Commemorating 400 Years of the First Representative Assembly in the New World

The Virginia Company of London, a joint-stock company, was created by King James to establish a colony in North America. The settlement of Jamestown was founded in 1607. The King and the Virginia Company of London chartered Burgesses (representatives in a given area) to oversee the colony.

Four hundred years ago, 22 Burgesses representing each of Virginia’s eleven major settlements met in the church at Jamestown, Virginia from July 30-August 4, 1619. They were the first Virginia General Assembly. Democracy in the Western Hemisphere was born along the banks of the James River on July 30, 1619.

On July 30, 2019, there were two events to commemorate the 400^th anniversary. 

One occurred early in the morning, at the reconstructed Historic Jamestowne Church, where the Governor and a small group of officials, and some descendants of the first families met. 

Later the President of the United States was joined by former Governors, some Virginia legislators, a former clerk of the British House of Commons at the Jamestown Settlement for a joint session of the General Assembly.

1619 was a pivotal year for Virginia, the first permanent English colony in North America.

~ In addition to being the birthplace of the first Representative Assembly in the New World, Virginia welcomed the arrival of the first enslaved West Central Africans to English North America later that same summer.

~ By November English women were brought to Jamestown to establish families.

~ In December of 1619, the English ship Margaret landed at Berkeley Hundred, and celebrated the first Thanksgiving, over two years before the Pilgrims arrived aboard the Mayflower.

~ New laws passed that same year authorized Virginia’s colonists to initiate various industries, which established the basis for America’s free enterprise system.

MAKING HISTORY FUN FOR CHILDREN

Two of our grandchildren (aged nine and seven) visited us recently for a few days. Since we live in the historic triangle of Virginia, Jamestown, Williamsburg, Yorktown, it seemed like a great opportunity to share with them some our colonial history.

One day I took them to the Jamestown Settlement. The museums and videos there were great as was being able to see the recreation of:

The Susan Constant

the Indian village and how they lived

the settler’s fort and how they lived

the three small ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery 

It was on to Historic Jamestowne, where we saw the actual site of the fort where there is a museum, the church, and many ongoing archeological sites.

Later in the week, we visited the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown where there is a fascinating recreation of a small farm as well as canon and musket demonstration, all very kid-friendly.

We had already visited Colonial Williamsburg and will do that again.

The learning experience was enhanced by:

Reading:

1.         The Light and the Glory for Young Readers (Discovering God's Plan for America): 1492-1793 by Peter Marshall, David Manuel, and Anna Wilson Fishel         

(This is the first book in a series of history books written for young readers.We read the book through the Jamestown period. The children now have the book to read the rest of it on their own.)

2.        THE TRUE POCAHONTAS ~ A STORY YOU MAY NOT KNOW

http://janetgrunst.com/the-true-pocahontas-a-story-you-may-not-know/

(In the interest of time, I read them this post instead of the entire book The True Story of Pocahontas.)

Video Recording:

            We watched parts of the mini-series George Washington released in the mid-eighties.

Map Studies:

By Aude - self-made, map data from National Atlas
(USGS), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/
w/index.php?curid=2058243

            We studied maps of Christopher Columbus’ travels to the new world 

and of the Virginia Company’s travels to Virginia and the founding of Jamestowne.

            We put together a 300 piece jigsaw puzzle of the world.

Food:

            We studied how the food was preserved during colonial times. After grinding corn at Jamestown, we came home and made (and ate) cornbread and had some Virginia ham.

When they had to leave, we all agreed we had loads of fun learning about the early days of the colonization of Virginia and some of the last battles of the Revolutionary War.

http://JanetGrunst.com
http://colonialquills.blogspot.com/