History of Virginia

by William Bradford and The General History of Virginia by John Smith are novels of settlers and native relations. In both John Smith and William Bradford's texts, the men show themselves as heroes and the natives as lesser by denigrating their language, tricking them with contracts, and, having negative expectations. The Pilgrims, like the settlers at Jamestown, first see themselves as better by degenerating the language of the Native Americans. The settlers go through a long voyage at sea with many problems. They land on an unknown land. Captain Smith and his men are attacked, and Smith is captured by the natives. “Six or Seven weeks those barbarians kept him prisoner” (Virginia 74). The definition of barbaric is to be primitive and unsophisticated, meaning that the natives don’t belong in their time, as well as, they are not a proper complex society in the eyes of the settlers. Also, the puritans take a bad view on the language of the natives. Bradford implied that the ability of the Native Americans to learn a new language was lacking. At this point in the novel, they have gone through a long voyage through treacherous…

The institution of slavery here in Virginia is very unique compared to the other colonies, because we actually need slaves here, unlike the New England, etc. were the slaves only do domestic work and some minor agricultural work, the slaves here have better living conditions and are making money for us. Without these slaves, our economy will collapse and I will lose all my wealth, and I cannot let that happen. Tobacco requires a lot of labor, and time, and that is why we need the slaves here.…

Both History of Virginia and Description of New England were written by John Smith as a way to entice Englishmen to the New World; however, Smith's writing style and tone differ depending on the piece and what they are aiming to convey. In History of Virginia, Smith uses the third person narrative and dark humor in order to sell himself as a leader. By speaking in third person, John Smith is able to mention the problems of the colonies in the New World while staying detached from all blame,…

Both Philip Fithian and Goerge Washington record and immortalize the life of late 18th century white Virginian gentry in their diaries. In vastly different styles, both men describe the culture, values, power structures, methods of mastery, and relationships between men and women in colonial Virginia. As an outsider to this society, Philip Fithian creates a more complete and colorful picture than George Washington does. While Fithian’s account offers explicit observations about Virginian gentry,…

Charlottesville, Virginia. He was a leading figure in America’s early development. Jefferson was a scholarly man which later would prove to be beneficial as he drafted the U.S. Declaration of Independence. He was also the nation’s first secretary of state, second vice president (1797-1801), and the third president (1801-1809). Jefferson also served in the Virginia legislature, Congress, and was governor of Virginia. Later he served as U.S. minister to France. Jefferson’s first term in the…

1-Thomas Jefferson has a lasting name in the history of the United States, for his major contributions in different fields. Among the different names of Founding Fathers, he is one of the prominent figures who shared his deep, and wide-range of intelligence to forge the United States into a new economic an industrial power in the world (McArdle). Jefferson’s philosophy, religious, and social characteristics steered him to perform uniquely in his lifetime. Jefferson’s philosophy derived from the…

consisted of what is now currently Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. The Chesapeake region was mainly Maryland and Virginia, even though the Carolinas and Georgia were considered part of the Chesapeake region as well. Although the two regions were both settled by Englishmen, the regions possessed major differences that could be traced back to the varying motives for colonization, the various settlers, the geography and climate of the New…

Breen and Innes v. Morgan: The Argument of “Slavery and Freedom” “Slavery is an American embarrassment.” This is something, T. H. Breen and Stephen Innes, and Edmund Morgan (and all Americans since the abolishment of slavery) agree on. The Breen and Innes book, Myne Owne Ground talked about the social structure of Virginia, which was based on the ownership of land and property more so, than race. Whereas, Morgan’s article “Slavery and Freedom”, laid into “the American paradox,” which is…

In June of 1606, King James I granted a permission to the Virginia Company to go to the Chesapeake region of North America and by December, 104 people sailed out towards Virginia on the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery and landed on May 14 of 1607 on Jamestown Island; it became one of the first successful English settlements which helped grow a nation. John Smith became the leader and established a “no work no food” policy and he played a crucial part in trading with the Powhatan Indian…

Tea Party, the Battle of Concord or the Proclamation of 1763, Woody Holton, a history professor from the University of South Carolina, decided to veer off in a new direction by expounding a revisionist theory through his book Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves & the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia. In Forced Founders, Holton argues that Virginia elites were as important as the Independence movement leaders, but they were also powerfully influenced by other “grassroots”…