Jamestown, located along Route 76 in coastal Virginia, represents two alternative origin stories for the United States. First, the establishment of the Jamestown colony in 1607 would lead to the creation of the first representative legislative government in the new world, thus beginning the steps toward democratic self-government that would eventually lead to the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Second, just about thirty miles from Jamestown, at Point Comfort, the first African slaves were brought to the English colony in 1619, thus beginning the process that would lead to forced enslavement of millions, a national economy built on plantation slavery, the American Civil War, and subsequent decades of Jim Crow segregation. This episode explores these two points of origin, close to each other both geographically and chronologically, as a way to consider the parallel development of representative government and forced enslavement in American history.This episode is connected to Jamestown, about 20 miles from Yorktown, the starting point for the westbound route, and 530 miles from the Kentucky border, where eastbound riders enter Virginia.
