Why Tobacco Is Important To Me Essay

As Colonial Virginia entered into the 17th century, it was a land marked with opportunity to make a new and also, most importantly, profitable life in the New World. (Cutter Lecture) When the century began, however, it was not the citizens as a whole hoping to make a profit from this new land but rather a small group of greedy landowners profiting off of the work of their indentured servants. (CL) Sure the indentured servants were given a chance to fulfill their contract and one day become free to pursue their own dreams, but the likelihood of this in the beginning was next to none due to harsh living conditions. (CL) According to Richard Frethorne in 1623, "nor is there nothing to be gotten here

To cultivate these tobacco crops the Chesapeake Bay colonist utilized slave labor, and the use of indentured servants. The use of indentured servants soon died out when Virginia, forbid the whipping of white servants. In the Chesapeake colonies, religion was not as strict as in New England. In these colonies there were a number of small optional religions, this was very different than the ways of the New England colonies.

A plantation economy, an economy founded on an agricultural mass production like tobacco, sustained the source of income of the Chesapeake regions, consisting Virginia, Maryland, and northern North Carolina. The early settlers soon realized the urgent need for labor in the New World. Due to the fact that many potential immigrants could not afford an expensive trip across the Atlantic, the Virginia Company developed the system of indentured servitude to attract common laborers. Since tobacco required intensive hand labor all year round, indentured servants have become vital to the colonial economy. "Virginia Servant and Slave Laws" represent the elaborate efforts of masters' to profit from indentured servants and slaves against runaway and

In Virgina, tobacco became such a high demand that fields everywhere were used for tobacco plantations. However farmers repeatedly used the same land over and over, ruining the soil. This limited Virginia's fortunes to the irregular price of a single crop. The high demand for sugar in the Caribbeans also wiped out all other forms of Caribbean agriculture. Which led to the dependence on the north american mainland for other food supplies and basic supplies.

John Rolfe was an English settler who based the voyage to America simply on the growth of tobacco. Rolfe’s crew, along with many other young men, traveled to Virginia in 1609 to search for gold. When the ship reached on the shore, all that was seen was sandy beaches and swampy marshes. Neither of which helped with the growth of the major cash crop. Even after the valiant attempts to scrounge for gold, there was no success.With the large amount of crops that Virginia grew, the colony needed to expand west into new land for more room to grow crops. At this time Virginia was an underdeveloped colony that needed settlers to come live and work. Virginia introduced the ever growing indentured servitude. Most of the indentured servants were possibly single men of the lower class. The ship’s list of emigrants

Virginia, in the southern region, was the first area colonized, named for Queen Elizabeth who was supposedly a virgin. It was intended to be a source of wealth for England by providing cash crops such as tobacco and, eventually, a new market for English goods.. The short winters and warm summers were ideal for growing cash crops such as cotton, tobacco, and rice, all of which were labor intensive. Most of the people who immigrated to these southern colonies were poor Englishmen who were part of the growing number of unemployed in their home country. They paid for their passage by becoming indentured servants, hoping to work off their servitude on the plantations and begin a new life in a new land. As economic conditions improved in England however, Virginia, as well as the other southern colonies, began to rely more and more on slave labor. Slaves became a better investment than in indentured servants, and the southern colonies soon transitioned to slave-based, agricultural economies. (Taylor)

In the 1600's, tobacco became the main source of income for most of the colonists. The economic prosperity of the colonies was primarily dependent on the amount of tobacco produced. The growing of tobacco needed large amount of land, with a large stable work force. The increased demand for a large, stable work force combined with the availability and low price of African slaves, led to the use of slavery in the colonies. To the planter, slavery was the ideal form of labor that would be most beneficial to productivity of his crop.#

Because the low-grade tobacco was being overproduced unceasingly, prices dropped over the years. Tobacco had been the colony’s sole way of income for many years. Berkeley attempted to improve conditions by introducing other industries and building new towns in several places. Unfortunately, the towns could not be maintained and other attempts only resulted in dissatisfaction and increased taxes. Taxes were also increased due to a need for defense against the Dutch and the Indians. The rising price of English manufactured goods and the increasingly limited English market created more problems for the Virginians.

Tobacco was introduced and imported by John Rolfe. This triggered huge waves of settlers in Jamestown to plant tobacco’s seeds as well. So the more of them growing tobacco, the better the economy improving due to high demand in consumptions. On the other hand, growing tobacco resulted in the Indians being kicked out of their lands, forced the African slaves brought to America and work in the tobacco fields.

The Virginia Colony economy relied heavily on the mass production of tobacco. Tobacco changed their way of life forever. Before the incredible introduction of tobacco, Virginia was mostly a series of small farms and the population of the communities packed together.

Slavery was the main resource used in the Chesapeake tobacco plantations. The conditions in the Chesapeake region were difficult, which lead to malnutrition, disease, and even death. Slaves were a cheap and an abundant resource, which could be easily replaced at any time. The Chesapeake region’s tobacco industries grew and flourished on the intolerable acts of slavery.

One of the things that really shaped the way that Virginia is today was the high death rate. It was not only tobacco that made men wealthy either. In Virginia whenever someone died, if that person was married they would inherit all of their former partners land and belongings. Many times this would be the man that would die, and would leave a wealthy widow in his place. Men in Virginia sought these widows like pure gold themselves; if they married these women then they would inherit all that they had acquired from their previous husbands. Therefore any man could become wealthy by just marrying a wealthy widow. Morgan states that the Virginian society was on its way to becoming,” an economic matriarchy, or rather a widowarchy” (166). For many men however it was very slim that they would be able to marry due to their current roles as servants. Even when given freedom these men were not able to settle into a home or piece of land due to the harsh conditions they would have to try and live in after. At the same time the wealthy men were able to marry rich women, live life to the fullest, and milk the government policies for all the money that it was worth.

Upon coming to the Americas, settlers found quite a bit of land to farm on, but they lacked enough labor to work it. The economy of many of the colonies also made it difficult to for the citizens to sustain themselves on such little labor, especially in colonies like Maryland and Virginia that utilized tobacco as a

Throughout the time of the Roanoke catastrophe and the hardships of Jamestown, tobacco made its grand introduction as America’s newest cash commodity that would allow success to flourish in Virginia, with a permanent English presence. Tobacco was formally popularized by a man named John Rolfe in the year 1610 and became the top resource that helped the future of this colony thrive. Tobacco did all of this by turning an

The land became rapidly exploited and cultivated to produce tobacco. After the establishment of this cash crop, tobacco was glorified and largely advertised in both the colonies and England. As well as its large cultivation of tobacco, its connection to what became known as the Chesapeake Bay served as a prominent economic aspect to Virginia. By mid-century, the establishment of indentured servants had been regulated and used frequently by plantation owners. This being a prominent factor to Virginia's social development, its downfall and rise of slavery also played a prime role in social transformation.