Charter of the Virginia Company of London

   The selection below is from a copy of the Charter of the Virginia Company of London, first issued by England's King James in 1606.  It is an important document, because it guaranteed to the settlers who went to Jamestown and other Virginia settlements that they would always have the rights of Englishmen.
 
   The image below shows the section with that guarantee.  The key lines are about halfway down - look for the red asterisk * in the margin.  The sentence begins:  "Also We do for us our heirs and Successors Declare by these presents that all and every . . ."  The sentence is shown in text below the page image, with modern style capitalization rules.  Keep in mind that the king speaks in the royal "We." 




 Charter of the Virginia Company of London - page




   The sentence marked above reads:

   Also We do for us our heirs and successors declare by these presents that all and every the persons being our subjects which shall dwell and inhabit within every or any of the said several colonies and plantations and every of their children which shall happen to be born within any of the limits and precincts of the said several colonies and plantations shall have and enjoy all liberties franchises and immunities within any of our other dominions to all intents and purposes as if they had been abiding and born within this our realm of England or any of our other said dominions.

Word definitions:
  
   heirs and successors - kings or queens in future years
   these presents - these official papers
   dwell and inhabit within - live in
   plantations - settlements
   precincts - areas of land
   franchises - rights
   immunities - protections
   dominions - areas of land controlled by the king
   abiding - living in
   realm - kingdom



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The document image is from the Library of Congress collection
of the Thomas Jefferson papers.
It has been re-sized and enhanced for contrast for this page.



Copyright Notice

Copyright 2006, 2020 by David Burns.  All rights reserved.