Colonial Virginia during the 1660s - Essay Example

COLONIAL VIRGINIA DURING THE 1660s Department Introduction Colonial Virginia can be traced back from 1606 when a group ofwealthy businessmen from London arrived to petition King James I to establish a colony in the new world. They established Virginia Company through which they faced stiff competition from Spanish who had established colonies in South and Central America and had stolen vast amounts of wealth from Americans. These wealthy men from London travelled from England in 1607 and settled in Chesapeake Bay but later travelled along the James River1. Even though many of the men of Virginia Company were wealthy, they did not know much about agriculture. Virginia Company depended on their wealth thus thought that they would easily intimidate the native people into giving them food and resources. Since they were not prepared, they built fort and called it Jamestown, however, it was located in a very swampy and unhealthy place with a lot of diseases and starvation. In 1618, Jamestown was attacked by Powhantan but did not succeed in driving the English men from England. Instead, they formed peace agreement with English through the marriage of his youngest daughter. However, peace did not last and in 1622, 1636 and 1644 there were other attempts to drive the British settlers in Jamestown but failed in all the attempts. During this time, the tide was slowly turning to the advantage of English settlers. House of Burgesses and Establishment of Royal colony During the first decades of the 17th century when the English settled in Virginia, several attempts were made by the Virginia Company to enact a number of reforms in order to make the colony a success. House of Burgesses was created during this time and was modeled after the British House of commons. The British as well as the colonists in Virginia prided themselves with respect to the rights of other citizens to participate in their government. 2House of Burgesses constituted of twenty two members of which one was the governor and was elected by the directors of Virginia Company. The governor had powers and chose 6 other men to form his council. The remaining 15 members of House of Burgesses were representatives elected from different parts of the colony and from the counties in order to make laws for Virginia. However, laws were voted by the Governor, Virginia Company directors in London and Governor’s council members. However, formal establishment and meeting of the House of Burgesses were first done in 1619 which is the same year the first slaves were purchased in Virginia. During the year 1620s, many of the English settlers, about seventy percent had died. Tobacco was slowly beginning to be profitable; however, Virginia Company did not make profits for its investors. Two reasons were outstanding for this fact; first, many women and men who went to Virginia were not well prepared for the harsh living conditions and secondly, the leadership of the colony was poor. This resulted into revoking of the colony charter in 1624 by James I through which the colony became under the direct control by the King. James I died the following year and was succeeded by Charles I who was more concerned by fighting the opposition in parliament and worried less about Virginia Company. In this respect, Virginians maintained their representative government. The Virginia colony therefore took a number of years to become more stable Tobacco Farming Tobacco was one of the cash crops grown by the Chesapeake Indians in Virginia and was used also for religious ceremonies. However, this breed of tobacco had a stronger flavor and odor and could not be shipped to England because English and West Indies preferred a milder variety. During the year 1614, enough sweet tobacco was grown by John Rolfe in Virginia and shipped four barrels of tobacco to England. This resulted into tobacco becoming the main cash crop of the colonial Virginia. The discovery of Tobacco agriculture in Virginia was a turning point for the colonists. Tobacco later became a very profitable cash crop in a few decades thus most colonist did not plant food crops but instead traded tobacco traded tobacco for food brought by ships from other colonies. Since English men could easily make money through tobacco plantations, it was easier to recruit new poor settlers and with immigration, the colony grew to outmatch the high rates of mortality. During this time, colonists needed more land to grow their crops thus they decided to move inland away from the swampy banks of the James River. This resulted into easy access of cleaner water, fewer mosquitoes and few diseases thus the colonists begun to live longer. The increasing need to cultivate more tobacco created the need for cheap labor. 3In order to maximize profits, land owners wanted people who could work for long hours with little pay while withstanding the hot weather conditions. In this respect, the colonist used indentured servants for labor, thus many people were transported from England to Virginia and Virginia Company paid for them. The cost of transport was to be reimbursed through a fixed seven years minimum of labor in order to pay off the debts (). However, many of the servants as well as plantation owners died before the seven years because o high mortality rates. Those who survived the seven years were free and were allowed to purchase property in American which they could not do in England thus the seven years of labor was considered worthwhile by so many poor people from England. Many women servants who were brought to Virginia to work in the tobacco plantations as indentured servants also got married because men outnumbered women in Virginia thus servant could marry a wealthy plantation owner. However, in England, this could have never been possible since these female servants came from poor families thus not allowed to marry “above their station” (). This was also a motivator to the servants who migrated to Virginia from England in large numbers. Slavery in Virginia The need for servants to work for plantation owners increased with increasing business in tobacco. Since servants’ term of indenture was only seven years, there was need for a more permanent source of servant for the plantation owners. This gave rise to slavery and slave trade within Virginia though slaves were three times more expensive than indentured servants. In 1619, the first 21 African slaves arrived in Virginia by a Dutch ship and were sold to the Governor of Virginia. However, during the early 1600s, plantation owners expected the same work from a slave as would expect from indentured servant thus slaves was a bad investment. However as the living conditions were being improved, mortality rates dropped and diseases reduced slavery became profitable. Beginning the 1660s and years after that, people lived longer, the colony became more stable, the indentured reduced while slavery increased throughout the 17th century thus slavery was quickly becoming as the colony’s future. 4During the whole of 17th century, indentured servants served the colony as the convenient source of labor including both whites and the blacks. However, the white servants after working for certain period of time rose to respected positions while the blacks who were close to 2000 in Virginia in 1670 were rarely accorded the same treatment. During 1650s they were considered servants for life thus slave laws were enacted in the Virginia statutes which marked the distinction between black slaves and white servants. The period beginning 1660s throughout the 17th century also saw the reduction in indentured servants with subsequent increase in slavery. During the 680s, plantation owners begun to rely on slaves from Africa mainly because they were cheap, easily adjusted to the environment and were less likely to bond together and cause troubles. The colony realized the importance of slaves thus had to pass laws that ensured their masters gain in lifetime. 5Special laws were established during mid 1660 and 1680s known as the slave codes which established lifetime slavery. These laws also discouraged their masters from freeing them, limited their rights, and enacted severe punishment for the rebels which established slavery as the colony’s future. Slavery was also made hereditary which means the condition was passed from mother to her children and faced serious and harsh conditions from their masters. In order to separate the races, the colony made it illegal for a white to marry blacks which was often enforced only when a black man tried to marry a white woman. The slavery laws also discriminated against the blacks with respect to punishment for offenders. Slaves who committed crimes were punished more severely than the whites and it was not possible to convict slaves’ master for murder since they argued that no person would willfully destroy his property. These laws were also instrumental in placing the blacks and whites in different legal and social categories thus created the beginning of harsh laws modeled on slave codes and were passed by other colonies. Conclusions Colonial Virginia begun in 1606 when Wealthy English settlers arrived from London and petitioned King James I to establish a colony. The main motive for the settlers was business and profitability. Initially, the much needed labor was to be gotten from the nearest available source who were the poor. They settled around the swampy the river, built a fort and called it Jamestown. However, they did not succeed initially mainly because they were not properly prepared for agriculture and the presence of many diseases resulted into high mortality rates. This resulted into many deaths and by 1620s many settlers had died, however the invention of tobacco farming and export of sweet tobacco came with improved health standards thus more settlers survived. During this time the royal colony was also established and laws that discriminated against the blacks and slaves were enacted. Slavery laws discouraged plantation owners from freeing slaves, limited their rights, and enacted severe punishment for the rebels which established slavery as the colony’s future. Slavery was also made hereditary which means the condition was passed from mother to her children. In order to separate the races, the colony made it illegal for a white to marry blacks which was often enforced only when a black man tried to marry a white woman. The slavery laws also discriminated against the blacks with respect to punishment for offenders. Slaves who committed crimes were punished more severely than the whites and it was not possible to convict slaves’ master for murder since they argued that no person would willfully destroy his property. . Bibliography Bradburn, Douglas, and John C. Coombs. Early modern Virginia: reconsidering the Old Dominion. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2011 110-111 Rice, Kym S., and Martha B. Katz-Hyman. World of a Slave: Encyclopedia of the Material Life of Slaves in the United States. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood, 2011p.339 Walsh, Lorena S. "Foul Means: the Formation a Slave Society in Virginia 1660-1740." Journal Of Southern History no. 1 (2005): 138-140 Read More