What if Virginia threw a giant party next year and hardly anyone came?
Three hundred ninety-nine years ago, England finally attained a toehold in the New World at Jamestown. Will anniversary festivities be confined to Virginia and its admirers? Or will the nation as a whole mark this event inaugurating America’s first century?
Too often in the past, the national historical memory has been hijacked by those insisting that the “holy” puritan commonwealth set on a Massachusetts hill was the only paradigm of national development. They considered Virginia a sultry, subtropical sideshow.
Yet, all the major themes that shaped the American experience were elements of the early Jamestown struggle: A market economy, near-genocidal conflict with Native Americans, the arrival of enslaved Africans, a secular society in which religion was influential but not dominant, and a proto-democracy were in place before the first Pilgrim set foot on icy, righteous Cape Cod.
Indeed, when the time came to lead the Revolution and shape the national charter, the nation turned to moderate, sensible Virginians. First they helped organize a military defense of colonial liberties. Then they fashioned a political system built around practical accommodation to growing American diversity.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, James Madison, George Mason, Patrick Henry, James Monroe, Thomas Nelson, etc., did not just pop out of the woodwork. These men were products of a culture and a limited democracy that, for all its shortcomings, was marginally more mature than other regions.
VIRGINIA LOST its historical place as first among equals for a variety of reasons.
Perhaps most important was the commonwealth’s painful choice in the 1860s to abandon the Union created by its own sons. This diminished its claim on greatness in the eyes of post-Civil War historians, many of whom were Union veterans.
The Mother of Presidents became a national pariah and lost its hold on the American imagination.
The myth of New England pre-eminence had begun to overwhelm historical reality.
In 1900, state historian Lyon Tyler and some of his associates wanted to change that. They championed the Jamestown Exposition of 1907, a kind of historical world’s fair. Perhaps their greatest disappointment was that 1907 did not re-insert Jamestown into the national conversation.
Because of a botched communication strategy, fewer than 3 million of the expected 15 million visitors showed up.
Most of the local, state, and federal money went into creating the park site and infrastructure. The little left for marketing was misallocated — not used for the most effective form of advertising in that era, newspaper ads. The state wasted money on a foolhardy billboard strategy.
Editors and journalists in national newspapers, therefore, had no financial incentive to say nice things about the Exposition. And they said awful things, probably suppressing attendance.
WORD IS that in 2007, the most recent successor of King James I — Queen Elizabeth II — will be part of the festivities. She will be amazed at what she finds. Colonial Williamsburg, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, the Park Service, state and local governments, other institutions, and the private sector have been spending millions to get historical sites ready.
Let’s make sure Elizabeth and Phillip are not lonely.
Those who have an interest in attracting people to Virginia and those who want to correct the faulty national historical mindset must band together.
We should implement a powerful communications strategy rooted in telling the Jamestown and Virginia story.
We need to treat the 2007 anniversary as intensely as Coca-Cola regards the ever-looming Pepsi threat.
Virginia-based corporations working with the Federal Commission on Jamestown 2007 and the Virginia Tourism Corporation should increase their commitment to the anniversary and provide the funds for an aggressive mass-media campaign.
Vehicles for commercial radio, newspapers, the Internet, and television are in hand. They lack only the financing to find an audience. If media companies won’t give the air time or print space, we need to buy it.
Perhaps the crowning piece for this campaign could be, à la 1976, a Quadricentennial Minute, America’s First Century. Each night on one of the networks, using the founding of Jamestown as the centerpiece, we could explore the wide diversity of Colonial America.
In 2007 we have a chance to celebrate the contributions not just of Virginia but of all American communities — black, white, native, Puritan, Hispanic, commercial, political. We can do that by reminding the nation of the heroic story of where it all began.
Let’s make sure that next year’s party, for all the good reasons, is one no one forgets.
As a former Richmond resident and history buff, I’m fed up with Massachusetts getting all the Colonial glory. Although Englishmen first landed at Roanoke Island, the disappearance of that settlement makes Jamestown(e) the first successful British colonization of the western hemisphere. Later the same year (1607) Richmond was established at the Falls of the James, somewhere between the 14th Street bridge and the Pony Pasture. The first Thanksgiving was held at Berkeley Plantation in 1619, before the Pilgrims ever set foot on Plymouth Rock.
It’s high time Virginia gets off her genteel tuchus and sets the history teachers straight. Make Jamestown(e)‘s 400th birthday the biggest bash since 1976!
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Nancy Bilunas of Round Rock, TX
January 23, 2007 - 12:54 PM
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I do want to attend some of the celebration activities; however, I don’t want to be one little body in a large, large crowd. For that reason, I will take a wait and see attitude because I can be there in 3-4 hours. I want a quality visit and not an overcrowded one where I just can’t wait to get away. I want a pleasant experience and not one that I can go away saying, “well, I was part of it.” Yes, I want to be part of it, but not like a New Years Eve crowd in NYC.
If visiting is like being at a sporting event with bad seats versus watching on TV - even if just the evening news - with a bird’s eye view, I will take the latter. I don’t like attending a sporting event and find myself watching the monitor more than the playing field because that is the only way I can really see what is going on.
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Sandi of
February 01, 2007 - 2:51 PM
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I was a member of the military, serving in the public info office at Fort Lee, Va., in 1956-58 during the time the Queen visited Jamestown and area during the 350th anniversary and the military was heavily involved in the coverage and related publicity; what is the military doing this time??
I am a retired member of The Hearst Corp. and my wife is a retired editor-publisher and perhaps we could assist is some way.
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.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) of Castroville, Tx
February 01, 2007 - 6:00 PM
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Keep me informed, I hpe toget back there this year,,Great info THANKS!!!!
RC Powell
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.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) of Littleton CO
February 21, 2007 - 11:42 PM
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Virginia did not “abandon the Union.” The Union abandoned Virginia. Lincoln threw the Constitution out the window and forced a union at the point of the bayonette that began as a voluntary agreement.
“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with anotheer, and to assume among the powers of the Earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation…”
Virginia lost its historical place as first among equals because yankee historical revisionists pummelled her during reconstruction, and have been continuing to do so ever since. It is said that history is written by the victors, and unfortunately the yankee victors have not been friendly to the Old Dominion state from which many great Americans have come including Washington, Lee, and Jackson.
If you want this years’ quadricentennial to be successful, then don’t replace the word “celebration” with “commemoration.” Don’t be so politically correct that you don’t give credit to the one, true, God for His providential hand in Jamestown’s history. Acknowledge the God of Heaven’s role in America’s history as was done in 1807, 1857, 1907, and 1957. Yes, Queen Elizabeth will be amazed at what she finds that America no longer acknowledges God like it did the last time she was here in 1957.
I will be attending, but I will be attending during the unofficial “celebration” held June 11-16 and organized by Vision Forum. We will unashamedly tell the story from an overtly Christian point of view. For more information, visit http://www.jamestown400.org
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Mike Southerland of
April 25, 2007 - 4:24 PM
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In 2003 I commuted Sat & Sun for three consecutive weekends to Dayton for the 100th Anniv of the Wright Brothers first flight. This, too, had all the hoopla of a “big event.” You probably know attendance wasn’t what was expected. I haven’t read what the results of all the Corps of Discovery/Lewis & Clark events were. I ordered my May 12 ticket today; this is all the history we learned (were taught, even if we didn’t all learn it!) when I was a child in the 1960’s. It’s wonderful and I’m looking forward to it.
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.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) of Columbus OH
May 03, 2007 - 4:38 PM
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Before I say anything, let me say that I very much respect the part Virginia had in founding our nation. It did have a much stronger influence than most people are aware of, since kids in history class are mostly taught about the Mayflower, and Plymouth, and Jamestown just gets glossed over. However, I’m shocked at how many people believe Jamestown is the oldest permanent city in the United States. It’s not! St.Augustine, Florida, was founded in 1564, decades before Jamestown. It has been occupied constantly since it’s founding. First by the Spanish, then the British, then the Spanish again, then finally the United States. It is in fact 43 years older than Jamestown, and has a history that is filled with just as much, if not more trouble and hardship. Whenever the subject of St.Augustine comes up, I’m appalled to see that most Americans have never even heard of it! So school teachers, please, the next time you are talking about the pilgrims, and even Jamestown, don’t forget to mention St.Augustine!
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.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) of
May 03, 2007 - 9:35 PM
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Stand that standing!
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Laptoper of
April 26, 2008 - 6:51 AM
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The recent John Adams mini series illustrates the importance of Virgina to the cause of the American Revolution. It may not have even occurred without the cooperation of Virginia.
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Jim Bisnett of
May 15, 2008 - 1:46 PM
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Definitely it should be confined to virginia. why doubt?
http://www.vacationrentalhotspots.com
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Joe of UK
June 04, 2008 - 9:37 AM
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hi , really great news and great post
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forex of
July 02, 2008 - 3:28 PM
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Your article is absorbing, full of cool facts. I liked it very much.
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Julia of USA
July 31, 2008 - 6:50 AM
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Was there really a Governor Ratcliffe settling in Jamestown in 1607? In the disney movie the antagonist was Gov. Ratcliffe. Was there really a governor or political leader of Britain who sailed with John Smith and settled at Jamestown?
For some reason I couldn’t remember his name as Ratcliffe. I ended up calling him Governor Moltar.
For some odd reason Moltar came to my mind when I saw him.
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Peter Monroe of
September 10, 2008 - 5:08 PM
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