The charter of the Virginia Company stated, 'Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are and as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shown unto many, yea, in some sort, to our whole Nation.' The growth and development of these two English colonies, though geographically separated, contributed much to our present American heritage of law, religion, government, custom and language. This occasion was the origin of the traditional Thanksgiving as we know it today. In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims held a celebration to give thanks to God for his bounty and blessings. shall be yearly and perpetually kept as a day of thanksgiving,' celebrated the first official Thanksgiving Day. On Decemsettlers stepped ashore at Berkeley Hundred along the James River and, in accordance with the proprietor's instruction that 'the day of our ship's arrival. The records do not mention Standish ever courting Priscilla.

The John Smith connection stems from Smith's later writings relating an incidence of Pocahontas saving his life.Īccording to Longfellow's epic, The Courtship of Miles Standish, John Alden proposed to Priscilla Mullins on behalf of Standish and she replied, 'Why don't you speak for yourself, John?' Priscilla did in fact marry John Alden at Plymouth. In actuality, she married John Rolfe, an Englishman who started the tobacco industry in Virginia. Who married Pocahontas? Some erroneously believe John Smith did. Good relations ended in 1636 when the Massachusetts Bay Puritans declared war on the Pequot Tribe and Plymouth was dragged into the conflict. Several survivors befriended and assisted the colonists. Prior to the Pilgrims' arrival, an epidemic wiped out the majority of the New England Indians. After the Indian uprising in 1622, the colonists gave up attempts to christianize and live peacefully with the Powhatans.

Vast differences in culture, philosophies, and the English desire for dominance were obstacles too great to overcome. English relations with the Powhatan Indians were unstable from the beginning. The Virginia colonists settled in the territory of a strong Indian empire or chiefdom. Since New England was outside the jurisdiction of Virginia's government, the Pilgrims established a self-governing agreement of their own, the 'Mayflower Compact.' It was here that our American heritage of representative government was born. In 1619, the first representative legislative assembly in the New World met at the Jamestown church. The Pilgrims were dissenters from the Church of England and established the Puritan or Congregational Church. The settlers at Jamestown were members of the Anglican faith, the official Church of England.

Nevertheless, they too were plagued with hunger, disease, and environmental hazards. Poor Indian relations, disease, and the initial absence of the family unit compounded the problems.Ĭooperation and hard work were part of the Pilgrim's lifestyle. Inexperience, unwillingness to work, and the lack of wilderness survival skills led to bickering, disagreements, and inaction at Jamestown. News of the English Colony in Virginia motivated them to leave Holland and settle in the New World. However, after a number of years the Pilgrims felt that their children were being corrupted by the liberal Dutch lifestyle and were losing their English heritage. They naturally hoped for financial profit from their investment in shares of company stock.įreedom from religious persecution motivated the Pilgrims to leave England and settle in Holland, where there was more religious freedom. Organizers of the company wanted to expand English trade and obtain a wider market for English manufactured goods. The Virginia Company of London, organized in 1606, sponsored the Virginia Colony. New Englanders turned to lumbering, shipbuilding, fishing and trade.Įconomic motives prompted colonization in Virginia. Cold climate and thin, rocky soil limited farm size. Plymouth provided good anchorage and an excellent harbor. Warm climate and fertile soil allowed large plantations to prosper. Jamestown offered anchorage and a good defensive position. With these two colonies, English settlement in North America was born. Thirteen years later, 102 settlers aboard the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts at a place they named Plymouth. This was the first permanent English settlement in the New World. Traveling aboard the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, 104 men landed in Virginia in 1607 at a place they named Jamestown.

Pilgrims land at plymouth rock