This painting by Sydney King portrays the landing of the three ships sent by the Virginia Company of London in 1607. The three ships were the Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Godspeed. The three boats carried 105 passengers and 39 crew members on their expedition from London to Virginia which took roughly 4 months to complete. After two weeks of inland exploration, the ships found there place for settlement, docked the ships, and began the establishment of Jamestown.
This painting by Sidney King portrays the perspective from the Native Americans, specifically the Paspahegh tribe and Powhatan tribes, who were the first to make interactions with the English colonists. Being territorial, the Native Americans were not willing to help the settlers at first and were in a way, angered by their presence. In this painting, the Native Americans curiously watch as the new settlers build James Fort. Although close to the water, the land where James Fort was built was poor for farming which the Native Americans neglected to help the settlers with.
This third painting by Sidney King portrays John Smith, the leader of Jamestown, trading goods with the natives due to the poor land for farming and lack of hunting for game meats. The natives would trade corn, squash, beans, meats and other crops for metals (mostly copper), wool blankets, glass beads, and other valuables. These trades were what kept the colonists alive the first couple of years due to lack of farming, hunting, and the few visits of supply ships. This also established a better relationship with the native tribes.
This fourth painting by Sidney King portrays the struggle for survival for the colonists of Jamestown due to the lack of food and other resources because of the dry rain season which crippled the little agriculture the colonists had. With John Smith being sent to England for medical attention due to an injury from a gunpowder "accident", Jamestown lost all of its structure and became quite barbaric and unorganized. Also, a fleet of ships arrived from London with no resources but more colonists which made portions even smaller and harder to maintain. This period of time, when 440 out of the 500 colonists died, was known as the "Starving Time". The "Starving Time" which was from 1609-1610, made the 60 colonists that survive, feel reluctant to stay.
On June 7, 1610, the surviving colonists did just that. They boarded the ships, abandoned Jamestown and headed towards Chesapeake Bay. Ready to go back to London and abandon Jamestown, the survivors were intercepted by a supply convoy led by Thomas West (Barron De La Warr), who was the newly appointed governor, and told the survivors to head back. With Thomas West brought the much needed structure and order to the society of Jamestown which resulted in some economic prosperity via John Rolfe's tobacco commercialization.
With the tobacco industry spreading, so was the demand for more land. This expansion of the colonies, brought trouble and angered the Powhatan tribe greatly. The Native Americans felt very disrespected by the Englishmen. Noticing this, the English took away all of the weapons from the Native Americans. Then on March 22, 1622, the Native Americans retaliated with violence in hope to drive the English out of Virginia. The result of this retaliation was know as the Indian Massacre of 1622. The Powhatan Indians killed 347 settlers (men, women, and children) and burned down many villages all in a hope to get rid of the English for good. The result of this massacre nearly killed 1/3 of the Jamestown Population.
With the harsh climates making it difficult for the colonies to grow crops for survival, it was cash crops like tobacco that provided the much needed source of income. Tobacco, at the time, was a huge hit in Britain for it was a way to display one's wealth by having the crop. With this immense demand for tobacco overseas, tobacco colonies like Virginia began to thrive with large plantations. Virginia also had the perfect climate and soil to grow tobacco unlike other colonies. The only problem with tobacco was that the cultivation was very labor intensive which made the need for indentured servants very substantial. Eventually, with indentured servants' terms being only 4-7 years, the idea of slaves came into play in the year of 1619 (first slaves in Virginia).
With the unreliable short-terms and 50 acre agreement of indentured servants along with Bacon's rebellion, plantation owners and other farmers began to turn away from them and loved the idea of buying slaves allowing ownership for life. Seeing this high demand for slaves, many slave traders began to ship large amounts of "human cargo" to the colonies. These shipments which could hold hundreds of slaves had terrible conditions. The slave traders, looking to make as much profit as possible, tightly packed the slaves chained to plank beds and fed them very little and gave them little water. This led to much starvation, dehydration, disease and other sicknesses. Roughly 20% of the load dying.
The harsh conditions did not stop after the ships. Some slaves knew this so to escape their fate of working, they would jump off of the boats and attempt to drown themselves. The conditions for slaves were awful. They would work lifetimes in scorching heat with little food and water resulting in little energy to perform the demanding labor. If they were not working to the plantation owner's expectations they would be punished with whips and other tools.
This painting by Robert Griffing, depicts the French and Indian War fought between the British colonies and France along with Native American allies from 1754-1763. Since the majority of the war was fought in the woods, the Native Americans, who knew the land very well, had a huge advantage over the enemy (British or French). However, the indians wielded spears and bows whereas the British and French had rifles and cannons. The French and Indian War began because of the dispute over the forks of the Ohio river, the Fort of Duquesne. Violence did not commence until 22 year old George Washington who was commanding some Virginia Militiamen attacked and killed a French Patrol. This ambush, which occurred in May of 1754 is known as the Battle of Jumonville Glenn. Many blame George Washington for starting the French and Indian War.
This image is the famous "Join, or Die" poster created by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 to promote the Albany Conference. This conference consisted of 7 of the 13 colonies: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. The purpose of this conference was to discuss the relationship with the Native Americans and the idea of the 13 colonies being under home rule. This idea is portrayed in the drawing of the snake being in 13 pieces (all represent a colony). However, this idea was opposed by the representatives of the colonies and they wanted to focus more on creating a treaty with the Native Americans.
The Treaty of Paris which was signed in 1783 in Paris at L'Hotel d'York marked the ending of the Seven Years War. This treaty was signed by John Jay, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams, (who negotiated for the United States) and David Hartley (negotiated for King George III). Consisting of 10 articles, discharged the French from America leaving the British with lots of land but a debt from the war. From this came many taxes on the colonies to pay the debt. This treaty also established U.S. boundaries, the accessibility for citizens of both nations to use the Mississippi River, fishing rights, and the restoration of the rights and land of Loyalists.