Jamestown Women's Role In Early America

The history of Jamestown and the early United States has been mostly told through the stories of brave and valiant men. Rarely, in these histories, do we hear of what incredible women also helped to shape and influence the successes in the early United States. This is an incredibly important issue because women played just as a big of a role in the founding of the new world as men did. In May of 1607, around 108 Englishmen made their way to America and landed on the banks of the Chesapeake bay. They called this new place Jamestown, after the reigning English King, James the 1st. This new region was not intended to be their permanent home, but a place they could collect gold and silver from and then return to England. This is where the story

She also played a crucial role in the stability of Jamestown by practically running Maryland in a time of struggle and helping to keep the colony from running into the ground. Margaret travelled from England and first landed in Maryland on November 22, 1638. She was around the age of 37 and traveled to England with her family, hoping to gain a fortune. In Maryland, she decided to stay unmarried with her sister so that they could own their own property and manage it, which was basically unheard of in her time. They got this land from a man named Lord Baltimore who was the Governor of Maryland. They soon established an estate, and became very wealthy landowners. Margaret also became an active businesswoman and specialized in lending new settlers money. When the debtors failed to pay her back, she would always take them to court and would usually win. She became her own lawyer and brought to court 134 cases- all as a plaintiff. She is regarded as the nation's first female lawyer and was the first colonial women to demand the right to vote. Additionally when Maryland was drawn into the civil war with England, she saved the state of Maryland by paying the soldiers who helped to restore order, who threatened to wreak havoc if they didn't receive payment. She sold all of her cattle and some of Lord Baltimore's cattle, against his will,

Pocahontas was the daughter of a powerful Algonquin chief, named Powhatan. She often visited Jamestown as a child and and saw their struggles. She soon convinced the other native Americans to provide food to the starving and helpless settlers. Every four to five days she would bring them tons of provisions. An Englishmen, John Smith, described her as the savior of the colony because of her kind acts. He stated that Pocahontas was, "the instrument to preserve this colony from death, famine, and utter confusion.” He was stating that without Pocahontas’s help the colony would have surely parishes and starved to death because of their lack of knowledge of the new land. However, soon later John Smith was captured by Powhatan for venturing too far into his territory. He was going to be killed, when Pocahontas rushed in at the last minute and begged her father not to kill him, saying that if he died she would have to die too. This seemingly small act could have just been her trying to save her English friend, but it is largely speculated that this was actually a ploy to try and control the relationship between his tribe and the English. Pocahontas eventually married John Rolfe, which solidified the peace between the two groups. This marriage is thought to have just been diplomatic