This year marks the 400th anniversary since the founding of the first American colony: Jamestown.  My kids and I are doing an in depth study of Jamestown right now and there are so many amazing lessons to be gleaned from this study. We decided to follow the Noah Plan 2nd Grade Lesson Plan's suggestion and read a great book titled 'This Dear Bought Land' by Jean Latham.  What an appropriate title this is! These men really went through such extreme difficulties to put it lightly.   But the thing that really strikes me the most is the lack of understanding that many of these men had in some basic Biblical principles and how costly this lack of understanding was.

First of all many of these men were considered "gentlemen" and did not work, so only the "lower class" men worked. So many lives were lost simply because they lacked enough laborers to make the necessary preparations to survive in this new land. The  leadership obviously did not have a Biblical view of man and it effected the way that the men of the colony were governed.  The Bible is very clear that all men are created equal and a survey through history will show over and over again the tragedies that takes place when governing authorities don't share this view.

One can't help but love Captain John Smith and his leadership as he sought to lead the colonists by his example and wisdom.  For me it is so easy to see the Providential preparation of this man to lead and influence the colony for the brief time that he did.  When all other members of the council chosen by the King of England to govern the colony had died then the sole job of leadership fell on his shoulders. The first thing Smith did, much to the chagrin of the "gentlemen",was institute a new policy "If you do not work, you do not eat!" Oh if our present government would get back to this idea! How dependent we as a nation have become on our government! We have become so dependent on our government in fact that we have forgotten that we have a mighty God that we can depend on to fully meet our needs.

The second problem lies within how the provisions were distributed. John Smith's "No Work, No Eat" policy was a first step in the right direction and the colony did very well under his authority, but the men were all working for the common good of the colony and food was gathered into storehouses to be redistributed equally.  The problem with this is that there was no incentive for the individual to work harder. It wasn't until Sir Thomas Dale decided to do away with this communism and give each colonist a tract of land for his very own that the colony truly began to not just succeed but thrive. Our Founding Fathers could look back at this and see the importance of private property and capitalism which they referred to as the pursuit of happiness.  They knew these rights, as well as life and liberty, were God given and not government granted. Oh how far we have fallen from these ideals! My kids and I had a discussion just this morning about how, through Eminent Domain, our government can take away our land without our consent. We discussed whether or not individuals truly own property if someone else has the ability to take it away. We concluded that the one with the power to take the property is truly the owner, so when Eminent Domain was put into place private property was eliminated. Some may not agree with our conclusion but I bet these Texans do. Read more about it here.

My last thoughts on Jamestown are these: the colonists were expected to have much external government right from the very beginning and they proved that they needed it. Unfortunately a council of men who could not agree on anything and were constantly disputing was not healthy for the colony and most certainly not effective in making the colony succeed.  John Smith, when given the sole leadership, was much more successful but only by using extreme external government, so as soon as he was out of the picture the colony once again fell into a desperate situation because the men did not govern themselves well. The key principle to be learned from this is less internal self-government equals more external government, but more internal self-government equals less external government.  One need look no further than our current state here in America to see the truth of this.

I write all this in remembrance of the brave men who endured these hardships with great determination to see Jamestown colony succeed, who suffered through tragic events and terrible losses as their very lives became a lesson to future generations on principles of government. What courage it took! I encourage all families reading this to take some time out this year and tell your children about what these men through the providential hand of God did 400 years ago and what it means to us today - celebrate the humble beginnings of this once great nation!