Jamestown Thesis

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In 1607 King James ordered the drafting of a new charter for a new colony in the new world,he declared the name of the aforementioned colony Virginia. The founders of the first colony in Virginia named their first settlement Jamestown, after their monarch. The first winters the settlement starved. Fortunately, Cpt. John Smith assisted in helping the colonists. However, his wounds caused his return to England. The colony then suffered a relapse. Several other men tried to help Jamestown but all but the last one failed. The author wrote an informative essay but the thesis had several errors. The essay, The Labor Problem at Jamestown’s Thesis, was that the colony’s long period of starvation was caused by the Englishman’s ideas about the New World, …show more content…

First of all, the author used little quotes and evidence to prove his point. He did manage to prove that England was lazy and that there was a lack of information, otherwise the other did little to prove his point in the way of evidence. Not only that but the other only used Jamestown as evidence even when referring to the whole of Virginia. The author never mentioned Plymouth colony once as evidence despite the fact that the Plymouth colony thrived without slaves, which the author says was the cause for the survival of Virginia. Furthermore, the author failed to cite the charter for Virginia. The King owned the charter for Virginia and leased it out to other companies as opposed to the charters for other colonies where they were owned by a specific company, group of people, or person, such as Pennsylvania or Rhode Island. This is stated at the beginning of the charter where it says, ‘King James’ … ‘to make Habitation, Plantation, and to deduce a colony of sundry of our People into that part of America commonly called VIRGINIA, and other parts and Territories in America, either appertaining unto us, or which are not now actually possessed by any Christian Prince or People, situate, lying, and being all along the Sea Coasts, between four and thirty Degrees of Northerly Latitude from the Equinoctial Line, and five and forty Degrees of the same Latitude, and in the main Land between the same four and thirty and five and forty Degrees, and the Islands "hereunto adjacent, or within one hundred Miles of the Coast thereof;’ This paragraph in the charter sets out what land the charter encompasses and who owns it, namely King James. This means that the money to fund the expeditions came from a public source, and thus, had a blank check. This blank check mentality is not mentioned at all. The Author failed to make a convincing case for his

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