Jamestown Fiasco

Edmund S. Morgan, "Jamestown Fiasco," American Perspectives, Vol. I, No. 3, 2006

In the article, Jamestown Fiasco by Edmund S. Morgan, he is giving the reader mistakes the first settlers into Jamestown, Virginia. Edmund tells the reader how the Colony invaded the Indian's land and tortured them. Another key mistake was the variety of people who settled in Virginia. The settlers where unable to produce their own corn and relied on the Indians for food. These mistakes caused server suffering among the Colony for ten years.

The Colony found land, established a fort, and called it Jamestown. The Englishmen judged the Indians as salvages and despised them for living off the land with ease. Local Indian villages spoke of a chief named Powhatan who ruled the area above Jamestown. Powhatan disagreed with the Colony taking over the land and created many attacks on the fort. The attacks may have caused settlers unable to produce corn and depended heavily on other Indians for food. Upset by the idea, Captain James Davis sent men to Indian villages to kill, destroy, and burn their corn fields. The settlers had not only caused more trouble but also destroyed corn for themselves. They took over land and expected the Indians to be peaceful towards them.

The English Colony was mostly rich gentlemen, who came to make riches off the land. The first settlers had a few laborers who tried to harvest, but not enough to keep up with the demand of food. The King appointed councilors and put their names in a box to be opened upon the arrival of land. The gentlemen were sent for knowledge and others paid their way. The gentlemen settlers did not want to work hard and instead socialized among themselves. They sent for craftsman but the craftsman found themselves with out work. They had a hard time finding supplies for the craftsman such as steel, gold, and glass. The craftsman did not want to work hard either. The majority of the Colony was people who did not want to work.

The Colony did not have many hard workers, which meant a short supply of food. One of Edmund's theory is maybe they were too lazy to work. Another reason was they could not harvest because of the many attacks from the Indians. The settlers could not make it own their own and traded with the Indians for corn. The Indians knew the settlers need them for food but were terrified of the settler's weapons.

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