The Jamestown colony, in its first election…
August 1619 CE
They are denied the right to vote on the grounds that they are not of English descent.
The craftsmen, in response, refuse to work unless they are given the right to vote.
Under this labor pressure, the Virginia Company's Council reverses the decision to disenfranchise the craftsmen, and simultaneously strikes an agreement with the craftsmen to apprentice young men from the colony.
The company leaders fear not only the loss of income and labor, but that the colony might gain a reputation for not being welcoming to further settlers not of English descent, especially skilled craftsmen.
John Smith first encountered and was impressed with the talents of Polish craftsmen when he traveled through Poland in 1602, fleeing the Turks who had enslaved him.
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is at this time the largest kingdom of Europe, covering the present territory of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Russia.
Early in Jamestown's history, Smith and the Virginia Company began recruiting workers from mainland Europe to come to their new colony.
The first of these foreign workers had come with the second group of settlers who arrived in the colony in 1608; two of these workers would later save Smith's life in an attack by Native Americans as noted in Smith's writings.
Contemporary historical accounts refer to this first group of foreign craftsmen as Dutchmen and Poles.
The foreign craftsmen began producing glassware, pitch, and potash soon after their arrival in 1608. These goods were used in the colony, but were also important as they were the first goods exported from the colony to Europe.
Later more skilled workers arrived and continued to produce tar, resin, and turpentine, and clapboard and frankincense as well.
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