[Illustration:  The burning of Jamestown.]

[Footnote 10:  Berkeley (Berk’li).]

50.  What happened later in Virginia; the Revolution; Washington; four presidents.—­But though Jamestown was destroyed, Virginia kept growing in strength and wealth.  What was better still, the country grew in the number of its great men.  The king of England continued to rule America until, in 1776, the people of Virginia demanded that independence should be declared.  The great war of the Revolution overthrew the king’s power and made us free.  The military leader of that war was a Virginia planter named George Washington.

After we had gained the victory and peace was made, we chose presidents to govern the country.  Four out of six of our first presidents, beginning with Washington, came from Virginia.  For this reason that state has sometimes been called the “Mother of Presidents.”

51.  Summary.—­In 1607 Captain John Smith, with others, made the first lasting settlement built up by Englishmen in America.  Through Captain Smith’s energy and courage, Jamestown, Virginia, took firm root.  Virginia was the first state to demand the independence of America, and Washington, who was a Virginian, led the war of the Revolution by which that independence was gained.

What can you tell about Captain John Smith before he went to Virginia?  What happened to him on his way to Virginia?  What is said about the landing of the settlers in Virginia?  What did they want to do?  What did Captain Smith want to do?  What about Captain Smith’s trial?  What is said about the church in Jamestown?  What happened to the settlers?  What did some of them try to do?  Who stopped them?  Tell what you can about the Indians.  What kind of houses did they live in?  Did they have guns?  Did they have iron hatchets and knives?  Did they have horses and wagons?  What kind of boats did they have?  What happened to Captain Smith when he went in search of the Pacific?  What did Pocahontas do?  What is said about her afterward?  What about the gold-diggers?  How did Captain Smith get corn?  What did he make the settlers do?  What is said about Captain Smith’s cold-water cure?  Why did Captain Smith go back to England?  What three things did he do for Virginia?  What about his books and maps?  What is said of negro slaves?  What about tobacco?  What about Governor Berkeley and Mr. Bacon?  What happened to Jamestown?  What did the war of the Revolution do?  Who was its great military leader?  Why is Virginia sometimes called the “Mother of Presidents”?

Captain Henry Hudson
(Voyages from 1607 to 1611).

52.  Captain Hudson tries to find a northwest passage to China and the Indies.—­When Captain John Smith sailed for Virginia, he left a friend, named Henry Hudson, in London, who had the name of being one of the best sea-captains in England.

While Smith was in Jamestown, a company of London merchants sent out Captain Hudson to try to discover a passage to China and the Indies.  When he left England, he sailed to the northwest, hoping that he could find a way open to the Pacific across the North Pole or not far below it.