Jamestown in the American Eye

EVENTS larger than oneself sometimes jostle awake a feeling of awe-my heart atwitter, this must have been the cause, for little could seem as momentous as last month’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, Va., the oldest permanent Anglophone settlement in America.

The importance of the May 1607 landfall of 104 men and boys has long been recognized, and its commemoration has a history of its own. In 1907, one million people streamed to Virginia, where Teddy Roosevelt praised the kernel of American ingenuity found in the early colony. In 1957 Jamestown was made out to be “a mammoth undertaking, even though launched by a daring and courageous people in an expanding age,” as a short history of the settlement released for the occasion put it. The grand message of the commemorations was unmistakable: Jamestown was a heroic enterprise, and out of hard and humble origins was born a mighty Republic, still growing in influence.

About the Author

Travis Kavulla

Travis Kavulla is director of Energy and Environmental Policy at the R Street Institute. He is a former president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners who held elected office as a Montana public service commissioner for eight years. Before that, he was an associate editor for National Review.

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EVENTS larger than oneself sometimes jostle awake a feeling of awe-my heart atwitter, this must have been the cause, for little could seem as momentous as last month’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, Va., the oldest permanent Anglophone settlement in America.

The importance of the May 1607 landfall of 104 men and boys has long been recognized, and its commemoration has a history of its own. In 1907, one million people streamed to Virginia, where Teddy Roosevelt praised the kernel of American ingenuity found in the early colony. In 1957 Jamestown was made out to be “a mammoth undertaking, even though launched by a daring and courageous people in an expanding age,” as a short history of the settlement released for the occasion put it. The grand message of the commemorations was unmistakable: Jamestown was a heroic enterprise, and out of hard and humble origins was born a mighty Republic, still growing in influence.

About the Author

Travis Kavulla

Travis Kavulla is director of Energy and Environmental Policy at the R Street Institute. He is a former president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners who held elected office as a Montana public service commissioner for eight years. Before that, he was an associate editor for National Review.