ception,
assumed a national character, since its purpose was to "deduce" a
"colony." It was instrumental, under its charter provisions, in
guaranteeing to the settlers in the New World the rights, freedoms, and
privileges enjoyed by Englishmen at home as well as the enjoyment of
their customary manner of living which they adapted to their new
environment with the passage of years. Quite naturally the settlers
brought with them their church and reverence for God, maintained trial
by jury and their rights as free men, and soon were developing
representative government at Jamestown.

The immediate and long-range reasons for the settlement were many and,
perhaps, thoroughly mixed. Profit and exploitation of the country were
expected, for, after all, this was a business enterprise. A permanent
settlement was the objective. Support, financial and popular, came from
a cross section of English life. It seems obvious from accounts and
papers of the period that it was generally thought that Virginia was
being settled for the glory of God, for the honor of the King, for the
welfare of England, and for the advancement of the Company and its
individual members.

In England, and in Virginia, they expected and did carry the word of God
to the natives, although not with the same verve as the Spanish. They
expected to develop natural resources, to free the mother country from
dependence on European states, to strengthen their navy, and to increase
national wealth and power. They expected to be a thorn in the side of
the Spanish Empire; in fact, they hoped one day to challenge and
overshadow that empire. They sought to find the answer to what seemed to
be unemployment at home. They sought many things not the least of them
being gold, silver, land and personal advancement. As the men stepped
ashore on Jamestown Island, perhaps each had a slightly different view
of why he was there, yet some one or a combination of these motives was
probably the reason.

The first section of this account is an adaptation, by the
author of the booklet, _Jamestown, Virginia: The Town Site and
Its Story_ (National Park Service, Historical Handbook Series,
No. 2) published by the Government Printing Office,
Washington, D. C., 1949.

[Illustration: Portrait from John Smith's _General History_ (London,
1624). Courtesy of the Tracy W. McGregor Library, University of
Virginia.]

[Illustration: "James Fort" built in May and J