their men, they set immediately to work building houses and erecting
fortifications. Thus did the English begin their first permanent
settlement in the New World.

The bold band of adventurers that came thus hopefully into this
beautiful and smiling country little realized that before them lay only
dangers and misfortunes. Could they have foreseen the terrible obstacles
to founding a colony in this land, they would have hesitated before
entering upon the enterprise.

Four things conspired to bring misfortune and disaster upon Virginia.
The form of government prescribed by the King and the Company was
unsuited to the infant settlement, and its defects kept the colonists
for many months in turmoil and disorder. The Indians proved a constant
source of danger, for they were tireless in cutting off stragglers,
ambushing small parties and in destroying the crops of the white men.
Famines came at frequent intervals to weaken the colonists and add to
their misfortunes. But by far the most terrible scourge was the
"sicknesse" that swept over Virginia year after year, leaving in its
wake horrible suffering and devastation.

The charter that James I granted to the London Company served as a
constitution for Virginia, for it prescribed the form of government and
made regulations that none could disregard. It provided for a Council,
resident in England, to which was assigned the management of the colony
and the supervision of its government.[4] This body was appointed by the
King and was strictly answerable to him through the Privy Council for
its every act.[5] The immediate government of the colony was entrusted
to a local Council, selected by the Council in England, and responsible
to it. The Virginia Council exercised extraordinary powers, assuming all
administrative, legislative and judicial functions, and being in no way
restrained by the wishes or demands of their fellow colonists.[6]
Although they were restricted by the charter and by the instructions of
the Council in England, the isolation of the settlement and the
turbulent spirit of the adventurers made them reckless in enforcing
their own will upon the colonists. More than once they were guilty of
unpardonable harshness and cruelty.

The charter did not provide for the appointment of a Governor. The
nominal leadership of the colony was entrusted to a President, chosen by
the local Council from among its members. This officer had no duty
distinct from that of the Co