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The Virginia Company |
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The Virginia Company |
Background Information on The Virginia Company
Objectives
a. Students will define the concept "joint-stock company."
b. Students will identify the characteristics of a joint-stock company colony and determine that Jamestown was a joint-stock colony.
c. Students will define the words simile, profit, investment, share, shareholders, and dividend as it relates to the economic development of the Jamestown Colony.
simile: a figure of speech that relates a similarity between two unrelated topics
profit: the money left over after a business or individual has paid all costs for production
investment: paying for something now, in the hope that one will receive profit in the future
share: a measurement of stock, a portion of ownership in a corporation
shareholder: a person who buys stock, or shares, in a corporation
dividend: a division of profit; what the shareholder receives if the investment is successful
Relevance
By using an simile, the teacher will b able to make a strange concept familiar. Although most students do not know what a joint-stock company is, most of them have know how a lottery operates, perhaps some have even purchased a lotto ticket. Stressing the similarities between a lottery and a joint-stock company will enable students to understand the methods of the Virginia Company and will enable them to define words that they will use in everyday life. In order for students to understand the motivation behind the Virginia Company's settlement of Jamestown, the students must understand that the Company was a joint-stock company; and what, exactly, that entails.
Involvement of Learners
Provide example of a simile (teacher note: could suggest a computer is like a brain, a team is like a body). Ask class to define simile (teacher note: define simile in terms of similarities). Ask for examples of similes.
Materials
Copies of Royal Charters,
http://www.jamestowne.org/royalc.htm,page
1, Smith, A.E. (1947) Colonists in Bondage, North Carolina:
The University of North Carolina Press, page 9, dictionary,
blackboard, chalk, a map of Virginia in the shape of a lotto ticket
(optional)
Activity
Distribute copies of "Royal Charters," page 1. Tell them to look for words they do not recognize, as well as reasons why one would invest in the company.
(teacher note: have students read to selves, while teacher reads aloud.)
a. what is an investment?
(teacher note: explain that one can "invest" in basically anything. One can invest feelings, attention, and so on. Ask for examples of investments.)
b. how did people invest in the company?
c. what benefits did people hope to receive from their investments?
(teacher note: ask students what they have hoped to gain from their own personal investments?)
We now know a new vocabulary word, investment. Who will explain the word investment, give me an example, and tell me why one would want to make an investment?
EXPLAIN INVESTMENT. After students answer, "Very good. Just like you all invest time into sports, or feelings into friendships, the businessmen in London invested money in the Virginia Company's colonization of Jamestown. It was only by these financial means, lots of people contributing money, that the Virginia Company could settle Jamestown because they were independent of the Crown. Therefore, the Virginia adventure had to be completely privately funded. We can also think of investments as "shares."
EXPLAIN SHARE. If someone buys part of a company, her investment is a share of the company. When the company receives profits, such as money earned from settlers growing tobacco, the share-holders in London, split the profits, according to how big their shares are, or in other words, how much money their invested in the venture in the first place.
EXPLAIN PROFIT. Why do you think the Virginia Company wanted to start a colony? PROFIT. In England, America was considered to be a land of riches. So, businessmen in London all pooled their money together into one fund, the price of colonizing Virginia. They hoped that by paying a little money now, for initial supplies and the voyage of farmers and settlers from England to America, that they would make a lot of money later. Here's how the system worked:
"Such persons [that leave England to colonize Jamestown]...will receive for this voyage, viz. five hundred 'reales' for each one, and they will be entered as Adventurers in this aforesaid voyage to Virginia, where they will have houses to live in, vegetable-gardens and orchards, and also food and clothing at the expense of the Company of that island, and besides this, they will have a share of all the products and the profits that may result from their labor, each in proportion, and they will also secure a share in the division of the land for themselves and their heirs forever more."
Source: Smith, A.E. Colonists in Bondage, p.9
EXPLAIN SHARE. What new word do you recognize in this passage? SHARE. The colonists would not receive all the profits from their farms and orchards and gardens. Rather, they had to pay some of the profits, a share, to the Company members in London. This way, the SHAREHOLDERS, or businessmen who bought stocks, secured profits, or dividends, from their initial investment in Virginia.
EXPLAIN DIVIDEND. That is a new word: DIVIDEND. Based on what I just said, that businessmen hoped to receive dividends, can anyone tell me what they think this word means? After students answer, "A dividend is the measurement of profit a shareholder of a corporation receives when the corporation's endeavor is successful.
Now we are going to use an simile to further your understanding of
a joint-stock company.
(teacher note: this is a synectics model designed to make strange concept familiar)
Make two columns on board, write the word: lottery, at the top of one and similarities between lottery and joint-stock company at the top of the other (teacher note: you can label second column as "comparison" and merely explain that the students will compare a lottery and a joint-stock company). Ask students for characteristics of a lottery (teacher note: possible responses might include you buy a ticket, lots of people can win, you buy a ticket now to get money later). Write their suggestions down under the word lottery (suggest some of your own if necessary to spur participation). Put poster of Virginia, recreated as a lotto ticket, on the front board. Ask students to identify and explain points of similarity between the description of a lottery and a joint-stock company (teacher note: possible responses may include a share in the Virginia Company's Jamestown settlement is similar to a lotto ticket (a share in the company), a London shareholder is a lotto winner, a dividend is like the money you win in the lottery).
Assignment
Group students in groups of two. Have students choose one of the new vocabulary words; invest, investment, share, shareholder, dividend, profit, or even joint-stock company. Ask them to perform the same activity, come up with a simile, list the similarities, as well as the differences. Conclude with a well-written paragraph, citing examples related to the Virginia Company in Jamestown in the early 1600s. Use a variety of sources, see Smith; Galenson, D.W. (1981) White Servitude in Colonial America, New York: Cambridge University Press; www.apva.org/history/index.html; www.whc.neu.edu/prototype/06/br2n1.html; as well as the text book.
Closure
Summary of learning -- Remember, a joint-stock company is based on many individuals contributing small amounts of money towards a whole; in the hopes that their small investment will reap large dividends, or amounts of profits. How does the Virginia Company's settlement in Jamestown reflect the characteristics of a joint-stock company?
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