Virginia 1607-1624

Dale's Laws

Governor of Jamestown in 1611 established his Laws Divine, Morall, and Martiall to bring the colony under control. The harsh punishments became a scandal in England and discouraged emigration.

House of Burgesses

1619 - The Virginia House of Burgesses formed, the first legislative body in colonial America. Later other colonies would adopt houses of burgesses., the first elected legislative assembly in the New World established in the Colony of Virginia in 1619, representative colony set up by England to make laws and levy taxes but England could veto its legistlative acts.

Navigation Acts

1650 laws that required among other things that all goods to and from the colonies be transported on British ships

Bacon's Rebellion

1676 - Nathaniel Bacon and other western Virginia settlers were angry at Virginia Governor Berkley for trying to appease the Doeg Indians after the Doegs attacked the western settlements. The frontiersmen formed an army, with Bacon as its leader, which defeated the Indians and then marched on Jamestown and burned the city. The rebellion ended suddenly when Bacon died of an illness.

Headright System

A method used by the Virginia company in order to encourage more settlers to come to America by giving any man who could pay his way to the new world 50 acres and if he paid the way for another he would recieve 50 acres and the person that he paid for would be the payers indentured servant for up to 7 years and then the indentured servant would recieve a portion of his ex-debtors land.

Indentured Servant

Colonists who received free passage to North America in exchange for working without pay for seven years.

Virginia Company of London

The Virginia Company of London was a joint stock company that recieved a charter from King James I to create a settlement in America. They provided the funding for the development of the Jamestown colony. First colonists were looking to get rich quick.