rs survived two harsh winters and an interim governor Sir Thomas Gates took control of a new Jamestown and new settlements at Henrico. Dales Code, named for its primary enforcer, was imposed as a method of living essential for survival in the fledgling colony. Dales Code lasted for eight years until the population was more secure and the laws were relaxed allowing a representative assembly to convene for the first time in 1619. Assemblies ruled continually with a few interruptions until the Revolution. The assemblies dominated by landowners made it progressively more difficult for others to gain land. Lenient policies of early Virginia brought numerous land owning hopefuls to the colony. Propositions allowing indentures to take their own land after seven years and then a 1618 decree allowing anyone coming to Virginia to own 50 acres of land spiked the population. While land was plentiful at first forests frightened settlers and tightened western borders due to Indian attacks making fertile land limited and valuable. Less land made for more homeless people squatting on private lands causing divisiveness between them and the landowners leading to Bacons rebellion. The bloody attacks on Indians by the poor instigated the assembly to take action against the rebels. An unexpected result of the rebellion was to open new lands to the rich and affirmation of the power of the councilmen.Virginia and Massachusetts both became self-sufficient colonies in the late 17th century. The paths that brought them to that point were different. Rich landowners dominated social life and government in Virginia suppressing Indians, servants, and the poor in their pursuit of lucrative tobacco trade. Lawmakers in Massachusetts were focused on religious freedoms of its citizens, permitting that they were of the right religious conviction, in its drive toward self-support....
