Jamestown, 1607
By streiff Posted in Culture — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
On May 13, 1607 104 Englishmen alighted from three relatively small vessels, the Godspeed, Susan Constant, and Discovery, with the intent of founding an English settlement in North America and becoming impossibly rich in the process. What ensued for most of them was unending toil, privation, an early death, and an unmarked grave.
They did preservere and their legacy shaped much of what America has become. According to David Hackett Fisher's Albion's Seed the institutions and ideas grafted into America at Jamestown, such as representative government and individual autonomy, were directly related to those first settlers's roots in southwest England.
One can't help but notice the absence of this, the 400th birthday of the founding of America's culture, from the orgy of set-aside monocultural and racialist observances that we are told honor our "diversity."
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Jamestown, 1607 3 Comments (0 topical, 3 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
I'm amazed at how many Americans don't know a thing about Jamestown. I'm 56, so I remember when schools actually taught American history, and we were always told about the Pilgrims, the first Thanksgiving, etc, but not much about the earlier settlements.
By the way, I am a direct descendent of a Jamestown colonist, Christopher Branch, who arrived on the 'London Merchant' in May 1620. I'm quite proud of that!
Very fun concert on Saturday, Bruce Hornsby, Ricky Skaggs and Chaka Kahn. Skaggs brought out his family at one point, including his wife, for a traditional "Old Rugged Cross." He prefaced it with comments talking about God's convenant with America, how the Jamestown settlers came to the New World seeking religious freedom.
Not quite, Ricky. Their interest was more along the lines of making money.
It's great to see that people are recognizing Jamestown. Unfortunately, I bet that, if asked, 4 out of 5 people would say that the Pilgrims were the first English to settle North America. Jamestown tends to be overlooked in American popular culture.