Essays

British colonists began participating in sports as soon as they arrived in North America, playing the same games they had enjoyed in the villages and towns of En gland.

One of the causes of early labor problems in the colony of Jamestown, Virginia, historians have noted, was that its rst inhabitants often spent time bowling when they should have been working, or hunted game when they had been assigned to tend cattle. In 1611, Governor Thomas Dale found it necessary to impose laws forbidding hunting for plea sure on the Sabbath, and one year later, the “Lawes Divine, Morall and Martial” banned card playing and wasting gunpowder by shooting at game. In 1619, the Virginia House of Burgesses called for strict enforcement of the Sabbath and banned gambling; however, over time, these laws were laxly enforced.