1600's Voting Rights

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The 1600’s in America was a time of great encounters.   This was a time period where American ancestors would begin to think of themselves as Americans or different.  Many different kinds of people met for the first time.  Some formed life long bonds, some misunderstood each other differences, but most importantly people began to think of themselves differently, more freely, more open and courageous.  American people from the beginning had a voice that was Native American, English, French, African and Spanish.  The voice of the many was often heard, but only the few were listening. 

1607: Jamestown, Virginia became the first successful English Settlement in the Americas.  As soon as they landed they formed a small counsel to set all rules for the Jamestown Virginia Colony.  Those men who were selected by each other to serve on their counsel would set the tone for all voting rights in America for the next 300 years, they were wealthy white men.  The only people who could serve on the counsel (government) or even vote had to be white and owner of significant amounts of land. 

1619: The first representative assembly in English America convened in Jamestown’s church, forming two houses or groups of representatives one was for plantation owners and the other for corporations.  This representative assembly also established a trend in American voting for the next 300 years and that was the first shipment of slaves arrived in English America, which they had no rights to anything in America, not property, not naming themselves, not even religion. 

1600’s marked a time period of White Male rule allowing only white males who owned property to vote. White women, black people, Native Americans, and other nationalities that came to America where not allowed to vote or serve in government.