42 Secret Reasons for Virginia

IN 1584, AT THE BEHEST OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH, Peter Hakluyt drafted a book-length secret memorandum for Queen Elizabeth, making the case for the colonization of North America. He organized his case into 21 chapters and 42 arguments, but themes of religious, political, and commercial competition with Spain run throughout. Elizabeth firmly established Protestantism in England and fended off the Spanish Armada in 1588. Spain and the Catholic Church were England’s primary enemies, and colonization would strengthen the Virgin Queen’s hand in the contest. After some false starts, the resulting plantation (colony) was named Virginia in her honor. The “lost colony” of Roanoke was the first result, followed by another near failure at Jamestown in 1607. The Ulster Plantation in Northern Ireland began that same year, driven by similar motivations.

Hakluyt’s memorandum was not seen by the public for nearly 400 years. The original rationale for Virginia had three parts: 1) to promote and spread Protestant Christianity; 2) to weaken or at least compete with Catholic Spain; 3) to obtain wealth for the Kingdom through trade and resource extraction. 

Much changed in Virginia between 1607 and Independence in 1776. Many other colonies were created, but Virginia stood preeminent as “the mother of colonies.” France replaced Spain as the most-feared Catholic power. Weak colonies grew into prosperous and functionally independent provinces. 

But the original themes persisted, and life in America reflected Elizabeth’s original intentions. Whether Anglican, Congregationalist Puritan, or Quaker, the colonies were fiercely Protestant. Catholic emigration from Ireland and Britain was banned. The colonies, to varying degrees, joined England’s wars against the Catholic Powers through King William’s War (1689-1697), Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713), the War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739-1742), King George’s War (1744-1748), and the French & Indian War (1754-1763). Resource extraction also remained a constant policy throughout the colonial era. Several “Navigation Acts” passed by Parliament in the 17th century required nearly all colonial commerce to be conducted on English (including colonial) ships and exclusively between the colonies and England. These acts were followed by laws such as the Wool Act (1699), the Hat Act (1732), and the Iron Act (1750) that protected British manufacturing from American competition. Britain wanted raw materials from America, not finished goods. Not even a hat. The imposition and growth of slavery was directly related to this policy.

And so, in ways both explicit and subtle, the original justifications for creating Virginia became, 169 years later, some of the grievances that justified Independence. Virginians pledged in the sixth article of the 1774 Virginia Association, “We will endeavor to improve our breed of sheep, and increase their number to the utmost extent.” The Virginia Declaration of Rights asserted that “all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practise Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward each other.” Jefferson’s Declaration indicted the King for approving laws “For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world” and, in its original draft, for blocking colonial efforts to end the slave trade. Because the King, Jefferson charged, was “determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce.”

A summary of Hakluyt’s arguments, organized by chapter, follows. More detailed excerpts can be read here. The entire work can be read here.

1. Colonization will expand the Protestant church, of which Queen Elizabeth is the head.
2. New World ports will relieve the danger involved in trading near Catholic territories.
3. North America contains a wide variety of commodities England needs.
4. Colonies can employ idle men and working families will grow the population.
5. American ports will enable English ships to interdict Spanish ships coming from the Caribbean.
6. England can find its own precious metals to counter the Spanish treasure fleet
7. The Spanish are weak and thinly settled in the West Indies.
8. Spanish claims extend no farther north than Florida.
9. The Spanish Main between Brazil and Cumana (Venezuela) is loaded with wealth, which may be matched in the north.
10. Cuba and Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) are about as big as England and Ireland, and we may be able to take them.
11. The Spanish treat the Indians with “more than Turkish cruelties,” and the Indians may welcome us as liberators.
12. The ports of southern Ireland are perfect for transatlantic trade with North America.
13. Customs revenue will “mightily be enlarged” by the trade.
14. Colonization will enable a much bigger English Navy.
15. England should speedily settle these “last lucky western discoveries” before another nation does.
16. Colonization will produce opportunities for enterprising Englishmen.
17. England may well find and control the Northwest Passage.
18. Madock ap Owen Guyneth, a prince of North Wales, found and settled North America 322 years before Columbus. Welsh words and names are still used by some Indians.
19. Colonization will counter the Bulls of Donation issued by Pope Alexander VI in 1493, dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal. God certainly wants popes who claim such power to be humbled.
20. A list of 23 other reasons why colonization will be profitable and helpful to England.
21. A list of supplies, seeds, livestock, and personnel needed for a successful colony.

GABRIEL NEVILLE is the author of The Last Men Standing: The 8th Virginia Regiment in the American Revolution.