The colonists tried different outlets to produce income for the colony such as silk, wheat, glass, timber, and cotton, before discovering tobacco’s profitability. Nicotiana rustica, the native tobacco raised in Virginia before the colonists arrived, was not favored by the Europeans. John Rolfe, however, was the first man to successfully raise a strand that the Europeans embraced. By contrast, Plymouth had more success by implementing a variety of cash resources for the colony. Its largest profits came from fur trading with Maine and the Dutch of New Amsterdam.
Economic profit was a primary driving force in the colonization of Virginia. By the late seventeenth century, once settlers realized that cash crops such as tobacco could be highly profitable, most of labor force relied upon the importation indentured servants from England. However, planters had to find alternative cheaper and reliable labor supply because of the shortage of English indentured servants. As plantation-based and cash-crop-oriented economy had continued for several decades, planters in Virginia imported a large amount of slaves. In fact, Virginia developed into a slave society where slavery was the foundation of the economic and social order in the late seventh century.
Thereby, when tobacco emerged as the colony’s saving grace the importation of indentured servants rose quickly. The practices toward servants, from the legislature and individuals, were noted for their harshness. There was a brutality exceeding the treatment received in England. Edmund Morgan points out that the Virginians’ attitudes toward the workers permitted the later shift toward slave labor. As tobacco profits shrunk, wealthier men of the colony began using government office as means of financial support.
They decided to come to the new world after the Church of England separated from Catholicism in a decision made by King Henry VIII. Although the Church of England and Catholicism were no longer intertwined, they still felt they did not have the entire amount of religious freedom they desired. They decided that the best course of action would be to head to the new world so they could start a society in which they could practice their religious beliefs freely and without persecution. They were also joined by some quakers and catholics who had not joined the church of England, who also wanted freedom to practice their religious beliefs how they saw fit. Although they came to the new world to start a society based on living a religious life,having religious freedom, and being a
Because of religious intolerance, people wanted to escape the persecution and go to the new world so they could live their lives freely. This was the perfect time for English colonists to colonize America, and such groups as the Pilgrims and the Puritans found their haven in their own colonies. 3. Give at least 4 reasons why so many of the Jamestown settlers died. Jamestown had 500 settlers at one point in the early 1600s.
An indentured servant, like Daniel Clocker, could improve his life and social position by migrating to America. Many like him took the risk as England was overpopulated and jobs were hard to find (Carr, “The Rise of Daniel Clocker”, 23-34). At 17 years old Clocker could not afford to pay for a voyage across the ocean, so he signed a contract to work for Cornwaleys, a wealthy landowner. In the contract, he agreed to work for Cornwaleys for four years. Most likely Clocker was working on a tobacco plantation for Cornwaleys in Maryland; tobacco was the main cash crop of the early colonies.
One of the bigger differences socially was the people that came to the colonies and the later effect that it evolved to with the future of their colony. In New England, most of the people that came to the colonies were families that wanted to leave England so they could freely practice their religion and focusing on building a well-built society in their colony (A). In the Chesapeake region the colonies were focusing on bringing in money for England, they first were there to find gold like the Spanish did one hundred years earlier (F). Once they found out that there was no gold to bring in a decent enough of a profit, they started to grow tobacco since the price of the product was dropping. Once they started to plant the colonists realized that the plant would just flourish on the new and fertile soil, they then had the production of that plant to feed that economy for their early settlements.
The Chesapeake region focused more so on instant riches instead of immediate essentials like food, while New England directed themselves toward building God-based communities and government systems that were fit for their families. Virginia not only focused on instant riches, but was very individualistic as well. When settlers first arrived in the colony, the women outnumbered the men 6 to 1 (C). Because of the large amount of men in the Chesapeake area, most men married Indian women, thus making Virginian women, most of whom stayed single, much more powerful. Due to not having families in the ‘new world’ these colonists worked for themselves, and themselves alone, causing their motivation to work to be very low.
This area was mostly inhabited by Quakers, that saw no threat from other religious groups. Religion did not play a very important role in the Southern colonies because the people living there were mostly individual young men that traveled to the New World because of economic reasons and to make money. Although they tax-supported the Church of England (except for North Carolina) there was religious freedom to some extent. The distribution of the plantations and farms all over the country, in contrast to dense population and cities, also made it more difficult and expensive to establish churches. Catholic Maryland ensured religious freedom to all Christians which was exceptional since most Catholics were being prosecuted.
The proponents of this idea seem to have overlooked the fact that marijuana can be grown anywhere and the third world countries that are supposed to benefit from this trade will suffer. This is because they will lose their primary market. Saldever (2006) argues that small businesses that make money from selling marijuana will make more profits since majority of the cigarette smokers and alcohol users are quitting them. He adds that the tobacco and alcohol companies will have to put in more money in the advertisements to be able to capture their customers. This economic reason for supporting legalization of marijuana does not count when one looks at the big picture, this is because there is simply a trade off which means that there will be no overall increase in profits in the economy as a