Why Jamestown?

The settlers who planted the successful colony at Jamestown brought with them, by charter, the rights of Englishmen and a heritage of liberty grounded in Magna Carta. A dozen years after the settlers’ first arrival on Jamestown’s shore — and before the first arrival of Pilgrims at Plymouth — the Virginians convened the first elected assembly in America, an exercise of representative democracy that has continued, uninterrupted, to the present day. During the eventful century and a half between those crucial beginnings and the founding of our free nation and framing of our national charter, the Virginia colony was an incubator for the ideas and statesmen who forged America’s democratic institutions. In the colonial Virginia capitols at Jamestown and Williamsburg, and in pivotal places like Mount Vernon, Monticello and Montpelier, the primary authors of American liberty — Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Mason, Marshall, and others — worked out their ideas and laid the foundation for the great American experiment in democracy. That experiment continues to define the character of our nation and is helping to bring self-determination to peoples around the world.

The international commemoration of Jamestown’s anniversary in 2007 will continue a tradition of great American celebrations to mark this signal moment in our nation’s history. In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt led the international exposition at Jamestown and launched the Great White Fleet from Hampton Roads, having earlier declared in his State of the Union address that the “founding of Jamestown marks the beginning of the history of the United States of America.” In 1957, Queen Elizabeth II made her first state visit to the United States to join in the commemoration of Jamestown’s 350th anniversary. In keeping with this tradition, and building upon it, a wide array of high-profile national and international commemorative programs and events is planned for the 400th anniversary in 2007. The Commonwealth of Virginia, through its Jamestown 2007 Steering Committee, is coordinating planning for these commemorative programs and events, with assistance from federal, local and private entities involved in the preservation of the Jamestown site and the perpetuation of its important legacies.

In anticipation of the 400th anniversary, the United States Congress created the federal Jamestown 400th Commemoration Commission to facilitate commemorative programs of national and international scope and significance, including broad-based educational initiatives. Under the federal commission’s auspices, this official education curriculum website has been developed in partnership with other public and private organizations. The federal commission also is sponsoring a year-long, university-based international conference series on the foundations and future of democracy, beginning with an international youth summit on democracy in August 2006 and culminating in a gathering of world leaders in September 2007. In October 2006, a National Teach-In on Jamestown and its contemporary legacies — webcast to elementary and secondary students across America — will be produced by Virginia’s commemoration steering committee in partnership with the federal commission. These and related educational activities in the United States and abroad will help inform and motivate a new generation of young people as vital participants in the continuing journey of democracy.

There is hardly a more fitting occasion for a serious national and international reflection on the foundations and future of democracy than the 400th anniversary of America’s beginnings. The topic is timely and even urgent, given the focus on democratic ideals and institutions as events unfold on the international political and governmental stage.

There is much that Americans and people around the globe can learn from reflection on the experience of the world’s oldest continuing democracy. The American journey of democracy has been uneven; the Virginia Indians who preceded the English settlers and the Africans who arrived in servitude and slavery only belatedly came to enjoy the promise of the nation’s founding. And the story of American self-governance within a constitutional system of ordered liberty is still unfolding. The elemental attributes of the American legal and political system — including the rule of law, representative government, protection of individual liberties, free enterprise and private property ownership, and respect for religious, ethnic and cultural diversity — are important subjects for attention as democrats and republicans in emerging democracies around the world chart their future.

There is also much that Americans can learn from the experiences of other mature democracies and from the many emerging democratic societies and states around the world. The Jamestown voyage in the early seventeenth century was a journey that changed the world, and the pace of social, political, economic, and governmental change today is more rapid and “revolutionary” than at any time in world history. Democratic ideals face unprecedented opportunities as well as mortal threats. How to help advance those ideals abroad and reinvigorate democratic processes at home are vital subjects about which Americans can learn from their colleagues in other countries.

From the civics lesson plans and other educational resources accessible on and through this website, young people can learn about the historic and continuing journey of democracy and their opportunity and obligation as participating citizens.