President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the Jamestown Settlement for the 400th Anniversary of the First Representative Legislative Assembly in Williamsburg, Virginia. Anticipated start time 11:30am EST
VIDEO and Transcript ADDED
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[Transcript] – 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, it has flourished throughout the ages. And, now, that proud tradition continues with all of you.
To every Virginian and every legislator with us today, congratulations on four incredible centuries of history, heritage, and commitment to the righteous cause of American self-government. This is truly a momentous occasion. (Applause.)
I want to thank the Governor of Virginia for inviting me to speak at this very important event. And with us this morning are many distinguished guests and officials from across the Commonwealth, including Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Speaker Kirk Cox. Thank you, Kirk. (Applause.) Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment. Thank you. Tommy, thank you. (Applause.) And members of the host and other federal, state, local, and tribal leaders all with us today. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
We’re also very thankful as well to have with us Secretary Ben Carson. Ben, thank you very much, wherever you may be. (Applause.) Thank you, Ben. And Acting Director — a person that you know very well — Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli. (Applause.) Spent a lot of time with you folks and has a lot of respect for you. And the terrific people at the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service. I want to thank you all for being here with us. It’s a great honor. (Applause.)
I also want to recognize everyone at American Evolution, and the Jamestown Settlement, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, the Jamestown Rediscovery Project, and Preservation Virginia. Thank you very much. What a great job you do. Thank you. (Applause.) The fact is that each of you has helped protect and preserve our national treasures here at Jamestown, and it’s a great debt. We owe you a great, great debt. Thank you. What a job.
On this day in 1619, just a mile south of where we are gathered now, 22 newly elected members of the House of Burgesses assembled in a small wooden church. They were adventurers and explorers, farmers and planters, soldiers, scholars, and clergymen. All had struggled, all had suffered, and all had sacrificed in pursuit of one wild and very improbable dream. They called that dream “Virginia.” (Applause.)
It had been only 13 years since three small ships — the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery — set sail across a vast ocean. They carried 104 settlers to carve out a home on the edge of this uncharted continent. They came [DEL: from :DEL] [for] God and country. They came in search of opportunity and fortune. And they journeyed into the unknown with only meager supplies, long odds, and the power of their Christian faith.
Upon reaching Cape Henry, at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in 1607, a long time ago, the first men of the Virginia Company erected a cross upon the shore. They gave thanks to God and they asked His blessing for their great undertaking. In the months and years ahead, they would dearly need it. The dangers were unparalleled.
The Jamestown settlers arrived in America amid one of the worst droughts in over seven centuries. Of 104 original colonists, 66 died by the year’s end. During the third winter, known as the “Starving Time,” a population of up to 500 settlers was reduced to 60.
By spring, those who remained were in search of whatever they could get to survive, and they were in dire trouble. They left Jamestown deserted. They just sailed away, never to come back. But they had not gone far down the James River when they encountered the answer to their prayers: ships bearing a year’s worth of supplies and more than 300 new settlers. As we can see today on this great anniversary, it would not be the last time that God looked out for Virginia.
Together, the settlers forged what would become the timeless traits of the American character. They worked hard. They had courage in abundance and a wealth of self-reliance. They strived mightily to turn a profit. They experimented with producing silk, corn, tobacco, and the very first Virginia wines.
At a prior settlement at Roanoke, there had been no survivors — none at all. But where others had typically perished, the Virginians were determined to succeed. They endured by the sweat of their labor, the aid of the Powhatan Indians, and the leadership of Captain John Smith.
As the years passed, ships bearing supplies and settlers from England also brought a culture and a way of life that would define the New World. It all began here. In time, dozens of brave, strong women made the journey and joined the colony.
And in 1618, the Great Charter and other reforms established a system based on English common law. For the first time, Virginia allowed private land ownership. It created a basic judicial system. Finally, it gave the colonists a say in their own future: the right to elect representatives by popular vote.
With us today, in tribute to that English legal inheritance, is the former Clerk of the British House of Commons, Sir David Natzler. Thank you, David. (Applause.) Sir David, we are thrilled to have you with us. Thank you very much for being here. Thank you very much, David.
At that first American assembly in 1619, the weather was so hot that one legislator actually died. Mercifully, the session was cut very short. But before adjourning, the assembly passed laws on taxation, agriculture, and trade with the Indians.
With true American optimism, the assembly even endorsed a plan to build a world-class university in the still rugged wilderness. It was a vision that would one day be fulfilled just miles from here at one of America’s earliest educational institutions, the esteemed College of William and Mary. Great place. (Applause.) Great place.
As we mark the first representative legislature at Jamestown, our nation also reflects upon an anniversary from that same summer four centuries ago. In August 1619, the first enslaved Africans in the English colonies arrived in Virginia. It was the beginning of a barbaric trade in human lives. Today, in honor, we remember every sacred soul who suffered the horrors of slavery and the anguish of bondage.
More than 150 years later, at America’s founding, our Declaration of Independence recognized the immortal truth that “all men are created equal.” (Applause.) Yet, it would ultimately take a Civil War, 85 years after that document was signed, to abolish the evil of slavery. It would take more than another century for our nation, in the words of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., to live out “the true meaning of its creed” and extend the blessings of freedom to all Americans. (Applause.)
In the face of grave oppression and grave injustice, African Americans have built, strengthened, inspired, uplifted, protected, defended, and sustained our nation from its very earliest days. Last year, I was privileged to sign the law establishing a commission to commemorate the arrival of the first Africans to the English colonies, and the 400 years of African American history that have followed. That was an incredible day. That was an incredible event.
Today, we are grateful to be joined by that commission’s chairman, Dr. Joseph Green. Thank you, Dr. Green. Please. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you very much, Dr. Green.
In the decades that followed that first legislative assembly, the democratic tradition established here laid deep roots all across Virginia. It spread up and down the Atlantic Coast. One fact was quickly established for all time: In America, we are not ruled from afar. Americans govern ourselves, and so help us God, we always will. (Applause.)
Right here in Virginia, your predecessors —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mr. President, you can’t send us back! Virginia is our home! Mr. President, you cannot send us back! Virginia is our home!
AUDIENCE: Booo —
Trump! Trump! Trump!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you.
Right here in Virginia, your predecessors came to Williamsburg from places you all know very well. They were names such as George Washington from Fairfax County; Thomas Jefferson from Albemarle County; James Madison from Orange County; James Monroe from Spotsylvania County; Patrick Henry from Louisa County; George Mason from Fairfax County; George Wythe — it’s a great name — from Williamsburg; and Richard Henry Lee from Westmoreland County. Incredible names. Incredible names. (Applause.)
Self-government in Virginia did not just give us a state we love. In a very true sense, it gave us the country we love: the United States of America. So true. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
When Madison drafted the First Amendment to our Constitution, he drew inspiration from Virginia’s Statute for Religious Freedom.
As John Adams wrote in Philadelphia just before the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, “We all look up to Virginia for examples.” Great. It’s great. (Applause.)
And when Patrick Henry rose to speak his famous words at St. John’s Church in Richmond, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” he spoke in defense of a tradition that began more than 150 years before at Jamestown. Right here. (Applause.) It was a heritage those patriots would fight a long war of independence to defend. And it is a heritage that countless Americans have fought and died for to secure in all of those centuries since.
In our time, we must vigorously defend those cherished democratic traditions that have made our beloved republic the envy of the entire world — and it still is, as much as ever before, and maybe more. Our hard-won culture of self-government must be nourished, protected, and constantly preserved. That is why we must speak out strongly against anyone who would take power away from citizens, individuals, and state governments such as yours. (Applause.)
In America, the people will forever rule, the people will forever reign, and the people will forever be sovereign. (Applause.)
From the first legislative assembly down to today, America has been the story of citizens who take ownership of their future and their control of their destiny. That is what self-rule is all about: everyday Americans coming together to take action, to build, to create, to seize opportunities, to pursue the common good, and to never stop striving for greatness. (Applause.)
Four centuries ago, one early voyager to Jamestown captured the spirit of confidence and daring that has always powered our great experiment in self-government. He wrote, “We hope to plant a nation where none before hath stood.” That was something.
In that hope, the men and women of Jamestown achieved success beyond anything they could possibly have imagined. They started the nation that settled the wilderness, won our independence, tamed the Wild West, ended slavery, secured civil rights, invented the airplane, vanquished the Nazis, brought communism to its knees, and placed our great American flag on the face of the moon. (Applause.)
And in a program that has just started, someday very soon, American astronauts will plant our beautiful Stars and Stripes on the surface of Mars. (Applause.)
But among all of America’s towering achievements, none exceeds the triumph that we are here to celebrate today: our nation’s priceless culture of freedom, independence, equality, justice, and self-determination under God. (Applause.) That culture is the source of who we are. It is our prized inheritance. It is our proudest legacy. It is among the greatest human accomplishments in the history of the world. What you have done is the greatest accomplishment in the history of the world, and I congratulate you. It started right here. (Applause.)
Now, we must go bravely into the future, just as those bold explorers first ventured into this majestic land. We must call upon the same scale of imagination, the same thirst for knowledge, the same love of adventure, the same unrelenting courage, and the same total determination to prevail.
Above all, we must be proud of our heritage, united in our purpose, and filled with confidence in our shared, great, great, great American destiny. (Applause.)
For, in America, no challenge is too great, no journey is too tough, no task is too large, no dream is beyond our reach. When we set our sights on the summit, nothing can stand in our way. America always gets the job done. America always wins. (Applause.)
That is why, after 400 years of glorious American democracy, we have returned here to this place to declare to all the world that the United States of America and the great Commonwealth of Virginia are just getting started. (Applause.) Our future is bigger, bolder, better, and brighter than ever before. (Applause.)
It’s been a great honor for me to be with you this morning. I’d like to thank you. God bless you, God bless Virginia, and God bless America. Thank you very much everybody. Thank you. (Applause.)
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In my neck of the woods.
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In my neck of the woods.
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Sorry, I fired twice… trigger happy
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You forgot to put the safety on, didn’t you?!!!!!!
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Ban assault mice.
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And I thought you were a Michigander…or Michiganian or “That State Up North”. Go Bucks!
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As someone who spent a few but formative years in James City County, I must correct you by pointing out it should be “in my neck of the swamp” (but not *that* Swamp!). 🙂
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So true. It is why it was abandoned. I went on a field trip to Jamestown in the 4th or 5th grade. There was also a replica of the Mayflower tied up that we toured. All of it made a huge impression on me and I couldn’t wait to take my own children.
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Mayflower landed in MA, annie — in 1620, I believe. The ships that brought the first English settlers to the “new world” were Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery (1607).
Somehow the pilgrims get the credit, but that’s how fake news works, isn’t it (smile). We know how that is.
I live in a house that overlooks the Chesapeake Bay at he entrance to Hampton Roads. Years ago when the tall ships sailed into Norfolk, the ship leading the parade was one of those little babies from Jamestown. Don’t know which one, but it was such fun to see the little thing chugging across the horizon (there was no wind that day) 1/4 the size of the tall ships behind. I’ve never forgotten it.
It is awe inspiring to see how small those ships actually are.
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The Mayflower landed on Cape Cod in 1620, then moved onto Plymouth shortly thereafter. The Pilgrims intended to land in Virginia, but were unable to do so because of weather.
However…
The Virginia Company did in fact try to establish a Maine colony in 1607. This little known colony, Popham, was quickly abandoned. However, its settlers were the first Europeans to successfully build a European-style vessel in North America and sail it back to Europe.
New Englanders get the credit for three reasons.
1) The first generation largely survived and then proceeded to have lots of children, some of the highest birthrates ever recorded. Most of the Jamestown/Virginian colonists died, thousands of them in fact, and those who lived had fewer children. You can still find Brewsters, Winslows, Harlows, etc all over the US… not so much for the early Virginians. Mortality rates in the colonial South were astronomical and there were not direct descendants to tell the stories.
Two: the publishing/literature industry which established the major themes of American history and myth developed in Boston and New York, which New Englanders had overrrun by the mid-19th century. They got to write the history because they were publishing it.
Third: The history of early Virginia was far more brutal than in Massachusetts. As someone with roots to both areas, I say this objectively. Neither was pleasant by modern standards, and I do not hold “Puritan” culture morally superior to “Cavalier” culture. But daily life in New England was far easier and stable than in Virginia. The “Pilgrim” story was objectively more marketable than the Jamestown story, even to 19th century audiences. The early history of Jamestown, especially that first winter, was awful. Starvation, mutinies, murders, cannibalism, drought, besieged by the Powhatan Confederacy… it was simply terrible.
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This is a beautiful ceremony.
I’m sad – though not shocked – that it is not being covered by any media.
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He is delivering a positive message, that’s why the fake media will not cover it.
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I watched it on Fox, so they were there.
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They know democrats will lose voters if their base ever hears his speeches.
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For POTUS Trump’s inauguration, a friend and I stayed at her time share in Williamsburg, toured Jamestown on Thursday and then attended the inauguration on Friday. It was one of the best 2 days of my life. I knew he was going to be great. I had no idea he would be the greatest of all time. God bless you, President Trump. God bless America.
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Of course the fake news nemesis camera pans in and then follows the heckler out of the room. Of course.
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Psycho, but even a heckler has the same freedom we all do in America. He/she may be a bit hateful of this gift we call home, but at least he was just removed and not killed as would and still does happen in other countries.
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I was impressed that the sign bearer wasn’t dressed in black with a black mask or dirty jeans and torn tee. Looked like he had a shower and haircut, too. Amazing.
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That backdrop behind Pres. Trump looks like the one in Obama ‘s official portrait.
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Southern, I thought the same thing and O still looks like he was sitting on a toilet!
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What a roar! Call the greatest pesticide agent if you want good green (the real thing) growth — limited government, honesty, integrity, freedom for hard work and wealth creation — and justice for all. I salute the flag our Great President is protecting.
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Remember that it was in Jamestown that John Smith proclaimed…
“…You must obey this now for a law, that he that will not work shall not eat (except by sickness he be disabled). For the labors of thirty or forty honest and industrious men shall not be consumed to maintain a hundred and fifty idle loiterers.”
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John Doe, we should pay to put up those big posters in every state so that those who espouse socialism face real facts every day! I remember the Pilgrims first started with socialism and after I believe it was one year later that they said NO as each must work to eat. Those and we today know that by work alone we are free but also able to care for those who truly are seriously disabled whether they be veterans or us. This will never be changed in spite of democrats/communists/islam, etc. NEVER!
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You are so right. “Communalism” did not work, but free enterprise did.
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The “hundred and fifty idle loiterers” were the gentry class. Being English gentlemen of the 16th/17th centuries, they did not accept that they would need to participate in the hard, manual labor needed to survive and, in any event, lacked the skills and experience to do so. Compounding the problem was the fact that many of them had brought along their personal servants, who suffered from the same deficiencies. Their modern equivalents would be the people who whittle down their livers rotating between vacuous Beltway cocktail parties and who consequently come to believe the universe rotates around K Street.
So, Smith’s comments were more directed against the parasitic upper classes which, in a sense, was a form of 17th century socialism, rather than our modern conception of socialism.
Still important words to remember, though I believe for a slightly different reason.
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His values and make up are exactly what many of the founding fathers stood for.
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He’s the REfounding father of our modern age. God Bless President Trump! 🇺🇲
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^^^THIS^^^
I agree with your excellent comment tuskyou!
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Fairfax was so disrespectful, didn’t clap or even acknowledge PDJT and where was the governor …hiding!!!
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Exactly
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Look for the guy in the white hood.
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That Picture is beautiful except that it includes Obama this picture says to me that Our President
Trump is always working and finding new ways to help people and Obama as usual is sitting on his butt trying to show the world how hip he is.. Hip Hop always please
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Well said Rusty! .
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A President who finds time for We the People any day in spite of his heavy duty job. He inspires those of us who love our country and shows that daily in his travels, at his desk in DC, abroad, wherever! Our country’s starters of America and Republic of freedom and rights has a long history that no one will ever, ever take away from us. Every time we see or mention the name “Virginia” reminds me of our Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. We are still struggling anew against those who actually caused so many to leave England and come to a new land of really nothing and today we have a great America and will stay strong to keep it for each and everyone because for me it came as a gift from God and not become a country of monarchical rule but of real freedom which we must continue to fight to keep in these dark days and as our predecessors did we will win and keep this American gift.
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So healthy for younger Americans to hear our foundational ethos and history honored.
Most grew up listening to incessant focus on a litany of faults & problems, all of which are universal to human societies.
🇺🇸🦅❤️
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Very nice. Yes, our faults do not define us as a nation. We are the sum of the whole and the good far outweighs the bad. And humans of all stripes have the good and the bad.
Our good so outweighs the bad that you could actually say we are great, despite our faults. Or we have been great often in our history and it is time for America to be great again.
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Yes, Mr. E great and happy: , a state of mind uncongenial to the left
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PS. Happy not as complacent, but as a confident dynamic optimistic people .
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Whole ceremony…POTUS on at 1hour 38 minutes
https://www.c-span.org/video/?463097-1/jamestown-assembly-400th-anniversary-commemoration
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I sometimes think there must dozens of clones of the President. He seems to be at so many places at the same time. Heaven sent to save us. Go Trump.
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He always gives an inspiring history lesson. A great speech, Mr president. Thank you, Sundance, for always showing us what the mainstream media won’t.
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Did the Dems stay home like they said they would if PT came today,? what a bunch of losers they are shame on them for not being open enough to listen to the best thing this country has had in a long time.. Thank God for President Trump.
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Moments like these are the frosting on the cake of his presidency, I believe.
Nice to see him enjoying himself, and carrying on as if hge hadn’t a care in the world.
God bless America, God bless President Trump.
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It’s sad that on the 400th anniversary of representative government in Virginia a President trying to bring America back to greatness as a Republic is under assault by those who hope to turn America into a Socialist, or worse, Communist hel hole. Many of his attackers were elected to represent American. Instead, they go into government to gain fame, wealth, and power and to advance the cause of oppression.
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Thank you President Trump for always representing our country with class and dignity!
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Beautiful speech and I loved how he referenced God a lot – about 7 times. Gave God the glory.
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Dem Virginia Delegate Disrupts Trump’s Jamestown Speech
Delegate has ties to anti-Semitic groups
https://freebeacon.com/politics/dem-virginia-delegate-disrupts-trumps-jamestown-speech/?fbclid=IwAR1pO1b0NEudvV3yGxhyYwuJZaYILL5bUHnY-I2m0vVwqcilGwkRdvaTzW4
Excerpt:
A Washington Free Beacon investigation found in early 2019 that Samirah has connections to many anti-Semitic organizations and that his father is a organizer for the terrorist group Hamas.
Samirah himself spoke at a Hamas-related conference in 2018 and is a fervent supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel. He urged friends on Facebook in 2014 to support the BDS movement while Israel is “most exposed.”
>Snip<
Samirah has said that he takes his inspiration from his father, whom Al Jazeera described in 2011 as a "leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan."
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On a related note, I recommend the following book about the settlement of Jamestown…
*Empires in the Forest* “is a historical fiction at it’s best, bringing to life Captain John Smith, Pocahontas, John Rolfe … blends spectacular photography with vivid text to present a panoramic vision of the Jamestown Colony and its Powhatan neighbors as well as historical documents and the archeological record will allow four centuries later.” ~Smithsonian Institution
The story was illustrated using live actors, who were photographed at the Jamestown location.
The guy who played Captain John Smith, also plays the role in the historical Film shown to Settlement tourists.
I knew him, & as the person closest to me for over 3 decades. Shortly after completing the 2 projects, he met a tragic fate. I’ve included an interesting connection made by the author (below), along with an eerie photo from the book. (Yes, it took me a few years to open it!)
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