Free Republic

If anyone says that the Judeo-Christian tradition had nothing to do with the founding of America, they need look no further than our annual holiday of Thanksgiving. As in, giving thanks to God for His help to us. Columnist Mark Steyn (originally from Canada) notes: “Speaking as a misfit unassimilated foreigner, I think of Thanksgiving as the most American of holidays.” While we tend to associate Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims in Massachusetts, Virginia likes to remind the world that it was in their commonwealth that the first Thanksgiving was held.

According to a Gizmodo report, paleontologist Marcus Key of Dickinson College has analyzed the black limestone tombstone found in the 1617 church at Jamestown. The stone features an outline of a person wearing armor, and probably a shield and sword, suggesting that the tombstone was carved for a knight. The stone is therefore thought to have belonged to Sir Thomas West, who died in 1618 while sailing to Jamestown, or Sir George Yeardley, the slave-owning colonial governor. Key determined that microfossils of single-celled organisms called foraminiferans were embedded in the limestone. "These species did not co-occur anywhere in North America,"...

Indigenous dogs roamed Jamestown in the early 17th century, and out of desperation during harsh winter months, some colonists ate them, researchers have proven.A team of archaeologists at the University of Iowa was able to extract DNA from remains found at Jamestown and confirm that they belonged to ancient dogs that were likely wolf or coyote-sized.It's the first time proof has ever been found that indigenous dogs were at Jamestown in the 17th century. The bones are part of an artifact collection owned by Jamestown Rediscovery, part of the historic preservation group called Preservation Virginia."They have lineages reaching back to...

The developer behind the game-changing, WikiLeaks inspired submission system “SecureDrop,” has allegedly committed suicide. “Second developer of WikiLeaks inspired submission system “SecureDrop”, security expert James Dolan, aged 36, has tragically died. He is said to have committed suicide. The first, Aaron Swartz, is said to have taken his own life at age 26, after being persecuted by US prosecutors,” tweeted WikiLeaks’ official Twitter account.

In the summer of 1561, Spanish explorers abducted a Powhatan Indian youth from the Chesapeake Bay tidewater region and brought him to the royal court of Spain. The kidnapping set off a chain of events that would alter the course of American colonial history. The abduction itself wasn’t unusual, since the Spanish in America often trained Native youth to serve as interpreters, or pressed them for information about local peoples and perhaps the whereabouts of gold or silver. But “Paquiquineo,” as Spanish officials rendered the young man’s name later that year, would in time re-emerge as Opechancanough, the most formidable...

Both the English and the Native Americans Used Children to Learn the Mysterious Ways of Their New Neighbors In 1608, Thomas Savage, age 13, arrived on the first ship from England bringing supplies to the newly founded Jamestown colony. He had been in Virginia just a few weeks when he was presented as a gift to Wahunsenaca, the great Powhatan who ruled over most of the people along the rivers leading into the lower Chesapeake Bay area. In return, Powhatan gave the English a young man named Namontack. Such exchanges of young people were considered normal. As English expeditions began...

The New York Times’ 1619 Project — a curriculum that makes the fantastical claim that a primary cause of the Revolutionary War was the colonists’ desire to protect slavery — has been adopted in 3,500 classrooms across all 50 states.For this reason, some of the nation’s most renowned historians have called for The Times to correct this and other factual errors.The Pulitzer Center, which is partnering with The Times to promote The 1619 Project, recounted in its 2019 annual report, “Good journalism, innovative educational resources, and deep community engagement are absolutely essential to bridging the divisions that threaten to rip our democracy apart. It...

The title is one that I had to create since this is taken from Beck's radio show. Did you know that American history is divided between those who brought to the New World Kindness, Good Relations, and Freedom? Versus those who "came over to rape this land" and who brought Misery, Slavery, Abuse, and eventually Cannibalism? Well you can learn all about it from master historian Glenn Beck, who is planning to share this Forgotten History with lucky Americans in his coming "Restoring the Covenant" Crusade.

The New York Times has begun a major initiative, the "1619 Project," to observe the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe American history so that slavery and the contributions of black Americans explain who we are as a nation. Nikole Hannah-Jones, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine wrote the lead article, "America Wasn't a Democracy, Until Black Americans Made It One." She writes, "Without the idealistic, strenuous and patriotic efforts of black Americans, our democracy today would most likely look very different -- it might not be a democracy at all." There...

On Tuesday, Virginia’s general assembly celebrated 400 years since a legislative body was formed by the colonists of old Jamestown. As a member of the House of Delegates, I was given a front-row seat at the festivities. Unfortunately, the celebration, which was intended to be a nonpartisan reflection on our commonwealth’s complicated history, was tarnished by the presence of President Donald Trump, a man whose views are antithetical to the values that the event sought to celebrate: democracy, representation, and the ability of immigrants to seek refuge and self-governance in a new land.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Please, make yourselves comfortable.I want to thank you, Speaker Cox. It’s a true privilege to be back in the great Commonwealth of Virginia. (Applause.) And it’s a tremendous honor to stand on these historic grounds, as the first President to address a joint session of the oldest lawmaking body in all of the Western Hemisphere, the Virginia General Assembly. Congratulations. (Applause.)On this day 400 years ago, here on the shores of the James River, the first representative legislative assembly in the New World convened. By the devotion of generations of patriots,...

Is it worth recalling how we got here? The date of July 30, 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of the first representative legislative assembly in the Western Hemisphere at Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English colony in North America. This first General Assembly meeting took place at a church in Jamestown and laid the foundation for American representative government. It didn't get much press coverage, but the events of yesterday were part of a yearlong commemoration meant to honor the state's colonial history. Special events open to the public were planned around Jamestown. Lawmakers and other guests gathered at historic...

— Virginia’s black state lawmakers announced Monday they will boycott an event this week commemorating the beginnings of American democracy because President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend. The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus said its members would not attend a ceremony in Jamestown on Tuesday marking the 400th anniversary of the first representative assembly in the Western Hemisphere. The commemoration of the birth of this nation and its democracy will be tarnished unduly with the participation of the President, who continues to make degrading comments toward minority leaders, promulgate policies that harm marginalized communities, and use racist and xenophobic rhetoric,”...

"""AMAZING: Democrat Politician Ibraheem Samirah Who Screamed at Trump About His Deported Father – Forgets to Mention His Ties to Hamas"""" Democrat Delegate Ibraheem Samirah stood and screamed at President Trump today during his historic Jamestown speech. Ibraheem held up a sign that says, “Reunite my family.” President Trump was interrupted by a Democrat member of Virginia’s House of Delegates during a speech Tuesday marking the 400th anniversary of the first meeting of the Virginia legislature in Jamestown in 1619–the first representative legislative assembly in the Western Hemisphere. Democrat Ibraheem Samirah stood near the front of the stage facing the...

Today President Trump went to Jamestown to commemorate its 400thanniversary. Local Democrats were not happy. Virginia Democrats boycotted the event, with the Mayor of Richmond, Levar Stoney, resigning from the Jamestown Committee, angered that an invitation was extended to the president of the United States. I know, how dare the president deliver an address at Jamestown—the horror! Anything this man does will be protested or criticized by the Left. Therefore, who cares what they have to say. We won in 2016. These losers can take a seat, sulk, and steam about how much they suck. Elections have consequences.  Given the...

President Donald Trump headed to historic Jamestown, Virginia, on July 30 to commemorate and deliver remarks at the 400th anniversary of the first representative legislative assembly in the Americas. Trump took to the podium and said it was a tremendous honor to be the first president to address the joint session of the oldest lawmaking body in the Western Hemisphere—the Virginia General Assembly. The event celebrated the birth of American democracy. In the audience at the head table sat state Assembly Speaker Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights), Senate Majority Leader Thomas Norment (R-James City County), and Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, a...

Many Americans believe slavery only involved white people owning black people. They believe the master race was white and the slave race was black. North American slavery actually involved relatively rich people,[e.g. land owners] owning poor people who might or might not be of the same color. There were two types of forced laborers brought to North America: indentured servants and permanent slaves. Most of the primarily Irish indentured servants were forced to travel to North America, but some were volunteers. The first Africans were treated as indentured servants but were eventually treated as permanent slaves. Members of the two...

Archaeologists digging in a 400-year-old church in Jamestown, Virginia, have found a headless body that might be that of Sir George Yeardley, one of the first politicians — and slave owners — in the American colonies. Few people have heard of Yeardley, but he played a key role in America's history. The Jamestown governor oversaw the House of Burgesses, the first elective governing body in the English colonies. Scientists still aren't sure if the headless body is Yeardley's, but shortly after uncovering the skeleton, they made another finding that could help answer that question. They discovered a handful of teeth,...

Domesticated swine and Western Civilization go back a long way together. The domestic pig was being raised in Europe by about 1500 BC. Rome improved pig breeding and spread them throughout their empire. The early Christians increasingly abandoned the Jewish ban on the eating of pork by about 50 AD and it’s been the celebrated ‘other white meat’ ever since. Pigs and the discovery of the New World went hand in hand. Christopher Columbus took eight pigs on his voyage to Cuba in 1493 at Queen Isabella’s insistence. Hernando de Soto brought America’s first thirteen pigs to Tampa Bay, Fla.,...

Was America once socialist? Surprisingly, yes. The early settlers who arrived at Plymouth and Jamestown in the early 1600s experimented with socialist communes. Did it work? History professor Larry Schweikart of the University of Dayton shares the fascinating story.