Tobacco's Effect On The Colonies

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

The demand of tobacco cultivation in the Chesapeake resulted in an increase of the slave trade. Unlike indentured servants, Africans was not protected by English law, and was accustomed to intensive labor as well as resistant to many diseases. And because the Native Americans were more familiar with the land which in turn made running away easier, it was hard to keep Indians as slaves. Authorities wanted to improve the status of white servants thus taking away the perception that Virginia was a death trap. In the 1660s, Virginia and Maryland laws referred explicitly to slavery. As Tobacco cultivation continued to increase so did the condition of black and white servants divided. The laws became more stricter and freedom for blacks became nonexistent,

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.#

In the British colonies, there was a labor crisis, especially in the Chesapeake Bay area. When the European first arrived, the widespread of disease killed thousands of Native Americans. This meant that there weren't many people available to work on the massive plantations the British colonists had established. However, most African slaves did not die from the diseases that the British brought to North America. This meant the trade began between the Americas and Africa and slaves would be brought via the Middle Passage. Moreover, in Virginia, tobacco was becoming the main crop that farmers were growing to make profit. Tobacco was a crop that need special attention when it came to growing since it often took up most of the nutrients in the soil.

Many colonies would not have survived if it wasn’t for the discovery and growing of tobacco, as this plant enabled the colonies to thrive, and even have a surplus of profit, therefore they could afford more servants, thus, creating a continuous travel of immigrants into the colony, overall creating stable 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

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.

Tobacco was then traded with Europe to reduce their debt. There wasn’t much slavery from the late 1400s to 1600s. Unfortunately Slavery sparked up again during the Civil War era and wouldn’t be abolished for the next 150 years. Thankfully, Congress puts a stop to the madness by enacting the Thirteenth Amendment after the big win for the Union over the Confederates. By that point though, more than 4 million African-American slaves lived in the United States. People like John Rolfe were among the farmers who took advantage of the Slavery . They essentially used Slave labor to produce Tobacco and make money. Slaves were forced to spend long hours on the farm, cultivating, maintaining and collecting the tobacco. It is important to note that Tobacco was an extremely labor-intensive crop. The confederates enjoyed freedom and money at the expense of the Slaves.The Slaves did not enjoy any of the rights or freedom that the Confederates enjoyed. The Slaves were beaten, lynched, starved, overworked, underpaid, and even whipped to death by the Confederates for a long period of time until the Union abolished slavery. Although the Slaves’ communities thrived and multiplied, these slaves were subjected to harsh living

Tobacco was the soul and life of the colony; it was primitive, but made an important form of diversified farming from the start among the small farmers. With the growth of the big plantations in the 18th century, there were small landowners among large planters in the Tidewater area. Usually, they possessed few slaves (if any). The importation of little food indicates that there existed a standard farming system. Tobacco was not the only product of large tobacco plantations. It is indicated by the fact that all of the financial records of the goods of one man’s labor recorded as so many acres of tobacco and others. Low prevailing prices of tobacco would have made the agricultural economy less cost-effective. Agricultural product such as tobacco was new to most of the people, but not to the English settlers at the Johnstown. There was no experience in marketing to draw upon, growing and curing in that century. These difficulties and procedures were tackled by trial and error in Virginia. Tobacco was very popular in early Virginia during the colonial time.

The New World presented numerous challenges for the new English settlers in Virginia. The settlers were in search for financial prosperity through the discovery of gold but their continuous efforts left them empty handed. Time quickly elapsed and their perseverance of searching quickly dwindled. Now, the Europeans needed to establish a concrete way of economic stability. In 1612, John Rolfe, an agriculturalist from Jamestown, introduced a more mild strain of tobacco to the Virginia colony (Brinkley 37). The colonists quickly realized the monetary potential of the crop and began selling it to eager buyers in England. The high cultivation of tobacco in the Virginian colony completely transformed the society as a whole. Growing tobacco