Dbq: Hardships in Colonial Virginia
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- Date Submitted: 12/02/2014 01:17 PM
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DBQ: Hardships in colonial Virginia
The Virginia colony faced many challenges from 1606 to 1700. Many of these hardships led to social and economic changes. The living conditions were harsh and people did not live long. Economically, tobacco created huge revenue. Socially, disease, starvation, and skirmishes with natives led to many deaths. The predicaments the settlers faced molded them into independent colonists.
The economic situation in early Virginia was bleak, until the tobacco industry blossomed. When the first Englishmen came to Virginia they were in search of gold but instead became major producers of tobacco. John Rolfe, “The father of Tobacco”, perfected raising and curing tobacco. An early tobacco advertisement says that tobacco will renew you life (Doc. C). He set up the Chesapeake Bay region for huge tobacco production. The tobacco plants eventually wore out the soil, so plantation owners were constantly on the look out for new their land. The owners only option was to take land from the indians, which angered them. Tobacco plantation owners made a fortune. They were able to hire people to work on the fields, such as indentured servants. The wealthy plantation owners would pay to have workless men come over from England to work on their plantation. Father Andrew White’s contract states that the servant would work until the man who brought him over thought he had paid his dues (Doc. E). The indentured servants began to rebel because of the distrust between them and their owners. This rebellion is known as Bacon's rebellion. After that Strict laws were passed for slavery, to ensure nothing like that would happen again, by the Virginia statutes pertaining to slavery (Doc. H). The popularity of tobacco was one reason slavery flourished in virginia
As the new settlers came over from England, they imagined Virginia to be “Earth's only paradise”, full of gold, pearls, game, and fruit (Doc. A). They soon found that life was going to be much...
The Virginia colony faced many challenges from 1606 to 1700. Many of these hardships led to social and economic changes. The living conditions were harsh and people did not live long. Economically, tobacco created huge revenue. Socially, disease, starvation, and skirmishes with natives led to many deaths. The predicaments the settlers faced molded them into independent colonists.
The economic situation in early Virginia was bleak, until the tobacco industry blossomed. When the first Englishmen came to Virginia they were in search of gold but instead became major producers of tobacco. John Rolfe, “The father of Tobacco”, perfected raising and curing tobacco. An early tobacco advertisement says that tobacco will renew you life (Doc. C). He set up the Chesapeake Bay region for huge tobacco production. The tobacco plants eventually wore out the soil, so plantation owners were constantly on the look out for new their land. The owners only option was to take land from the indians, which angered them. Tobacco plantation owners made a fortune. They were able to hire people to work on the fields, such as indentured servants. The wealthy plantation owners would pay to have workless men come over from England to work on their plantation. Father Andrew White’s contract states that the servant would work until the man who brought him over thought he had paid his dues (Doc. E). The indentured servants began to rebel because of the distrust between them and their owners. This rebellion is known as Bacon's rebellion. After that Strict laws were passed for slavery, to ensure nothing like that would happen again, by the Virginia statutes pertaining to slavery (Doc. H). The popularity of tobacco was one reason slavery flourished in virginia
As the new settlers came over from England, they imagined Virginia to be “Earth's only paradise”, full of gold, pearls, game, and fruit (Doc. A). They soon found that life was going to be much...