THE AMERICAN EXPERIMENT - 250 YEARS ON
The Declaration of Independence - by John Trumbull, 1819 A Humble Beginning Following several failed attempts, the first permanent English settlers arrived on the northeast bank of the James River in 1607. The site was then known as James Fort and is now known as Jamestown, Virginia. The motivations for these people to give up their homes, jobs, neighbors, and comforts to eke out an existence in an unknown, undeveloped, foreign land were many, including: the promise of vast cheap land, economic opportunity, religious and political freedoms. Only 60 of the 214 settlers survived the bitter winter of 1609-1610, known as the "Starving Time". But by 1612 West Indies tobacco was being successfully grown, leading to an economic boom for the colony. That location served for the first of many legislative assemblies in the "New World" - new to the settlers but well known to the indigenous Paspahegh people. Over the following ...