocahontas known as the Lady Rebecca and their 4 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:34.320 infant son Thomas. After a relatively quick passage, the Treasurer 5 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:36.079 in the name of the ship docked at Plymouth in 6 00:00:36.119 --> 00:00:40.320 early June. By far the most valuable cargo unmentioned in 7 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:43.920 any of the manifests was Pocahontas, living proof that the 8 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:47.960 Pohatan Indians could be converted to Christianity and English ways. 9 00:00:48.840 --> 00:00:50.880 This was the first time a group of Indians had 10 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:57.240 seen England's various countries characterized by distinctive landscapes, communities, and agriculture. 11 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:00.320 The journey that they took from Plymouth all the way 12 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:03.280 to London, all the way through Devon and Somerset, where 13 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:06.840 they saw fertile low coastal lowlands and river valleys lined 14 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:11.200 with orchards and rich pastors, past ancient castles and cathedral towns, 15 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:14.959 across the great open expanse of Salisbury Plain, the ts 16 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:18.560 vistas of wheat fields and sheepwalks, and then of course 17 00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:21.680 all through the woodlands, through the Thames Valley and on 18 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:25.239 to London. The Bahatans were amazed quote at the sight 19 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:28.760 of so much corn and trees end quote Throughout the journey. 20 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:33.680 Although Indians had been seen in London before, Pocahontas's prestigeous 21 00:01:33.719 --> 00:01:37.239 Wassenahuk's daughter, together with the port of her marriage and conversion, 22 00:01:37.319 --> 00:01:40.400 were positively electrifying to the crowds that turned out to 23 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:43.439 see her. The high point of her stay came when 24 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:46.200 the King and Queen received her at a banquet shortly 25 00:01:46.280 --> 00:01:49.439 after Christmas for one of the highlights of the yearly 26 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:54.799 calendar in England, Twelfth Night. To publicize Pocahontas's appearance in 27 00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:58.400 England and to attract investors, the company commissioned a young 28 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:02.400 Dutch graver, Simon ven dis Pay to sketch her portrait, 29 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:06.040 which was then rushed into print. This is the famous 30 00:02:06.040 --> 00:02:09.280 portrait that if you look up, Pocahontas still today stares 31 00:02:09.319 --> 00:02:12.199 back at you from the page. It's an intriguing image 32 00:02:12.439 --> 00:02:17.319 layered with both contrast and symbolic meaning. She's wearing expensive clothes. 33 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:20.520 The fine lace and tall hat proclaim her as a 34 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:23.560 wealthy english woman dressed in the latest fashion. She has 35 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:27.479 pearl earrings, which signified that she was from America, and 36 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:32.879 more particularly from Virginia. Her fan of ostrich feathers denotes royalty. 37 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:37.599 She's well dressed but not extravagant, and her careful attire 38 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:42.400 was designed to suggest affluence but not access. Most striking 39 00:02:42.439 --> 00:02:46.000 of all is the representation of Pocahontas herself. Van de 40 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:49.319 Pessi made no attempt to give her features a European 41 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:52.639 look at all. Instead, she has the high cheekbones and 42 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:55.319 dark hair typical of the indigenous peoples of her part 43 00:02:55.319 --> 00:02:58.919 of America. Although she was dressed as an englishwoman, as 44 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:02.080 clear she's not English, exactly the message the company wanted 45 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:05.319 to convey. They wanted to explain it was possible to 46 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:10.879 civilize quote unquote the Indians to make them English less. Predictably, 47 00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:16.120 Pocahontas does not look modest at all. The dutiful appearance 48 00:03:16.120 --> 00:03:19.120 of a convert and a wife are nowhere on this page. 49 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:23.080 Look as long as you want, you'll never find them. Instead, 50 00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:26.639 she proudly looks back at the viewer, as if to say, 51 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:31.800 it's me the daughter of a king. Now. Captain John 52 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:34.120 Smith might have been in Plymouth when the treasurer docs, 53 00:03:34.199 --> 00:03:36.800 but if he was. He didn't do anything to greet 54 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:39.680 Pocahontas or John Rowl for anyone else for that matter. 55 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:42.840 In fact, it would be months before the two would 56 00:03:42.919 --> 00:03:46.840 actually meet. Her. Arrival in England may also have stirred 57 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:50.360 up mixed emotions in Captain Smith. If things had might 58 00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:54.280 worked out differently, perhaps he could have occupied Rolfe's position. 59 00:03:54.680 --> 00:03:56.520 He could have been received by the King and Queen. 60 00:03:56.800 --> 00:03:59.800 You'd have been the star of the company. But it wasn't. 61 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:03.879 The years since his return to England had been deeply frustrating. 62 00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:06.759 Despite his eagerness to go back to Virginia, the company 63 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:10.759 refused to re employ him. His Map of Virginia and 64 00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:14.919 Proceedings of English Colony in Virginia, both published in sixteen twelve, 65 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:18.040 which together provided the most detailed account of the colony, 66 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:21.480 had failed to bring him any tangible mark of favor. 67 00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:25.000 Fairly or not, Sir Thomas Smith and his associates held 68 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:27.879 him partly to blame for the turmoil of Jamestown's first 69 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:33.160 few years, a consequence they believed of Smith's headstrong temperament. 70 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:37.079 Spurned by the company, Smith eventually managed to line employment 71 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:40.279 in the spring of sixteen fourteen. In charge of two 72 00:04:40.279 --> 00:04:44.240 small vessels chartered for a fishing trip to North Virginia. 73 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:47.560 Taking full advantage of this opportunity, he turned the venture 74 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:51.519 into a voyage of exploration, carefully mapping the coastline and 75 00:04:51.560 --> 00:04:55.680 the major rivers of the land that he called New England. Thereafter, 76 00:04:55.720 --> 00:04:58.399 he had thrown himself with all his old enthusiasm into 77 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:01.120 promoting the establishment of a settlement to the north that 78 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:03.480 he believed would be more successful in the long run 79 00:05:03.720 --> 00:05:07.319 than the ailing colony on the Chesapeake Bay. As Smith 80 00:05:07.319 --> 00:05:09.519 busied himself to raise funds for a second boy, he 81 00:05:09.560 --> 00:05:13.120 heard news that Pocahontas had arrived in England. Here in 82 00:05:13.160 --> 00:05:15.199 the company of some friends. Shortly before he was about 83 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:18.040 to embark to New England, Smith arrived to pay his 84 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:21.959 respects to the Indian princess taken him back after seeing 85 00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:25.879 him for several years. She was initially able to speak 86 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:28.920 to him, and only after a couple hours alone she 87 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:33.240 was sufficiently composed to speak to Smith. What followed was 88 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:37.759 a difficult and awkward exchange. Pocahontas began by saying, quote, 89 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:40.240 they did tell us always you were dead, and I 90 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:43.040 knew no other untill I came to Plymouth. He made 91 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:45.439 no reply. He had not tried to contact her since 92 00:05:45.480 --> 00:05:48.120 he left Virginia, probably had not given it much thought, 93 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:50.720 considering such a move would have been politically unwise and 94 00:05:51.079 --> 00:05:56.800 practically impossible. But she continued rather forcefully. You did promise 95 00:05:57.079 --> 00:06:00.480 Pohawden what was yours should be his, and he the 96 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:04.120 like to you. You called him father, being in his 97 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:06.720 land a stranger, and by the same reason, so must 98 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:11.680 I do you. At this Smith kind of mentioned that 99 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:14.079 he quote Durst not allow of that title because she 100 00:06:14.199 --> 00:06:19.000 was a king's daughter, and quote Pocahontas rebuked him instead, 101 00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:21.480 now saying, were you not afraid to come into my 102 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:25.959 father's country and cause him fear in me and all 103 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:29.399 his people? And I fear you here and call you father. 104 00:06:30.279 --> 00:06:34.920 I tell you here and now that I will call you, 105 00:06:35.319 --> 00:06:37.759 and you will call me child, and so I will 106 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:43.040 be forever and ever your countrymen. Smith was no doubt 107 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:48.519 puzzled at this point. He hadn't had any contact with 108 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:53.519 Wasasahonas since the spring of sixteen oh nine. What was 109 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:58.040 the meaning, though, then, of Pocahontas's reference to Smith and 110 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:01.839 her father's pledge to each other. Was it an echo 111 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:04.759 of an agreement about what had happened while she was 112 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:09.160 in captivity and he was also in cactivity. She obviously 113 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:12.240 assumed that there was still a relationship between the two 114 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:15.240 of them, that there was a special bond that united them. 115 00:07:16.519 --> 00:07:20.519 For her, the intervenings years, Smith's falling out with her father, 116 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:24.199 his departure from Virginia, and even her marriage to Rolfe 117 00:07:24.759 --> 00:07:29.519 had not diminished that commitment of support. Now, in all likelihood, 118 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:33.759 for Smith there had never been such a commitment. He 119 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:36.560 may have been fond of her, but that was as 120 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:41.360 far as his connections to Pocahontas went, and for Smith 121 00:07:41.560 --> 00:07:43.680 that was also kind of the end of the story. 122 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:48.079 Smith would never see her again after this single meeting 123 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:53.920 in England. In March of sixteen seventeen, Pocahontas died of 124 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:59.360 an illness, probably tuberculosis, possibly pneumonia. She was on a 125 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:02.199 start of the way back to Virginia, but she would 126 00:08:02.279 --> 00:08:06.519 never see the continent that she was born on. Instead, 127 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:10.480 Pocahontas was buried in a chancel of the parish of 128 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:24.879 Saint George. Interestingly, even with Pocahontas present, there was no 129 00:08:25.160 --> 00:08:28.560 major upsurge in interest in Virginia and that kind of 130 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:31.920 makes sense given the perilous straits that the company was in, 131 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:36.080 I mean more than fifty thousand pounds of staggering some 132 00:08:36.360 --> 00:08:39.279 for the time have been invested in the venture since 133 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:42.399 sixteen oh nine, but at the end of the seven 134 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:45.919 year term placed on the joint stock company there was 135 00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:51.360 little to show for it. Though. There was one thing 136 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:55.600 that came with Pocahontas that everyone was very wrong to 137 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:03.120 immediately dismiss the use of, and that was quote exceedingly 138 00:09:03.240 --> 00:09:10.399 good tobacco end quote. Tobacco had come with Dale and 139 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:16.240 Pocahontas back from Virginia. Introduced into England half a century 140 00:09:16.279 --> 00:09:20.039 before by sailors would sail to the Americas with John 141 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:24.759 Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake. Tobacco had become popular with 142 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:27.799 fashionable glants and the well to do during the fifteen 143 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:32.240 eighties and fifteen nineties after smoking was taken up by 144 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:38.039 prominentent then Elizabethan courtiers like Sir Walter Raleigh. Depending on 145 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:43.840 its quality and condition, leaf imported legally or sometimes smuggled 146 00:09:44.360 --> 00:09:48.240 from Spanish counties could cost anywhere from two to four 147 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:53.399 pounds per pound. It was a significant amount now Despite 148 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:58.440 this expense. Smoking spread rapidly from the gentry to the 149 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:04.039 lower classes, so much so that by sixteen fourteen, according 150 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:07.080 to one source, there was not a groomsoe Bass who 151 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:10.159 quote comes into an alehouse to call for his pont, 152 00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:14.320 but he must have his pipe of tobacco end quote 153 00:10:14.440 --> 00:10:17.879 in London alone. The same source claimed there were some 154 00:10:18.120 --> 00:10:23.279 seven thousand newly erected tobacco houses, where the sales amounted 155 00:10:23.559 --> 00:10:26.759 to nearly three hundred and twenty thousand pounds per year. 156 00:10:27.879 --> 00:10:32.840 All of this quote spent in smoke end quote, in 157 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:38.200 taverns and inns, during public hangings, floggings and their spectacles. 158 00:10:38.679 --> 00:10:44.679 Everywhere the English were smoking constantly. Now among those who 159 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:47.960 enjoyed a pipe of good tobacco was none other than 160 00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:52.759 John Rolfe, already a confirmed smoker when he left for 161 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:56.039 Virginia with the Gates Fleet in sixteen oh nine. Not 162 00:10:56.240 --> 00:10:59.120 long after arriving on the James River, he had the 163 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:02.960 idea of raising tobacco on a commercial basis. In the 164 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:08.440 summer of sixteen twelve, using seeds imported potentially stolen from 165 00:11:08.519 --> 00:11:12.799 Trinidad and Venezuela, Rolph began experimenting with varieties of a 166 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:17.039 mild Spanish leaf, anticipating that this crop would produce a 167 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:20.120 leaf more suited to English tastes than the indigenous plants 168 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:23.440 smoked by the Indians, which had a rather acrid flavor. 169 00:11:24.679 --> 00:11:26.679 The challenge was not only to raise a type of 170 00:11:26.679 --> 00:11:29.679 plant best suited to local conditions, but also to determine 171 00:11:29.799 --> 00:11:33.519 how harvested leaf could be cured and transported to England 172 00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:38.600 without spoiling. Whether he learned the art of mystery of 173 00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:44.120 tobacco husbandry himself or possibly was taught by friendly Polhattan's 174 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:47.519 were not really sure, but after a couple of years 175 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:52.600 John Rolfe started to have a significant amount of success. 176 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:58.360 By early as sixteen fourteen, large quantities of Virginia tobacco 177 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:03.200 were reaching London regular literally. Rolf when he arrived with Pocahontas, 178 00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:07.240 spent his time busily marketing his crop among merchants and 179 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:11.320 tobacco sellers. He faced a lot of obstacles for this, 180 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:13.840 though none the least of which was, of course, the 181 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:18.600 King James. The First James hated tobacco. He hated smoking, 182 00:12:19.159 --> 00:12:23.879 and so to a large extent, fearful of royal displeasure, 183 00:12:24.440 --> 00:12:29.360 the Virginia Company discouraged tobacco planting on a large scale, 184 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:34.519 and to that extent, the company's leaders in London turned 185 00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:38.480 their backs on the one commodity that could be produced 186 00:12:38.519 --> 00:12:41.559 cheaply in the colony, for which there was already a 187 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:45.919 strong market and a rapidly growing one in England. That 188 00:12:46.039 --> 00:12:48.519 being said, the fact that the Virginia Company turned their 189 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:50.759 back on tobacco didn't mean that those in Jamestown were 190 00:12:50.759 --> 00:12:53.200 going to do that or in the Chesapeake as soon 191 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:56.799 it would become virtually a factory for the production of 192 00:12:56.840 --> 00:13:01.039 the addicting leaf. Now Shortly before setting out for England 193 00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:04.279 in the spring of sixteen sixteen, John Rolf, Secretary of 194 00:13:04.320 --> 00:13:07.080 the Colony, was instructed by Dale to draw up a 195 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:10.679 survey of the space he was returning to. He divided 196 00:13:10.759 --> 00:13:14.440 Virginia into three types of men, officers, laborers, and farmers. 197 00:13:15.559 --> 00:13:19.759 Officers were responsible for ensuring that defenses were adequate in 198 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:23.279 the settlements and that those under their charge attended to 199 00:13:23.320 --> 00:13:27.720 their work diligently and obey martial law. Laborers were divided 200 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:31.320 into two kinds. Either they were employed in general work 201 00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:35.039 for the company and were supported from the general store, 202 00:13:35.159 --> 00:13:37.840 or they were skilled artisans. Here we're talking about like 203 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:41.000 blacksmith's carpenters, so on and so forth. Then these men 204 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:46.879 mostly maintained themselves. The farmers Rolf thought quote lived at 205 00:13:46.919 --> 00:13:50.639 most ease end quote. They were obliged to defend the colony, 206 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:52.960 of course, and to work for the company one month 207 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:54.120 out of the year, but the rest of the time 208 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:56.360 they were free to grow their own crops, in the 209 00:13:56.360 --> 00:14:00.519 condition that each man supported himself and his family delivered 210 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:02.559 two and a half barrels of corn to the general 211 00:14:02.679 --> 00:14:08.519 store annually. Now six settlements were listed. One was at Enrico, 212 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:11.120 on the north side of the James River, where thirty 213 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:13.559 eight men and boys made up twenty two farmers and 214 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:17.799 the rest officers and a few laborers. The most heavily 215 00:14:17.799 --> 00:14:22.039 populated settlement was at Bermuda. This was on the south bank, 216 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:26.120 five miles downriver from Henrico, where one hundred and nineteen 217 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:31.240 settlers men and women lived incorporated Bermudez City under the 218 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:34.360 authority of Captain yearlea deputy governor in the absence of Dale. 219 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:39.159 Most of those settlers were laborers who had certainly contracted 220 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:42.039 to work for a period of time. These men were 221 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:47.120 engaged in producing things like pitch tar, and charcoal. At 222 00:14:47.159 --> 00:14:50.519 West Shirley one hundred, located a few miles below Virginia, 223 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:55.519 twenty five men were employed in purely cultivating tobacco, and 224 00:14:55.679 --> 00:14:59.480 on Jamestown Island there were thirty two farmers who tended 225 00:14:59.720 --> 00:15:04.120 to the crops and looked after the company's livestock. The 226 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:07.960 whole colony bore the unmistakable stamp of Dale's reforms in 227 00:15:08.039 --> 00:15:11.360 shifting the bulk of the population upriver, and that's where 228 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:15.840 about seventy percent of all the settlers now resided. From 229 00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:20.440 sixteen oh nine to sixteen sixteen, approximately fifteen hundred settlers 230 00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:24.159 have been sent from England, but Rolf could enumerate only 231 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:28.080 two hundred and five officers and laborers, eighty one farmers 232 00:15:28.279 --> 00:15:31.360 and sixty five women and children, making a total of 233 00:15:31.399 --> 00:15:36.279 three hundred and fifty one, which means over two thirds 234 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:41.879 of those who set sail for Virginia had not survived. 235 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:46.399 A staggering number. And when we have to consider just 236 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:51.200 how difficult life in the early New World was. But 237 00:15:51.320 --> 00:15:56.639 the key to the colony's prosperity everyone realized was land 238 00:15:56.759 --> 00:16:00.600 and how best to exploit land. The guarantee of land 239 00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:05.639 ownership could attract significant and sufficient investment to transport thousands 240 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:09.840 of men and women necessary to unlock its riches. Captain 241 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:12.919 Samuel Argyle was one of the first beneficiaries of the 242 00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:16.360 company's new policy. Appointed governor in the winter of sixteen 243 00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:20.440 sixteen sixteen seventeen, he and his financial backers were signed 244 00:16:20.440 --> 00:16:24.480 twenty four hundred acres for the transportation of twenty four settlers, 245 00:16:24.840 --> 00:16:27.240 whom he intended to locate in an area just to 246 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:31.600 the west of Jamestown. Now before Argyle was able to 247 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:34.120 turn his attentions to the allotments of land as instructed 248 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:37.240 by the company, though he had to first address a 249 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:42.279 few more important and immediate issues. When he arrived back 250 00:16:42.279 --> 00:16:45.960 at the colony in mid May, he found once again 251 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:51.080 Jamestown's palisades and church falling down the wharf essentially in pieces, 252 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:53.960 and only five or six of the house is hospitable. 253 00:16:54.720 --> 00:16:58.919 Elsewhere in the colony, houses, land ruins, palisades and blockhouses 254 00:16:58.919 --> 00:17:03.600 had collapsed, and a few of the fortifications were completely inserviceable. 255 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:08.960 For whatever reason, colonists and Jamestown had a terribly difficult 256 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:12.880 time maintaining the structures that they had constructed, and so 257 00:17:13.480 --> 00:17:17.720 Argyle pressed ahead with repairs to the various parts of 258 00:17:17.799 --> 00:17:23.200 Jamestown that he preferred to locations upriver. The deputy governor, though, 259 00:17:23.319 --> 00:17:28.960 could take some adequate signs and comfort from the reality 260 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:33.759 that the economic conditions had started to improve. The settlers 261 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:39.599 were now well provisioned. Wheat, barley, corn, and tobacco was 262 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:44.599 all thriving. Best, and most importantly of all, the colony 263 00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:48.359 was able to ship twenty thousand pounds of tobacco to 264 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:53.599 London in sixteen eighteen, which it sold for five shillings 265 00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:58.720 and three pence per pound, realizing about two hundred and 266 00:17:58.759 --> 00:18:02.519 fifty pounds for its investors. This wasn't a massive sum 267 00:18:02.680 --> 00:18:06.960 by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a 268 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:09.759 mount that actually finding made it look like the colony 269 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:14.839 might turn some sort of profit now. Frankly, Argyle arrived 270 00:18:14.839 --> 00:18:17.720 in the colony a very opportune moment. The country was 271 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:21.079 at peace, sellers were producing enough food for their own needs, 272 00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:23.799 and the company was poised to distribute large amounts of 273 00:18:23.880 --> 00:18:27.119 land to colonists and investors that would create growing numbers 274 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:31.440 of independent planters and companies At Jamestown. The deputy governor 275 00:18:31.480 --> 00:18:34.960 found quote the marketplace and streets and all other places 276 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:40.920 planted with tobacco end quote. As I mentioned before, despite 277 00:18:41.240 --> 00:18:45.519 admonitions to the contrary, the bottom line was that tobacco 278 00:18:45.880 --> 00:18:50.599 cultivation had spread rapidly all the way between sixteen fifteen 279 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:55.759 and sixteen seventeen. Increasingly settlers discovered they could not only 280 00:18:55.799 --> 00:18:58.680 grow food stuffs on their farms, but also produce a 281 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:02.680 potentially lucrative crop. Virginia was on the threshold of a 282 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:06.160 tobacco revolution, and within the space of a few years, 283 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:09.799 would transformed the lives of everyone who worked along the 284 00:19:09.880 --> 00:19:16.079 James River, both the English and the Bahatans. Important changes 285 00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:18.079 in the way the colony was to be governed were 286 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:22.039 also introduced in these years. In sixteen eighteen, the colony 287 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:26.599 was divided into four cities or boroughs. There was Kiwakatan 288 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:32.079 later called Elizabeth City, James City, Charles City, Enrico. This 289 00:19:32.119 --> 00:19:35.160 reorganization was for the purpose of correctly assigning workers to 290 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:38.359 work on company land. Really, the whole thrust of the 291 00:19:38.440 --> 00:19:43.000 idea behind making the Virginia Company profitable was transporting settlers 292 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:46.599 over to Virginia, settling them on a plot of company land, 293 00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:49.680 and requiring them to work on that land for a 294 00:19:49.720 --> 00:19:53.519 period of the year, or potentially the entire year growing 295 00:19:53.519 --> 00:19:58.240 tobacco and other commodities. This is essentially indentured servitude. If 296 00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:00.599 you don't know what an entured servitude is, someone who 297 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:03.960 can't pay for their passage to the New world offers 298 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:07.279 to work for a specific term. The term varies. Usually 299 00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:10.000 seven years is the sort of rule of thumb, but 300 00:20:10.039 --> 00:20:12.359 that's not a law by any stretch of the imagination. 301 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:15.519 And when the term is over, then that individual is 302 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:18.160 supposed to receive an allotment of land, so on and 303 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:22.519 so forth, and start a new life. Every hundred laborers 304 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:26.039 working on company lands, the estimate was, could generate at 305 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:29.680 least one thousand pounds annually, the idea being that there'd 306 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:32.960 be at least five hundred men working on company lands 307 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:36.599 within a couple of years. By the terms of the 308 00:20:36.920 --> 00:20:41.160 Great Charter of sixteen eighteen, settlers who had arrived before 309 00:20:41.240 --> 00:20:44.880 Dale's departure two years earlier, who were now referred to 310 00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:48.960 as ancient planters, were granted one hundred acres for their 311 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:52.839 own use, and if they were investors, an additional one 312 00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:55.839 hundred acres for every share that they owned in the company. 313 00:20:56.759 --> 00:21:01.400 Those who arrived April after April six sixteen sixteen, and 314 00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:04.920 paid their own passage, would receive fifty acres for themselves 315 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:09.519 and another fifty for every person they transported. This arrangement, 316 00:21:09.880 --> 00:21:12.559 known famously as the head right system, which I'll come 317 00:21:12.599 --> 00:21:15.480 back to you later on, became the primary means by 318 00:21:15.480 --> 00:21:18.480 which laborers were recruited and sent to the colony for 319 00:21:18.519 --> 00:21:22.480 the rest of the century. Concerned that the colony's severe 320 00:21:22.599 --> 00:21:28.519 marshal order code would discourage private investment and certainly discourage immigration, 321 00:21:29.079 --> 00:21:33.960 the company introduced the Governor Elect, George Yurdley in sixteen eighteen, 322 00:21:34.839 --> 00:21:38.440 and his mandate was simple to introduce quote just laws 323 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:42.119 for the happy guiding and governing of the people end quote. 324 00:21:42.279 --> 00:21:45.279 Two new councils were also created, a Council of State 325 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:48.160 whose members were selected by the Company in London to 326 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:51.279 assist the Governor in his duties, and then a General 327 00:21:51.319 --> 00:21:55.880 Assembly that would include the Council and two burgesses from 328 00:21:56.039 --> 00:21:59.720 every town one hundred or particular plantation, and these individuals 329 00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:04.039 would be directly elected by the free inhabitants. This is 330 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:07.680 one of the first free legislatures in the New World, 331 00:22:08.119 --> 00:22:12.079 will later on form the foundation and basis for many 332 00:22:12.119 --> 00:22:17.480 ideas of American democracy. The General Assembly was supposed to 333 00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:22.279 convene once a year on less extraordinary occasions, demanded more 334 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:26.640 frequent meetings, and was authorized to consider all matters concerning 335 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:30.680 the public welfare, anything regarding the colony, and to propose 336 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:34.519 such general measures for the better ordering of affairs and conformity, 337 00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:37.920 especially with the idea of making sure that the laws 338 00:22:38.039 --> 00:22:42.119 in the Americas stayed consistent with the laws in England. 339 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:46.640 Although Burgesses quickly adopted elements of parliamentary practice and developing 340 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:49.720 their own procedures, the Assembly was never actually intended to 341 00:22:49.720 --> 00:22:55.680 be a little parliament, but rather a form of local government. Then. 342 00:22:55.839 --> 00:22:59.599 The idea here was that shareholders, through these local governments, 343 00:22:59.599 --> 00:23:01.759 would also will be able to play a more active 344 00:23:01.799 --> 00:23:05.359 role in the administration of the company. The governor, of course, 345 00:23:05.559 --> 00:23:09.680 was still all powerful. Everybody recognized that in the dangers 346 00:23:09.720 --> 00:23:12.599 of the new World, you still had to have someone 347 00:23:12.839 --> 00:23:16.759 with whom the buck stops. The General retained a right 348 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:21.279 of veto, and legislation passed by the Assembly could only 349 00:23:21.319 --> 00:23:24.079 be enforced if the Governor approved of it, and of 350 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:26.519 course if the company approved of it back at London. 351 00:23:27.799 --> 00:23:31.680 Interestingly enough, in these efforts to recruit new settlers. People 352 00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:34.160 back in England started to pay attention to a different 353 00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:39.119 type of group, separatists. Virginia they believed might be any 354 00:23:39.319 --> 00:23:45.279 attractive haven for religious dissenters. Hundreds of nonconformists embarked for 355 00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:49.160 the colony between sixteen eighteen and sixteen twenty one, although 356 00:23:49.160 --> 00:23:51.720 the vast majority did not actually go to Virginia. Many 357 00:23:51.799 --> 00:23:55.359 went to what was actually now today the area around 358 00:23:55.720 --> 00:23:58.480 the Bermuda Islands. Some of them went to the Caribbean, 359 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:01.880 and others, as we'll discuss next week, found their way 360 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:04.880 to New England. In fact, the Pilgrims, you may be 361 00:24:04.920 --> 00:24:09.000 interested to learn, actually we're attempting to land in Virginia 362 00:24:09.079 --> 00:24:11.319 and they miss their mark and wound up in what 363 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:15.039 is today around Cape Cod not even close now. Besides 364 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:19.200 appealing to Puritans, the company launched a broad campaign based 365 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:23.200 on recruiting colonists from all over the country, including skilled 366 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:26.720 artisans and tradesmen, as well as destitute children on parish 367 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:32.079 relief and convicted felons. In sixteen eighteen, six ships embarked 368 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:35.359 for the colony, caring about four hundred settlers. The following 369 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:38.880 year fourteen left with one thousand settlers, and in sixteen 370 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:43.000 twenty thirteen ships carrying more than one thousand, three hundred. 371 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:47.880 Between sixteen eighteen and sixteen twenty one, all told, fifty 372 00:24:47.960 --> 00:24:52.599 ships transported some three thousand, seven hundred and fifty settlers 373 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:57.000 to Virginia. Marked that in those three years up against 374 00:24:57.039 --> 00:25:00.680 the years sixteen oh seven to sixteen twelve, five year 375 00:25:00.759 --> 00:25:06.240 period when little less than fifteen hundred total showed up. Obviously, 376 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:10.960 the pace of migration increased, so did the pace of prosperity. 377 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:14.160 Now this is going to be another storyline for a 378 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:17.359 future episode. I do want to note that also in 379 00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:21.440 sixteen nineteen, aboard the now infamous ship the White Lion, 380 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:26.400 the first ever enslaved Africans arrived off the coast of Virginia, 381 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:30.799 And while they probably got a better deal than where 382 00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:33.640 they were headed, which was sugar plantations in the Caribbean, 383 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:36.599 they still spent the rest of their lives, to the 384 00:25:36.599 --> 00:25:40.440 best of our knowledge, enslaved working on tobacco fields. Again, 385 00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:42.279 this is a story that we'll come back to you 386 00:25:42.359 --> 00:25:46.720 later on. Africans were not the only people forcibly transported 387 00:25:46.759 --> 00:25:50.720 to the colony. In the fall of sixteen eighteen one, 388 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:53.599 John Chamberlain reported that the city of London was shipping 389 00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:57.480 to Virginia quote one hundred young boys and girls that 390 00:25:57.559 --> 00:25:59.880 had been starving in the streets, which is one of 391 00:25:59.880 --> 00:26:04.839 the best deeds that could be done end quote. Over 392 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:09.519 the years between sixteen seventeen and sixteen twenty three, hundreds 393 00:26:09.880 --> 00:26:13.039 of destitute children from the streets of London were swept 394 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:17.000 up and shipped to Virginia, personally not having any choice 395 00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:21.720 in the matter. Now, Virginia would have been an interesting 396 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:25.160 place if you walked around it in sixteen twenty In 397 00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:29.440 early that year, men outnumbered women by about seven to one. 398 00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:33.519 There were very few young children, almost no elderly people 399 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:37.759 living along the James River. The vast majority of settlers 400 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:42.200 were between the age of fifteen and thirty five. Alongside 401 00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:45.599