The Chesapeake Bay Colonies

A community is a group of people who work together towards a common goal and share a common interest. Lack of such a quality can and most likely will cause a struggling town or city to fall into the extremes of poverty and wealth. The New England community was so strong and so supportive in comparison to that of the Chesapeake Bay, that it is no wonder they developed into two distinctly different cultures before the year 1700. The Chesapeake region developed into a land of plantations and money-driven owners, with the elite wealthy, almost no middle class, and those in poverty creating the population. New England, on the other hand, had developed into a religion and family based society comprised of mostly middle class families by 1700.

Tobacco was a main crop in colonial America that helped stabilize the economy (Cotton 1). Despite the fact that tobacco took the place of the other crops in Virginia, as well as replacing the hunt for gold with tobacco cultivation. It proved to be a major cash crop, especially in Virginia and Maryland (Weeks 3). Tobacco left many people financially troubled because other occupations were disregarded or not as profitable as tobacco farmers (Randel 128). The unemployment that tobacco brought about made many colonists poor and homeless (128). After the tobacco boom started, many men signed themselves to indentured servitude hoping to be freed and given land along with other promised goods (Tunis 79). Three hundred and fifty thousand

The Chesapeake Bay and New England colonies were two of the first regions English settlers colonized upon arrival to America. In analyzing both regions, it is easy to see that the social, economic, and political implications had a lot to do with the overall development of each respective colony. Socially, the New England colony was made of families that sought to escape the persecution that Puritans faced in England, while the colony in the Chesapeake Bay was established by only men who expected to find bullion, like the Spanish did in Latin America. Economically, the New England colony was more diversified with income coming from fishing, lumber, fur trade, and numerous other jobs, unlike the Chesapeake Bay which saw almost all of its income

In 1419, Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal began the period of time known as the “Age of Exploration”. Europe’s leading superpowers, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, and England, all competed for colonization in unknown territories. Samuel de Champlain colonized along the St. Lawrence River in 1608, Henry Hudson of Holland established Albany in 1609, and Spain established colonies in Mexico and Mesoamerica. In 1607, England established its first colony in North America around the Chesapeake Bay, and nearly a decade later established a second colony in present-day New England. Both New England and the Chesapeake were founded by the British around the same time; however, both colonies developed a different economy, government, and many

Moreover, the treatment received by the slaves also differs in both Chesapeake Colonies and the Northern Colonies. Due to the high percentage of slaves resided in Virginia and Maryland, slave society was ranked the lowest in the hierocracy of freedom such that they were treated with violence and their access to freedom were restricted by the Whites (Foner 137). The slaves were also said to receive flogging by their owners on a daily basis. Such books that contained methods on improving the power of masters over their slaves were also exists in the eighteenth centuries (Foner 137). Thus, violence played a major role in the Chesapeake colonies’ institution of slavery. Contrarily, less or no violence applied by the Whites in treating their slaves

Although I am a hardworking, literate, and intellectual woman, employment opportunities remain severely limited within England’s feudal society. The Massachusetts Bay colonies appeal to educated ministers and encourages English puritan families with young kids to join. Their labor system entails all members within large families, including kids will execute the majority of work within homes, farms, and businesses. Therefore, the Massachusetts Bay colonies offer no economic gains for young un-wed women and eliminate the need for laborers or indentured servants. The Chesapeake colonies, are established with a decidedly commercial orientation, focused on reaping profits from their cash crops. This colony has a large demand for a workforce to labor the tobacco fields involving implementation of young male and female indentured servants. However, once the labor contract is fulfilled, the individual receives “freedom dues” consisting of food, other provisions, and only in some cases is land provided. The Chesapeake colonies have developed an increased dependence on a slave workforce, further limiting my possibilities of work. On the other hand, William Penn promises fifty acres of land to those who migrate to Pennsylvania as indentured servants, once their terms of service are fulfilled. Pennsylvania also heavily relies on indentured servants more than any other colony in turn offering

The growth of tobacco, rice, & and other crops and the plantation economy gave rise to the high demand of labor in the English southern colonies. In the early years of the southern colonies, it was mostly indentured servants who would work for their aristocratic landowning masters in accordance to the Headright System. As this system benefited the masters some may also say it benefited the laborers. Each indentured servant would have their fare across the Atlantic paid in full by their masters if they willing to work a certain amount of years. They would also be supplied room & board while working in the masters’ fields. And if completion of contract is successful, laborers would receive a bonus. However, as good it seemed, the reality showed otherwise. Only forty percent of indentured servants lived to complete the terms of the contract. And female servants were recorded to have been subjects of harassment by their masters. Furthermore, the high demand of labor due to the plantation system influenced the general favor of forced labor

Colonies in the United States were being settled by 1,000’s of colonists in the late 1500’s early 1600’s. Colonists found very quickly that it would not be easy to settle new land thousands of miles away from there home countries. As the colonists became settled it was clear that more workers were needed; so slaves, and indentured servants were brought to do the work. Although, slaves and indentured servants were used for similar purposes there were many differences in how the work was performed, the relationship with their masters, and the culture.

Considering crops required close attention, there was a need for people to maintain the crops. During the 17th century, according to the book, about eighty percent of the immigrants that came to the Chesapeake came as indentured servants (Roark et. Al. p. 63) An indentured servant is, “Poor immigrants who signed contracts known an indentures, in which they committed to four to seven years of labor in North America in exchange for transportation from England, as well as food and shelter after they arrived in the colony,” (Roark et. Al. p. 63). Servant life consisted of certain restrictions and rules such as not getting to choose who buys your labor, punishment for little crimes, punishment for women who became pregnant, etc. Servant life was bad for the indentured servants, however it was much worse for the African slaves. In the 1640s, African slaves were purchased to plant, cultivate, and harvest the sugarcane in Barbados. This made the West Indian planters wealthy and successful. Although there were a few African Slaves in the early 1600s in the Chesapeake, the slave culture became popular around the 1670s-1700. Not only were the conditions awful once the slaves had arrived to work, there were horrible conditions for them on the boats coming over to the Americas through the Middle Passage. The Middle Passage was, “The crossing of the Atlantic by slave ships traveling from West Africa to the Americas. Slaves were crowded together in extremely unhealthful circumstances, and mortality rates were high.” (Roark et. Al. p. 125). The slaves were greeted with horrible conditions once in the Americas working for the planters. They were subjected to physical abuse if they did not do the amount of work that the planters had wanted, had to work long hours from sun up to sun down, had high mortality rates, etc. Although slaves were exposed to such awful

Indentured servants were men and women that signed a indenture contract to agree to work on plantations and farm for 4 to 7 years for employer. The motivation to agree to this contact was free passage to America from their homeland. During the 1600s, the French had many people come to the America by such contacts and most indentured servants “returned home after their contracts expired” (pg 35) for many reasons. During the English colonization, the people who could afford to come to the America were “government officials, clergymen, merchants, artisans, and landowning farmers” (pg 53) who were able to be free people upon arrival and acquired a great amount of land. But they were only about one third of the English settlers,

First, the English Civil War. It caused a trade defect and the colonies compensated by diversifying and cultivating such exports such as timber and fish. Most of the coastal colonies fished in deeper water and pursued Whales farther. They also processed the fish on board ships. In addition, young men left their home earlier to take up trades such as blacksmithing and tanning. The shipbuilding industry came about because of a high demand from wars on the New England boarders. This industry sparked diversification in several ways. First is created jobs for loggers, millworkers, carpenters, jointers, and caulkers. They were also sailed by local men and insured by local companies, plus investors bought shares in the companies. Lastly, in the Chesapeake area tobacco prices were dropping due to overproduction and war. This prompted the colonies to start diversifying to other crops such as wheat and raising livestock. There were also ironworks being opened by English investors and planters. The results of diversification were more reliance on slaves and more economic independence from Britain. Slaves were used to work tobacco and rice fields, allowing both industries to take off. Furthermore, they were using in the ironworks. With the ability to support their own economy with more ways to trade and produce marketable goods, British colonies started to develop an independence

In America in the 1650s, the population of Chesapeake was increasing by the birthrate. To make profit, Chesapeake produced large quality of tobacco. Colonial masters first adopted the institution of indentured servitude rather than slavery for labor; African slaves were very expensive and indentured servants needed employment. African slavery soon replaced indentured servants from Bacon’s rebellion and less trouble that they caused. Tobacco was very important to the economy; Europeans would buy slaves to work the fields.

The concept of indentured service was to pay the cost of an immigrants voyage with labor. Five years of service would grant freedom to the servant. The concept is simple, except servitude was rarely that simple for the servants. Cruel treatment from masters was not uncommon. Law enforcement in the colonies was lacking compared to the British Empire. This gave masters the ability to abuse their servants with little

An indenture was a legal, written contract binding one party into the service of another for a specified term.(1) The system of Indenture and Indentured servants was introduced in Colonial America to meet the growing demand for cheap, plentiful labor in the colonies. The indentured servants worked for no wage; instead they worked for basic necessities such as food, clothing and a place to live. (2) Even though slaves existed in the English Colonies in the 1600s, many farmers employed Indentured Servants instead. There was a high demand for work as the growth of tobacco; rice (which was easy to prepare and was also a hearty meal that would sustain a workers bodies for a long day’s work) and indigo (organic dye, distinctive for its blue color and is used for infection) were very prominent during the 1680s. Choosing to work by this method was not only beneficial to the masters and servants it was an all-around success to expand the working population of the Chesapeake colonies.

There were abundant amount of immigrants that were indentured servants, individuals (immigrants) who came to America and was placed under contract to work for another over a period of time, usually seven years, especially during the 17th to 19th centuries. Generally, indentured servants included redemptioners, victims of religious or political persecution, persons kidnapped for the purpose, convicts, and paupers. Indentured servants first arrived in America in the decade following the settlement of Jamestown by the Virginia Company in 1607. Originally, most of colonies laws that were passed concerned the indentured servants,