Being thus passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before in their preparation . . . , they had now no friends to welcome them, nor inns to entertaine or refresh their weatherbeaten bodys, no houses or much less towns to repaire too, to seeke for succore. - William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, c. 1630
The Unhealthy Chesapeake:
Malaria, dysentery, and typhoid cut the life expectancy of English newcomers to the Chesapeake region by 10 years.
1/2 people born in Maryland and Virginia didn't live to 20.
Very few women for men to marry (1:6 ratio in some cases).
Up to 1/3 women in some areas were pregnant before marriage.
End of 17th century, more women came, and population was able to support itself.
The Tobacco Economy:
Tobacco took much better to the Chesapeake region than humans did, as it was often planted before food crops.
1.5 million pounds was hauled out in 1630's per year, which grew to 40 million pounds by end of 1600's.
Prices fell, so more was planted (seems stupid in whole, but each farmer thought he could out do his competition, or just tried to keep up).
More tobacco = more labor. Problems:Families procreated too slowly
Indians died or ran away
African salves cost too much (Royal African Company had a monopoly, supported by the king)Indentured Servants came from England seeking new life, working for passage and "freedom dues" (barrels of corn, clothes, and sometimes land).
The "headright" system used in Virginia and Maryland to encourage importation of indentured servants, gave 50 acres of land to masters for paying their passage.
100,000 indentured servants were brought into the Chesapeake region by 1700.
They looked forward to getting their own land and freedom, so they were hopeful.
As land filled, it was not offered in freedom dues as often.
Misbehaving servants were punished with extended terms of service.
Once free, there was no work but for their original masters for pitiful wages.
Frustrated Freemen and Bacon's Rebellion:
Free men, hopes crushed for getting land and for getting married, wandered about the Chesapeake.
The Virginia assembly in 1670 made the mistake of disfranchising them on the charges of "having little interest in the country" and "[causing] tumults at the election to the disturbance of his majesty's peace."
Nathaniel Bacon, a 29-year-old planter, led a rebellion in 1676 of about 1000 men.
They were frontiermen, and they resented Berkeley's friendliness towards the Indians, whom raided their villages.
Berkeley (who was prospering in the fur trade) doing nothing, the men took the Indian issue into their own hands.
They fought, and then took Berkeley from Jamestown.
Berkeley came back and crushed them, hanging 20 rebels. The king called him a fool.
Rebellion now suppressed, tension remained. People were still unhappy, so masters looked for other labor.
Colonial Slavery:
10,000,000 slaves brought to New World, only 400,000 to North America.
Most shipped to West Indies or Spanish / Portuguese South America.
By 1670, only 2000 slaves in virginia.
Wages rose in England, so servants came less willingly.
Large planters feared another Bacon's Rebellion.
1680 - black slaves outnumbered white servants.
1698 - Royal African Company lost its monopoly, so slave prices fell.
10,000 African slaves brought to America from 1700 - 1710.
1750 - Blacks were half of Virginian population.
Slaves came from Western Africa (between Senegal and Angola).
Branded and bound, the "middle passage" transported slaves, with death rates as high as 20%.
At first, slaves were freed, and some became slave owners themselves. But as more slaves came, there was a racial threat.
Laws were created to define the difference between slaves and servants. Race was the determining factor.
The slave system existed for economic prosperity, and later for racial discrimination.
Africans in America:
Climate was hostile in the deep south. Imports kept the rice-growing slave population up.
The Chesapeake slaves were somewhat better off.
They didn't have to labor as hard on tobacco, the plantations were larger and closer, so family and friends could hear of each other, and female slave population rose.
The Chesapeake region was one of the only slave populations fertile enough to support itself. This contributed to slave culture.
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