MODEL RESPONSE FOR ESSAY QUESTION
Question:
Jamestown, Virginia is remembered as this nation’s first enduring settlement.  However, that almost did not happen.  Beginning with an explanation of the beginnings of Jamestown, describe the events leading up to the near failure of this colony.  Ultimately, what was the outcome?

Answer:
	In 1606, King James of England granted a charter of 104 young English noblemen to found and establish a settlement in North America.  The members of this group were often second and third sons of upper class English families and lacked the experience to survive the wilderness of Jamestown.  From 1609 to 1610, about 500 settlers lived at Jamestown with only about sixty of those surviving the harsh conditions. Jamestown probably should not have survived for several reasons, but amazingly, it did.  Its inhabitants were inexperienced, and the colony was badly located
	The first settlers of Jamestown had made the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean as part of an exploration venture.  Most of the settlers were lawyers, clergy, and high-ranking military officers.  Some of those brought along their valets and footmen who waited upon their employers.  As second and third sons of English noblemen, they had been denied inheritances under primogeniture and entail laws that specified that first-born males of families were the only heirs to received landed estates and family titles.  Those second, third, and beyond, males had to make their own fortune, and they did so by signing on to settle North America.  They called themselves soldiers and more often than not, viewed the local natives as being inferior beings, thus establishing less-than-friendly relations with the Indians.  
	These first settlers had little or no experience with the wilderness.  Since there were no farmers or laborers in the group, no one knew how to plant when food shortages were apparent.  After all, most had only come to search for gold, silver, or the Northwest Passage.  The settlers, therefore, had to rely on Powhatan, a local Indian chief, for food.  Even so, many suffered from malnutrition, making them susceptible to disease.  Others starved, and others resorted to cannibalism in an effort to stave off starvation.
  	The second problem with Jamestown was its location.  It was to have located on high ground far enough inland in order to be easily defendable against Spain.  The inhabitants settled Jamestown in a swamp at the point on the James River where salt and fresh water met to form the undrinkable brackish water that is common along coastlines.  The location proved to be a breeding ground for diseases such as malaria, typhoid fever, and dysentery.
	Fortunately, for the remaining residents, relief came in four ways.  Jamestown was saved because the Pamunkey Indians under the leadership of Powhatan offered food.  The probability exists that the settlers bullied the Indians into providing food, but, nevertheless, the settlers found this way to survive.  
	Jamestown also survived because its investors in London continued to send out supplies and additional people to populate the colony.  Captain John Smith had been designated the leader of Jamestown who was charged with the task of bringing order to the colony.  His dictator-style leadership forced the colonists to pull together.  His discipline and rule were, “He who works not, eats not.”
	John Rolfe’s cultivation of tobacco, another Englishman who arrived in Jamestown in 1610, contributed significantly to the colony’s survival. Becoming a planter, Rolfe improved upon tobacco as a commodity, thus enabling the colony to stabilize economically.  Tobacco was in strong demand in Europe, and thus became the “gold and silver” so many explorers had been seeking.  
	The tobacco crop is perhaps the main reason the settlement of Jamestown survived.  From this colony along the James River, and with the help of tobacco production, other English settlements began to quickly spread along the banks of the river.  Jamestown was here to stay, and the English had found a way, through tobacco production and the profits it offered, to justify the settling of North America.