In 1607, three small ships - the Discovery, Godspeed and Susan Constant - arrived on the shores of the eastern North American Coast and established the first successful British settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. For two centuries, colonists faced the challenges of life in a new world - weather, Native Indian attacks, starvation and disease - to establish the strongest economy in the American colonies. Virginia's native sons, including Jefferson, Washington, Madison and Monroe, were among many of our founding fathers who not only fought during the American Revolution but fought a political battle on the floor of Virginia's legislature and the Continental Congress. Following the Revolution they were instrumental in creating the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights which provide all Americans with legal protections that we benefit from centuries later. Volume VII in the Adventures in Colonial America series focuses on the contributions made by Virginians at all levels of society to the success of the colony. It also discusses the establishment of the Anglican Church as the official state religion - and how that policy impacted the writing of the U.S. Constitution and the separation of church and state. Virginia's role in the American Revolution, from the fall of Norfolk to the victory at Yorktown are also discussed. A separate supplement will be published that discusses the lives and contributions of many of Virginia's colonists, from its early decades through the early 19th Century.