Jamestown: Decline & Fall?
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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.
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.
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.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the historical significance of Jamestown?
2:12–3:01
2
Who were the key players in Jamestown's history?
3:01–3:35
3
What role did charters play in Jamestown’s governance?
3:35–9:35
4
Why did the Native American uprising occur in 1622?
9:35–16:30
5
How did the revocation of the charter affect Jamestown?
16:30–23:00
6
What led to Jamestown's ultimate decline?
23:00–34:49