Today in History, 1610: Virginia Colony Enacts North America’s First Sodomy Statute

Jim Burroway

May 24th, 2016

Jamestown, Virginia Colony, abt 1610.

Jamestown, Virginia Colony, abt 1610.

Jamestown was founded in 1607, and for the first several years, the plan was for its survival depending on regular resupply ships from England. This would give the colony time to begin mining for minerals and, it was hoped, gold. Or if that didn’t pan out, it could trade with the Native Americans and develop crops for export.

The First Supply and Second Supply expeditions went as planned in 1608, but the Third Supply, sent in 1609, was a disaster. Of the nine ships that set out from England that summer, only seven made it to Virginia Colony. They did so after enduring 44 hours in a hurricane, and losing numerous sailor and colonists to yellow fever and the plague. The problem, though, was that these ships carried mostly colonists and had relatively little in the way of supplies. One of those supply ships was lost in the hurricane.

The other, the fleet’s flagship, Sea Venture, ran aground into Bermuda after being nearly sunk during the storm. That ship also carried Sir Thomas Gates, who was supposed to act as Virginia Colony’s acting governor until King James I’s appointed governor, Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (later, Lord Delaware), could make the voyage. But stuck in Bermuda, Gates had more immediate concerns, namely establishing a colony there (and leaving behind a portion of the Sea Venture’s supplies and crew to maintain it), and building two new ships so he could continue on to Virginia.

Gates made it to Jamestown ten months late, and with far less provisions than the Virginia Colonists needed. Since the Second Supply, Virginia Colony’s mining attempts came up empty, trading with the Native American population was largely nonexistent as relations went from bad to worse, the Colony was essentially leaderless (Captain John Smith had returned to England as a result of a severe accidental wound) and was rife with “insubordination and idleness,” and, finally, a severe drought decimated the 1609 harvest. And with almost no provisions making it from England, the Colony sank into a severe famine. Colonists would speak of this period as The Starving Time, and of  500 colonists in 1609, only about sixty survived when Gates arrived. Some had even turned to cannibalism.

Sir Thomas Gates

Sir Thomas Gates

Gate’s first task was to re-organize Virginia Colony and place it under martial law. On May 24, 1610, Gates issued the colony’s first “Articles, Laws and Orders, Divine, Politique, and Martial.” The ninth article of this legal code read:

No man shall commit the horrible, detestable sins of Sodomie upon pain of death; & he or she that can be lawfully convict of Adultery shall be punished with death. No man shall ravish or force any woman, maid or Indian, or other, upon pain of death…

The article went on the punish “Fornication”, by a whipping for the first two offenses, and for the third offense, a whipping three times a week for a month and a public apology in church.

Soon after, the colonists made the decision to abandon Jamestown and return to England on the two Bermuda-built ships. As they were leaving the mouth of the James river, they were met with an emergency resupply flotilla sent from England, with food, a doctor, more colonists, and Lord De La Warr on board. Virginia Colony was saved, though Gate’s martial law code remained in place until 1618, when Virginia Colony finally ended martial law and apparently reverted to following the laws of England until 1661.

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