Jamestown Virtual Colony

Dissolution of the London Company

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Objectives:

  1. The student should be able to discuss and write a one page essay outlining the reasons for the failure of the London Company citing in particular the economic troubles, mismanagement and the environmental problems the settlers encountered.
  2. The student should be able to state solutions the company might have tried in order to keep it afloat.

Relevance: The London Company failed for a number of reasons, yet its presence left a lasting legacy in the new world. Students should become familiar with the process by which this occurred.

Involvement of the Learner: The High School setting is not a democracy. There is a constant struggle to balance the rights of the entire population with the rights of the individual student. Ask the students, How is this done? Do you agree with the way decisions are made regarding behavior, dress, grading? Do you believe that a more democratic system would work? Why or why not?

Explanation: The teacher will lecture on the factors that led to the demise of the London Company, including:

Economic Problems Management Problems Environmental Problems
Inferior tobacco, little profit Unpopular Sir Edwin Sandys in control of company Famine and disease
Overplanting of tobacco, lack of food crops Martial Law declared Indian Massacre -1623
Failure of lottery to attract settlers Factional strife Lack of cooperation among settlers
  Appointment of Jones Commission to investigate mismanagement  
Outline of content

Activity: Have the students split into two groups. One group will have a leader appointed who will make all decisions. lThe other will be a strict democracy where consensus must be reached before any decision can be made. Have each group set up an organizational plan for a colony. Each group will decide:

  1. What crops are to be planted?
  2. Who is responsible for planting, harvesting, collecting taxes?
  3. How are profits to be distributed?

When class reconvenes, discuss: How did each approach work? If autocratic control was more unpopular than democratic control, was it more efficient? What are the benefits and disadvantages of each approach?

Closure – Questions:

How did the organization and management of the company lead to its demise?

List the factors that led to famine and disease in the colony. How might this have been prevented?

It is an economic fact that it is in a country's best interest to specialize in the production of a commodity in which it is more efficient than another. Why then was the planting of tobacco detrimental to the colony, at least initially?

Assignment: The students will write a one to two page essay on the failure of the London Company. To conclude they will offer suggestions as to how the problems might have been addressed in order to have the Company succeed.

Materials: Chalkboard

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