Preview

The Transformation of Colonial Virginia

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
365 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Transformation of Colonial Virginia
DBQ #1: The Transformation of Colonial Virginia In 1606, hundreds of settlers went on a journey from England to the Virginia colony. They were in search of a new life, and wealth. Early on in their journey, they stumble upon many hardships, as expressed by George Percy (Doc. B). By the use of the indentured servants and slaves they were able to change the Virginia colony by basing their economy around tobacco.
During the beginning of their voyage, the settlers met countless poverty. (Doc. A). they were jam-packed on ships, with transmittable diseases feast very effortlessly (Doc. D). There was little food, so many of them died of starvation. When they finally arrived, they were introduced to even more diseases. On top of starvation, and chronic diseases, some died in wars.
After they reached Virginia, they were given contracts with different people who had already settled there (Doc. E). With the use of tobacco, they were able to completely alter their economy. The demand for tobacco products in Europe was increasing, and the Virginians knew it. They began to focus most of their attention on tobacco plantations. They had created one of the first products to be marketed with name-brand advertising (Doc. H). The economy was taking off, and the tobacco plantations were expanding so they needed more workers. Fortunately, approximately fifteen hundred indentured servants were coming from England, Scotland, and Ireland per year according to Governor William Berkeley (Doc. G). These settlers also changed the colony of Virginia socially. When they first arrived, the population of Virginia was basically zero, excluding the Native Americans. Within 71 years, there were approximately two thousand black slaves and six thousand Christian indentured servants. The population had also reached forty thousand people (Doc.G).
Everybody was allowed to have arms and ammunition excluding Negros. Even more, all children born in the country will be alleged to be a slave or free

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Virginia Company Benefits

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Virginia Company was having issues with profits and the attitude of the settlers. A new Company Treasurer was selected, his name was Sir Edwin Sandys. He instated many reforms and believed manufacturing was being diluted by lack of manpower. He combatted the issue of low morale with rewarding the investors by distributing 100 acres of land to each adventure. This became known as the Virginia headright system. The system also gave 50 acres to any person who paid his or her own way and 50 acres more for each person they brought. The idea of reward for the colonist sparked motivation and exploration, this in turn created productive work. Tobacco quickly became a profitable cash crop and the colony wanted to plant it excessively. By 1617 tobacco exports from Virginia to England totaled over 20,000 pounds. And by 1620 colonist had sent back more than 50,000 pounds, by the end of the decade the amount had reached an astonishing 1.5 million pounds of tobacco sent back to England. The Company discouraged the planting of this crop because it took interest away from corn. The issue arose that there wasn’t enough food to feed the manpower. This was solved in 1619 when a Dutch man-of-war arrived carrying captive Africans. The slave labor became the colony’s foundation for economics and society. The Powhatan business had been becoming more distant but came into full view in 1622 when the Indian Massacre of 1622 took place. 347 colonist were killed which amounted to be a quarter of the English population of the Virginia…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Notes on the States of Virginia was the full length book written by Thomas Jefferson in 1781, during the American revolutionary war. In 1780, the secretary of the French legation to the United States “Francois Marbois” had drawn up 22 questions wishing to collect information on each of the 13 states to answer to his superiors. Those questions were sent to several possible informants including Joseph Jones, who at that time a member of congressional delegation. He had written the original questionnaire in his own hand writing and had given it to Thomas Jefferson; the second governor of Virginia who he had thought was the best person to answer all of the complicated questions about the beloved state. Joseph Jones knew about this Virginian’s knowledge and passion about the largest of the 13 original states. Jefferson rearranged Marboi’s 22 queries into the 23 queries and conducts his readers from a discussion of geography of Virginia through the state’s civilization.…

    • 1092 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The economies of the colonies of Massachusetts and Virginia were centered around different resources, but each colony flourished in its own way. Virginia centered around the fact that land was plentiful, but labor was scarce. Many landowners had large portions of land but not enough workers to cultivate it. In Massachusetts, the land was not fertile so their economy centered around the fishing and ship making industries. Therefore, Massachusetts’s most profitable resources were timber and fishing. Land was less fertile in Massachusetts due to the harsh climate and short growing season. One thing that helped Massachusetts economy was that they could also take out the “middle man” when trading by using their own ships and merchants. Due to the fertile land in Virginia, their most profitable resource was tobacco. Virginia’s land was fertile due to the warm climate and immense rainfall. Virginia had plenty of staples to exchange for English goods. The Massachusetts colony had a lack of staples for exchange,…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    apush DBQ#1

    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages

    After going threw those hard times the became a strong colony economically wise. The reason their economy grew was that they started to grow and trade tobacco. Before the English started to trade tobacco other European tried to sell it in Europe but were unsuccessful. The tobacco grown in Virginia had a stronger flavor and odor. When Virginian tobacco got to Europe it sold for higher price. Within a matter of time it became Virginia’s cash crop. Document B is a great…

    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    From the headright system each servant imported meant another fifty acre of farmland for tobacco. This provided more land for tobacco and more laborers to harvest the tobacco for more profit. The profit from farming, planting, selling, and trading tobacco influenced more people to come to Virginia. One settler made 200 sterling after the good harvest in 1619 which attracted many other planters to be able to earn this much. Hence Virginia became a colony dependent on the servant's’ labor in order to become wealthy.…

    • 85 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The British colonies in the Chesapeake, southern Atlantic and West Indies changed continuously throughout the seventeenth century. One way that they had changed was not only basing more of their economy on agriculture but incorporating more slave labor into the colony lifestyles as well. In 1612, a tobacco rush swept through Virginia with a rising demand for the crop, while at the same time, the demand for sugar cane in the West Indies began to grow. With constant demands for these crops and more land needing tending to, slave labor was soon incorporated into the lifestyles of the colonies. In 1650 Virginia, slaves, “…made up approximately 14 percent of the colony’s population” (33) and were at a ratio of four to one in the West Indies. Many…

    • 230 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    a way of attracting people to the New World, Virginia offered men freedom if they would work as indentured servants for seven years, after which they would be able to purchase land and start a family. While both colonies established systems of self government, these styles of leadership and ruling were quite different. This shows that although the colonists mostly all migrated from the same region of Europe, they each settled in their colonies where the foundation of living shared similar ideas but different in the specific ways they were…

    • 1572 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The development of areas and their politics can be greatly affected by many things, but one of the major developmental factors is economics. If two areas have vastly different economies, they will develop vastly different political systems. One such case can be found when exploring the development of Massachusetts and Virginia in the periods of 1607 to 1750.…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1606, in search of wealth and treasure, hundreds of settlers emigrated to the Virginia colony. Virginia was drastically changed over the century of its establishment. The Virginians faced multiple challenges during the molding of this new colony. Their efforts changed the colony socially and economically over the course of the century. Some challenges that they had to face were not being killed by the Indians, having any sort of government because England was basically leaving them out on their own (benign neglect), and not dying of starvation, malnutrition, or famine. Their efforts caused them to learn to defend themselves, grow food, hunt, and create their own local government, which all created a feeling of separation and independence from Great Britain.…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Early Virginia's flourishing cultivation of tobacco drew a diversity of people, from fresh war veterans and former soldiers, to adventurers and ordinary people looking to recoup from former monetary losses. However the tobacco did not only alter the country culturally and economically, but it " threw more wood into the fire." It strengthened the infamous individualistic attitude the colonists had. The adventurers began to have a very competitive attitude and took upon themselves as many others did an anarchist or mutinous perspective, where government intervention was view as a threat to there independence.…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the beginning of the colonization process, settlers who rushed to Virginia faced many hardships. They faced several different illnesses and fatal diseases, which their bodies were not immune to. The living conditions were not easy during this time, and many Virginians lost their lives. In…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    During the Colonial Era numerous, lethal diseases were transferred around among the Europeans and Native Americans. These diseases killed countless people.…

    • 88 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The pioneers had to survive through numerous different diseases throughout their travels. Many pioneers suffered with diseases like Cholera and Smallpox. According to the web page “Death and Danger Along the Trail”, there was a lack of sanitation, leaving the travellers more susceptible to diseases. Many people died to diseases while travelling…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I have chosen to settle in a Virginia Colony because it was known as the first colony in the world; also where the British Empire had began. The country itself is large and great. It’s much warmer than being in England, much better temperatures. There are also valleys and plains streaming with sweet streams, also the land is full of minerals and plenty of wood, which is a want from England. I am living in Williamsburg, which isn’t far from Jamestown. Down in Williamsburg they have trade post to trade Tobacco, cotton, rice, indigo, lumber, furs, and farm products.…

    • 99 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tobacco Culture

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages

    While the virgin lands of America buried Spain in gold, and French in fur, the British were slow to get their new economy off the ground. After an Indian attack on the colony of Jamestown left the Virginia Company bankrupt and later dissolved, the surviving settlers discovered the cash crop they had been searching for. Tobacco exports climbed exponentially when the first cargo of Virginia-grown tobacco arrived in England and land became the most valuable commodity the New World had to offer. As the supply grew, the price per pound plummeted. Now fully dependent on this crop, the only solution was to grow even more, pushing exports over the limit. This new lifestyle became characteristic of the Southern settlements and tobacco would play a very central role in the development of Virginia society and American life.…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics