“These Doubtfull Times, between Us and the Indians”

Abstract

The proceedings of the assembly that convened at Jamestown in late July 1619 reflect the delegates’ central concerns. As one might expect, the Burgesses devoted considerable time to topics such as master-servant relationships and the marketing of tobacco. They devoted even more attention—roughly 25 percent of the published proceedings—to Native Americans and Indian traders. Something new and troubling was afoot: as governor George Yeardley warned, these were “doubtful times, between us and the Indians.” Although Yeardley framed this in binary terms, as an issue between Natives and newcomers, most people knew better. These were doubtful times within Indian country as well, for Powhatan’s successor Itoyatin and his external chief Opechancanough faced challenges internally and on the edges of their paramount chiefdom. Yeardley’s “us” also elided significant differences among the Jamestown colonists, centering on the degree and character of their involvement with Native people and their competing visions of how Indians might fit in to the colony’s future.