Planting Of Tobacco In Virginia example essay topic
457 words
Each decision or event that happened in history has had significant consequences, whether the repercussions are large or small. Without some of these, much of the world as we know it would not be the same. When England began to enclose its farmlands, the world was in for a big change. An excess population sprung up in the cities, causing over-crowding. A middle class was started: the aristocracy, the farmers that were kicked out of their homes and had moved into the city, and merchants. Many of the poor and impoverished picked up and moved to the colonies when they got the chance. Due to primogeniture, many of the younger sons that belonged to the wealthy families moved to the colonies, mostly Virginia or the Carolinas and became the aristocracy there. Joint stock companies began looking for capital and sought out the new world as their best chance of achieving profit. After the big move across the big blue, colonies started springing up along the coast: Jamestown being one of the most famous.
In Jamestown, a colonist named John Rolfe planted tobacco in 1616. Tobacco became the source of economic stability in Virginia; Virginia also had a single-crop economy due to the plant. Plantations were started in order to grow and cultivate mass amounts of tobacco. Towns were established within the plantations starting county governments. The use of slaves was introduced due to the planting of tobacco in Virginia.
Slaves were first being documented in Virginia in 1619, only three years after tobacco was first planted. Native Americans, Africans and indentured servants were used as slaves. The natives and the indentured servants rebelled, but the Africans would do so only as time went on. The Civil War was fought years later; slavery was only one of the reasons as to why it was fought. But prior and during the war, many of the slaves rebelled or tried to escape via the Underground Railroad.
Because of the use of slaves in America, today there is an underlying tension between many blacks and whites; some of it racism and some of it bitterness towards ancestors. Without the closing of farmlands in England so long ago, the country would not be what it is today. America would possibly have become a huge Spanish colony. If tobacco had not been planted, slaves would have been used, although not for harvesting that particular crop. Slavery would have come about later on in the colonization of America, be it for corn or cotton. So it goes to say that each action does have a significant consequence: large or small..
