THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 29, 1994 TAG: 9407290015
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
The population of the English colony in Virginia had expanded to 2,400 men, women and children when, 375 years ago, on July 30, 1619, the first representative assembly in British America was formed at Jamestown. The experiment thrived, as did the territory that in time became the United States of America.
Jamestown was established in 1607. John Rolfe - better known for marrying Pocahontas than for cultivating the mild tobacco that has been the commonwealth's biggest cash crop for four centuries - counted 351 colonists in 1616.
Many more English men and women - perhaps 1,650 in all - had ventured from their homeland to the New World during the colony's first six years. But a thousand had perished - either en route to Jamestown or after arriving there - and an estimated 300 had returned to the British Isles.
Who could blame those who went back? Between Indians, disease and abundant other hazards, life was iffy in the Virginia wilderness. But the promise of a fresh start and eventual independence and wealth was nonetheless bringing more and more boatloads of immigrants.
The Virginia Company had sponsored the Jamestown settlement in the expectation that it would reap gold and silver, as the Spanish were doing elsewhere in the New World. Alas, Virginia contained neither precious metal. But burgeoning European demand for golden tobacco saved the day. Virginia soon was a prized English possession.
The colony was governed by martial law. The Virginia Company judged - with good reason - that dictatorial rule in the early days was essential to the colony's survival. But martial law deprived the colonists of political rights accorded them in England. Sir Edwin Sandys, a Virginia Company investor, led a group of shareholders who charged the company leadership with mismanagement and argued that retention of martial law would discourage immigration.
Sandys' dissidents failed to wrest control of the company from Sir Thomas Smith at that time. But their challenge to company policies forced change. The leadership sanctioned creation of a representative assembly, much like the British House of Commons, that became a predecessor of today's Virginia General Assembly. That representative assembly also was the first step in the building of democratic institutions in America.
That step will be honored tomorrow at ceremonies inside the church within the re-created Jamestown settlement fort. Betty Boothroyd, speaker of the British House of Commons, will be the featured speaker. Norfolk Del. Thomas W. Moss Jr., speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, will preside. Gov. George F. Allen and Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr., president of the Virginia Senate, will be there as well.
Virginians now number 6.5 million; Americans, 255 million. Legal immigration continues to provide new life and vitality, which helps keep our economy and our nation strong.
The Virginia Company's dissidents were right in their belief that representative government, whatever its flaws, would be a stimulus to immigration and prosperity in this land of boundless opportunity. Indeed, the subsequent history of the United States suggests that they were more right than they could ever have known - right beyond their most extravagant dreams. by CNB