Colonization and Conflict:
1607 through the American Revolution

Standard(s) of Learning

Content

Identify the importance of the Virginia charters:

• The king of England granted charters to the Virginia Company of London. 
• The charters gave the Virginia Company the right to establish a settlement in North America.
• The first charter of the Virginia Company of London established companies to begin colonies in the New World.
• The charters extended English rights to the colonists.

Know that as Jamestown grew, the system of government evolved.

Know that in 1619 the governor of Virginia called a meeting of the Virginia Assembly. The Assembly was a system of government that included two citizen representatives (called “burgesses”) from each of the divisions of Virginia, the governor’s council, and the governor. (At that time, only adult men were considered citizens.) By the 1640s, the burgesses became a separate legislative body, called the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Identify that the Virginia House of Burgesses was the first elected legislative body in America giving settlers the opportunity to control their own government.

Identify that the Virginia House of Burgesses became the General Assembly of Virginia, which continues to this day.

Understand that conflicts developed between the colonies and England over how the colonies should be governed.

Understand that the Declaration of Independence gave reasons for independence and ideas for self-government.

Identify, using the following information as a guide, the reasons why colonists and the English Parliament disagreed over how the colonies should be governed:

• Parliament believed it had legal authority in the colonies, while the colonists believed their local assemblies had legal authority.
• Parliament believed it had the right to tax the colonies, while the colonists believed they should not be taxed since they had no representation in Parliament.

Understand that the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, states that authority to govern belongs to the people rather than to kings and that all people are created equal and have rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Sample Resources

Below is an annotated list of Internet resources for this organizing topic. Copyright restrictions may exist for the material on some Web sites. Please note and abide by any such restrictions.

 “Charters of Freedom.” National Archives. <http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/>. This site provides the history of the Declaration of Independence.

Documents of American History. Virginia Department of Education. <http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/.../documents_american_history.pdf>. This publication contains the text of The Constitution of Virginia, Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, Declaration of American Independence, Constitution of the United States of America with Amendments, and The Virginia Charters. It also includes a section on “Teaching the Virginia Declaration of Rights and Other Historical Documents.”

“Early Virginia Charters.” <http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/primarysources/virginia/before.html> This site provides information about the founding of Jamestown. The first offers the text of the actual second charter from 1609. The second site describes all three charters.

“Governing the Colony of Virginia.” Virginia Places .
<http://www.virginiaplaces.org/government/govcolony.html>. This site presents a concise history of Virginia from the founding of Jamestown to the establishment of the House of Burgesses.

Graphic Organizer. <http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/> This iste supplies a variety of graphic organizers to help students understand the content of the unit.

“Instructions to the Early Settlers of Virginia.” From Revolution to Reconstruction, and What Happened Afterward. <http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1601-1650/virginia/instru.htm>.

The Library of Virginia. <http://www.lva.virginia.gov/>. This site provides access to multiple databases and millions of digital images of text, photographs and maps.

“Life at Jamestown.” Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. <http://www.historyisfun.org/PDFbooks/Life_at_Jamestown.pdf>. This booklet is designed to give students “an overview of the early life of English settlement at Jamestown.”

Virginia Historical Society. <http://www.vahistorical.org/storyofvirginia.htm>. This site offers ten concise, easy-to-read chapters on Virginia history from prehistoric times to the present.

Virginia Standards of Learning Assessments for the 2008 History and Social Science Standards of Learning. Virginia Studies. Test Blueprint. Virginia Department of Education, 2009. <http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/blueprints/.../2008/blueprints_va_studies.pdf>. This site provides assessment information for Virginia Studies.