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In 1612, the company's charter was officially extended to include the Somers Isles as part of the [[Virginia Colony]]. However, the isles passed to the [[Somers Isles Company|London Company of the Somers Isles]] in 1615, which had been formed by the same shareholders as the London Company. The third charter expanded territory eastward to include [[Bermuda|Summer Islands]] and other islands.<ref name="”2">{{cite web|url=http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1600-1650/the-third-virginia-charter-1612.php|title=The Third Charter of the Virginia Company of London – 1612}}</ref>
On 18 November 1618, Virginia Company officers [[Thomas Smythe]] and [[Edwin Sandys (died 1629)|Edwin Sandys]] sent a set of instructions to Virginia governor [[George Yeardley]], which are often referred to as "The Great Charter", though it was not issued by James. This charter gave the colony self-governance, which led to the establishment of a Council of State appointed by the governor and an elected General Assembly (House of Burgesses), and provided that the colony would no longer be financed by shares but by tobacco farming. The birth of representative government in the United States can be traced from this Great Charter, as it provided for self-governance from which the House of Burgesses and a General Council were created.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Virginia_Company_of_London#its4|title=The Great Charter}}</ref><ref name="Shakespeare1"/>
The indigenous peoples had grown increasingly resistant to the competition from the colonists and mistreatment at their hands. They rose in what is known as [[Indian massacre of 1622|Jamestown Massacre of 1622]], also known as the Great Massacre, which decimated the population. Survivors of some eighty plantations gathered into eight near Jamestown. In Britain, company officers debated over guarding the original charter, or deciding to disband the company. The Jamestown Massacre brought unfavorable attention to the colony, particularly from James who had originally chartered the company.
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