The Great Charter of Virginia

During all the early years of the Virginia colony the people were fed and clothed out of a common stock of provisions. They were also obliged to work for this stock. No division was made of the land, nor could the industrious man get any profit by his hard work. The laziest man was as well off as the one who worked hardest, and under this arrangement men neglected their work, and the colony was always poor. The men had been promised that after five years they should have land of their own and be free, but this promise was not kept. In 1614 Sir Thomas Dale gave to some who had been longest in Virginia three acres of ground apiece, and allowed them one month in the year to work on their little patches. For this they must support themselves and give the rest of their work to the common stock. This arrangement made them more industrious. But the cruel military laws put in force by the governor made Virginia very unpopular.

Argall, who came after Dale, governed very badly, and the colony was almost ruined. In 1618 many new emigrants were sent, and Lord De la Warr was again sent as governor, but he died on the way. The “Virginia Company,” of London, which had the government of the colony in November, 1618, granted to Virginia a “Great Charter,” under which the people of the colony were allowed a voice in making their own laws. This was the beginning of free government in America. Under this charter the government of Virginia was put into the hands of a governor, a “council of estate,” and a “general assembly.” The other American colonies afterward took pattern from this threefold government.

The government of the United States by a president, a senate, and a house of representatives shows that the ideas put into the Great Charter have left their mark on the constitution of our country. The governments of all our States also show traces of the same idea. Each State has a governor, a senate, and a house of representatives. So that the plan arranged in 1618 for a few hundred people in Virginia was a tiny stream that has spread out into a great river.

The Great Charter also gave the people of Virginia the right to divide the land into farms, and to own and work ground each for himself. When the new governor, Sir George Yeardley, got to Virginia in the spring of 1619, bringing this good news that the settlers were to live under laws of their own making, and were to enjoy the fruits of their own labors, they thought themselves the happiest people in the world.

About this time it was thought that the colony would be more firmly planted if the colonists had wives. Young women were therefore sent out to be married to the settlers. But, before any man could marry one of these, he was obliged to gain her consent, and to pay the cost of her passage, which was about a hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco. This venture proved very satisfactory to the Virginians, and women were therefore sent for wives from time to time for years afterward. When the colonists had land of their own, they felt themselves at home in America, and no longer thought of going back to England.

Before this there had been a good many small wars and troubles of one kind or other with the American Indians. But, as the American Indians had few firearms, the settlers could easily defend themselves. After 1619 many efforts were made to change and convert the American Indians. Money was given to educate their children, and a college was planned for them. One ambitious American Indian brave, whom the settlers called “Jack of the Feather,” and who was believed to be proof against bullets, was suspected of wishing war. At length he killed a settler, and the settler’s servants, in trying to take him to the governor, shot him. The American Indians did not show any resentment at his death at first, and O-pe-chan’-ka-no, who had become head chief on the death of Powhatan, said that the sky might fall sooner than he would break the peace.

But on the 22nd of March, 1622, while the men of the colony were in the fields, the American Indians suddenly fell on the settlements, killing the colonists mostly with their own axes, hatchets, and hoes. Three hundred and forty-seven men, women, and children were killed in a single day. One American Indian lad, living in a settler’s house, had given warning during the night before, and some of the settlements had time to prepare themselves for defense. From this time on there was almost continual war with the American Indians for many years.

In 1624 the Virginia Company, of London, was dissolved, and the colony was put under the government of the king. But the king, James I, when he put down the company, promised to the colony all the liberties which they then enjoyed. This promise was not well kept by his successors in after-years; the Virginians were often oppressed by the governors sent to them, but the right to pass laws in the General Assembly was never taken away.