James Town Settlers

James Town with its first European visitors in 1607, a number of whom died on the spot and the rest who became the first settlers shaping the United-States-to-come, plays a significant role and holds a profoundly respected place in American history, for it later on became a model for future colonizers not to fall for the same mistakes, as their predecessors did, in order to maximize the utility of life on the New World.

It is a fortunate luck that western civilization benefits from a notably vital feature which is Habeas Corpus and that is not resulted save by a written-documentary culture. From the very first migrants, John Smith being of them, up to now, this has been what Europeans and later on Americans practiced. And it was only through this specific habit that next generations learned from Smith’s experiences about life on the New World how to live, what to do and what not to do.

Through James Town model colonizers found out the fact that in order to reach ultimate beneficiary goals they had to give everyone a share in the outcome so that individuals would have incentives to work harder for their own sake, at the first level, and the financially sponsoring company; colonizers learned how to build up societies based on law when they had a taste of what it was like to have a council where decision makers would sit and discuss the issues concerning the infant colonies; colonizers learned how and when to think of food if they did not want to share the destiny of the first adventurers over half of whom died due to famine, or of the ones who turn to cannibalism; colonizers learned to be aware of putting shelters over their heads lest would they confront the killing stone-cold winters that killed a lot of first James Town settlers; and they found out how to trade with Indians and how to make use of them, as we later see that colonizers even found ways to employ Indians to serve them on England’s wars against its European rival.