An Exodus: History of the American Commonwealth

[Wolve]

To be free from tyranny we must seperate from it..
Thomas Cartright: "An American Moses"

The History of the American Commonwealth is one deeply rooted in its Christian Founding. Every schoolboy in the Commonwealth knows the history of the 1574 expedition sent by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

In 1559 England had just begun emerging from the grips of the Bloody reign of Queen Mary. It was during this time that in order to secure her realm against the Catholic Menace that her nation would become a hotbed of Protestant Activism. The Act of Pardon (1560) would lead to the return of many of England’s leading theological minds that had fled under the reign of “Bloody Mary.” Among them was Thomas Cartright who would become the greatest critic of Elizabeth’s “Anglican Church” and founder of the Exodus…

A Brief History Leading to the Founding of Roanoke Colony

The 1560’s

Throughout Elizabethan England lay an underground church…. The Catholic forces had never really been sequestered it was during this time that two plots to overthrow the Queen would be foiled with ruthless efficiency.

This and a increasingly ruthless persecution of Protestants in France would lead to an unofficial policy by the English Government of accepting numerous Protestant Refugee’s from the Continent.

1570’s

England was secure in her form of the Protestant Reformation, but had another problem looming within her shores….

While the persecution of Catholics within England had never been greater under the Anglican Church, various Protestant “Movements” had gained widespread support under the Elizabethan Government. While the Anglican Church was still the state church of England it was steadily on the decrease. Various Protestant movements from Calvinists to Puritans had begun replacing the state church with several other forms of Protestantism. This would lead to the Edict of Dublin in 1781.

It was during this period that Thomas Cartright, Elizabeth’s largest critic, would begin preaching a form of Puritan separation.. Known as the Exodus. He wished to carve in the vast lands of the New World a new kind of church. One free from the grasping hands of the corrupt Catholics and Anglican’s alike…

From: The Early American: A History of the Colonies 1575-1760
Published: Eliot Press, New Rhodes, Commonwealth of Arcadia 1902

[Wolve]

For 3 years Sir Walter Raleigh had been searching the coasts of America for a suitable settlement site. At the behest of the Queen, Raleigh was given a small fleet of 5 ships in order to secure for the crown a colony in the New World. In 1572 the Fleet landed off the coast of the Raleighan Peninsula (OTL Maryland.) It was on this exact sight where 2 years later the small settlement of Queenstown would be founded. The expedition however would spend another 6 months surveying what was named Virginia. He would return to England with 4 “representatives” of the native population and many examples of the fantastic wildlife found in the Chesapeake Bay. However during his absence the English Queen had been contemplating a colony for a very different reason.

Cartright had become a preverbal thorn in the flesh of Queen Elizabeth. The only thing keeping his precious head attached to his body was a growing powerbase within Elizabeth’s court. With the return of Raleigh and the news of a land ripe for the taking… The queen thought to remove two birds with one stone.

The lands of Virginia would provide a perfect land for those “enemies of the realm” which were becoming more and more of a nuisance, and the crown might profit from this new “commercial venture.” In 1573, Thomas Cartright and several hundred “Protestants Extremists” were given the “opportunity” to leave England.

Hence what would become “modus operandi” for the English Settlement of the American Continent was established. Over the next 250 years North America would become a place of refuge from those who the Crowns of Europe sought to persecute. Included in the Virginia Charter and Act of Settlement was a Permanent Act of Toleration and Amnesty for the Colony(ies) of Virginia. Future colonies would almost exclusively contain this provision as well.

On July the 11th in the year of our Lord 1574, 400 men and women landed on the shores of Virginia. The Colony of mostly Puritans was established and governed by what would later be known as the “Chesapeake Concord.”

While the first year was a difficult one slowly a new pattern of life began to emerge on those shores, one that would become distinctly American.

The Terrible Winter:

The First winter was for the colonists a very harsh one indeed and only the befriending of several local tribes made this possible. This friendship would eventually see the first Indian convert baptized in 1575. A unique relationship between the new pilgrims and the Indians would eventually grown into a “partnership.” While this would not be always the case for future colonies, Virginia would become home to many towns and villages of Christian Indians.

[Aussey]

Awsome! I love it. Please continue...

[Wolve]

The French Connection…

One of the more bizarre episodes of the Elizabethan Colonial period was the founding of New Marseilles in the heart of Elizabethan Virginia. In 1579 a small contingent of French Huguenots fleeing the French Wars of Religion petitioned the English Crown for a Charter to start a small settlement on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. The existence of a prospering enclave of Puritans in the “English New World” had become a well known fact within certain courts of the Huguenot Nobility.

In 1579 a French Nobleman by the name of Phillipe Maiziere asked for Amnesty in the English court and soon petitioned Queen Elizabeth for rights to settle in the New World.
New Marseilles would be the result of that petition. Close to 1,000 Huguenots would flee over the next 2 years to the safety of the Chesapeake. This would be the first of many Huguenots Exoduses to the New World. It is almost ironic that General Michael Maiziere would be the British-American General to push France off the North American continent 150 years later.

During the Elizabethan Colonial Age (1574-1586, 1590-1603) many settlements would be founded throughout the Virginias. English Colonial ambitions were not limited to Virginia alone. During this period the New Providence Bay Colony (Massachusetts) and the New Eire (P.E.I) Colonies were also founded.

The Dark Years: (Spanish Armada 1587-1589)

During the Spanish Wars of the 1580’s the new colonies of the Chesapeake suddenly found themselves cut off from the outside world. For two years no contact was made with England. Chaos reigned in 1587 when the last ship from England brought the terrible news.

1587 would see severe conditions with several hundred deaths due to unrest, disease, and general starvation. However something was forged in those hard years….

For the next two years the Virginia Settlements would bind together in a unique way. The Virginia Concord became the centerpiece of the First English Government established in the New World. The Chesapeake Parliament was assembled in 1588 to restore order to the “Provinces of North Virginia and the Chesapeake.” The Parliament restored order, began passing laws, distributed food, organized a provincial defense force, and even had plans to begin coining Provincial money.

The first ship to arrive was the Victorious. The court in England had expected to find their Virginia colonies in ruins. Instead they found a thriving self-sufficient province.
The Virginia colonies had found an identity in those two years one that would shape it in the centuries to come….

[Aussey]

Oh my gosh! I love this SO much...please continue!

[Imajin]

Very nice timeline...

[Grimm Reaper]

Thought I would make a historical point.

The settlement of New England started slowly, with 102 who sailed on the Mayflower, and 53 lived to see 1621 including two children born after sailing.
Even as late as 1628 barely 200 people were counted in New England.

In 1628 another 60 arrived at Naumkeag(Salem).

In 1629 another 406 arrived.

In 1640 there were a total of 10,000 settlers in New England.

Once it got going in an organized and intelligent manner, the population was all too likely to grow massively.

Given that an estimated 10,000 or more fishermen had not settled but spent much of the year off the coast of New England, there is no reason a major surge couldn't have begun decades earlier.

Whether Virginia could have done as well sans tobacco...

There is, however, an argument that settlements in Virginia might have gone better EARLIER than 1607. Several years back, National Geographic ran an article on the Spanish settlement attempts in Florida in the decades prior to Jamestown and had an interesting suggestion. It would seem the Spanish managed to especially provoke one young Indian who had more than a bit to do with their many setbacks in the late 16th Century in Florida.

It turns out that the translation of what the Spanish called this fierce young resistor just happened to match what the English called a much older enemy who succeeded his brother Powhatan, and nearly destroyed Jamestown.

[Wolve]

Roanoke had 100 people... with another 400 that would have been sent slowly afterword. What pushes the faster colonization in this TL is a general exodus of "heretics" from England and France. In 1587 there are close to 2000 in North Virginia. The other "colonies" are nothing really more than glorified fishing settlements.

[Wendell]

Interesting ideas thus far...

[Wolve]

The Spanish War:

From 1589-1600 Virginia became a small sideshow between two powers, the emerging Naval Might of England and Spain. The Crown established a small fort and garrison at the entrance to the Chesapeake known as “Fort Drake.” The natural harbors of Virginia became a haven for the “Pirates” of Sir Francis Drake in the great raids on the Spanish Main. Virginia during this period boomed. During the 1590’s the population of Virginia skyrocketed to nearly 9,000. Many of the soldiers and sailors that passed through Virginia came back to stay. With gold flowing in from the raids on the Spanish New World the local economy flourished. Shipbuilders where established to take advantage of the plenteous supply of local lumber. The Chesapeake was beginning to become a center of industry and commerce… Then came the Armada.

In June of 1589, 30 ships from the Spanish Colonial Fleet arrived at the entrance to the Chesapeake. They ransacked Fort Drake and occupied Queenstown and New Marseilles. Most of the population of New Marseilles and Queenstown fled into the surrounding countryside. The Spanish then came under the harassment of local militia (really nothing more than farmers with hunting rifles…) and their Indian allies. The entire colony could have so easily have been destroyed if it wasn’t for Drake and his razing of Havana. After 8 months of occupation the Spanish finally left in 1600. The Treaty of Cadiz was signed shortly after.

This too would leave an imprint on the fledgling society of Virginia. Occupation under the Spanish had been fairly severe. They enforced Catholic decrees forbidding the assembly of Protestants and executed two of the leading men of New Marseilles.

The Aftermath: 1600-1604

Virginia was rebuilt almost in defiance to the Spanish. Within 2 months Fort Drake was rebuilt and would be extensively fortified in the coming years. The population of Queensland and New Marseilles exploded with close to 1000 being added to these cities alone in the following 3 years.

In 1604 the Elizabethan Age came to an end… Under her reign England had become a world power, Spain had been culled, and the English had a firm foothold on her territories in Virginia.

James the First inherited an American province with a thriving local fishing industry, tobacco export industry, and a fledgling shipbuilding province. It was however inhabited by his enemies. Most of Virginia was inhabited by what he would term as “Radicals” but it was also becoming a Jewel of Commerce……

[Wolve]

Now it gets interesting... What to do with the Reign of James I, the Dutch, and the nice little slaughter happening all over central europe. There exists possiblities of a massive baloon in population. Virginia is fairly well organized, and the english have the beginings of several other settlements up and down the eastern seaboard.

[Wendell]

You could call it Arcadia, or even Avalon...

[Wolve]

In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, Queen Elizabeth, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, the Rule of His Laws, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our Queen and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick under the Sovereignty of the Most High, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Queenstown, Chesapeake, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, Queen Elizabeth of England, France and Ireland,. Anno Domini, 1574."

(Mayflower Compact: With a few key changes that will be very significant in the further development of governance and law in the future...)

[Wolve]

North of the Roan is actually going to be North Virginia (hence the Virginias) but those names might be of use in the future....Colonial names are going to take on more of a Christian theme in the future.

[Wolve]

Thomas Cartright: 1st Lord Governer of North Virginia, "Grandfather of the Commonwealth"

Thomas Cartwright (c. 1535–December 27, 1613) was an English Puritan churchman and later the “Lord Governer of the Chesapeake and North Virginia Colony”.
He was born in Hertfordshire, and studied divinity at St John's College, Cambridge. On the accession of Queen Mary I of England in 1553, he was forced to leave the university, and found occupation as clerk to a counsellor-at-law. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth I, five years later, he resumed his theological studies, and was soon afterwards elected a fellow of St John's and later of Trinity College, Cambridge.
In 1561 he returned to England and became a fellow at his alma mater, St. John’s College, Cambridge.
This was a result of the use which Cartwright had made of his position; he criticised the hierarchy and constitution of the Church of England, which he compared unfavourably with the primitive Christian organization. So keen was the struggle between him and Whitgift that the chancellor, William Cecil, had to intervene. After his deprivation by Whitgift, Cartwright visited Theodore Beza at Geneva. He returned to England in 1572, and might have become professor of Hebrew at Cambridge but for his expressed sympathy with the notorious "Admonition to the Parliament" by John Field and Thomas Wilcox. The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre had shaken him to the core. Upon returning to England he began advocating and preaching on the establishment of a Protestant Colony in the New World. “Free from the tyranny of the continent, pope, and our dear church of England…”
In 1574 he was basically exiled to Virginia with several others in his own congregation and with other activists to America. They would found the first English Colony in the New World. Within ten years refugees from many different ‘stripes’ of protestant would arrive in Virginia including the French Hugeonots. One bond common bound would bind these local communities together… One of faith and toleration for other Christians… For most had seen the ravages of the European Religious wars and did not wish to spread that to the new free soil of Virginia.
Cartwright was a man of much culture and originality, but exceedingly impulsive. His views were distinctly Congregationalist.. To him, however, the Puritanism of his day owed its systematization and much of its force. His Leadership of the Virginia Colonies would have a far reaching impact. Near the end of his life the most far reaching impact would be his Governership of North Virginia (1600-1613) it was here that the American Ideal of Supremacy of God’s Law was set in concrete.

[Grimm Reaper]

Sorry to nitpick but there were villages of Native Americans who converted in New England.

It didn't do them much good.

[Wolve]

I know there was..... While it's not going to effect drastically future events in parts of the New World of the "New Virginia" colony are at this point in time based on cooperation and conversion of the local natives. Disease will still sweep through the Native Populations.. In Virginia these "Native Villages" are becoming important to the Agricultural Economy of the Colony providing some 30-40% of the Virginia foodstuffs. So that European farmers can dedicate most their land to the cultivation of comercial crops.

[Wolve]

In Perspective: Indian Relations in Elizabethan Virginia

Many have questioned the policies of Virginia’s first and second governors. What was the driving purpose behind the Indian Alliances and later the Commerce act passed by the Virginia legislature? The answer is simple and based like most things in Elizabethan Virginia on economics. While Thomas Cartright did not officially take the role of Governor until 1600 he was unofficially the one to whom the Virginians looked to for leadership.

To understand Elizabethan Virginia you must understand the motives of it’s founders. Quite simply it was to found a new state. One based on Puritan Principles, the Rule of God’s Law (Theocratic not Theocracy), and the Freedom from Persecution. Thomas Cartright at the behest of the Sir Walter Raleigh establish Queenstown as a success commercially before any further settlement would be justified by the fairly financially weary Elizabethan Government.

In was on this basis that first contact was made with the Powhatan’s that first winter of 1574. The Chief was first asked by the Queenstown Council for permission to settle on their land (After the fact) this was perhaps the most important step in cementing relations with the Powhatan nation… At first the Virginia settlers had no real skills in hunting or fishing their new land. They would learn this from the native. What would develop that first year 1574-1575 would be a Commercial Venture between two peoples to the benefit of them both. It was one based totally on trade, at first because of the needs of the colonists, then on pure economics. The Powhatans provided crops and game in exchange for basic trade goods. Later it would be the Powhatans that would venture into the interiors of Virginia as the vanguard of the Virginia fur trade.

Conversion and Westernization

Gradually through trade and the labor of local missionaries Opechancanough would become the first Powhatan convert and would later serve as a Missionary and Pastor to his own people. As population increased, so did the trade, Powhatan villages upriver from the Chesapeake settlements became more and more Agricultural colonies of the Virginia settlements. These would provide a more and more reliable source of food as “missionary” efforts succeeded in reaching a good portion of the native population. Relations with the Powhatan people would progress to the point that in 1614 they actually began sending a representative to the Parliament in Queenstown.

This is not to overlook the troubles that existed between the two peoples. Infact several wars broke out between early Virginans and other tribes of the Algonquian people. Many of which the Powhatan fought alongside Virginia militia.
(The Settlement of OTL Quebec was along these lines.. At first patterned on partnership and commerce with "friendly tribes."

[Wolve]

The Growth of the Chesapeake Colonies 1602-1615

King James inherited quite a quandary from his perspective. The king was for a protestant very sympathetic to the Catholic cause. Thus he embraced the more catholic type of Anglican Protestantism. His Colonies in the New World were however far from this ideal. Much like his aunt Queen Elizabeth he chose to use it as a repository for more extreme elements of the Protestant cause.. and even for Catholics. New Eire was founded primarily as a fishing port but it would during the reign of James turn more into it’s namesake than anyother place in the New World. New Eire would truly become New Ireland.

Some competition arrived in the New World during the first decade of the 1600’s. Both Sweden and the United Provinces established colonies. The Dutch in a move to take a small jibe at the Spanish established a trading port on the Florida coast and began trading with the Algonquians. “New Holland” would soon grow to become one of the more prosperous colonies in the South. It would be a Swedish merchant who would by a insignificant island called Manhattan that would grow to become the great city of Ephesus.

Indenture: The Key…

Those seeking new opportunity and freedom in the New World would often find the channels to getting their often laborious and difficult, but it bred within the early colonists a drive to succeed. Indenture became the quickest root to settlement in the New World. Often some English entrepreneur would petition the king for a charter. Then seek to develop his “settlement” with the thousands that flooded the English ports for a chance at a new life. Many of these came from other places in Europe and had already endured some rigorous journeys on their pilgrimage. While a large percentage were fleeing religious persecution this was in no way the majority. Most were just trying to start over in an age of intense upheaval in Europe. Other more skilled labourers were actually brought over by the colonies themselves (most of the early settlements had almost the air of a small corporation.)

Many small villages where populated by ex-indentured servants who had chosen to stay on at the Charter Settlement which initially brought them there. It was due to this system that in 1621 that the Virginian Parliament passed the “indentured protection act.” No person could be indentured for more than 7 years and the “employer” had the responsibility of making sure that the servant would leave his employment with a skill that would add to the benefit of the colonies. This act would later be extended to mandatory basic literacy and religious training.

[Wolve]

Anybody interested in seeing this continue?