Development of the Virginia Colony

Development of Virginia & Tobacco  Virginia was the first permanent colony in North America. The Virginia Company, whose main goal was to send people to North America that would find gold and other valuable resources, established the colony. Once resources were found they would send them back to England. Soon the employees of the Virginia Company discovered that there was no gold but started cultivating a crop that would be extremely profitable, tobacco.

Development of Virginia & Tobacco  The main question was who would the workers be. The Headright System was created in which someone pays for their own or someone else ’ s passage gets 50 acres of land. Immigration numbers will dramatically rise at this time. o The number of indentured servants will also increase. Indentured servants are individuals who have a contract to work for a certain period of time, in return their trip, shelter, and sustenance is paid for. The servant ’ s period of work was typically 4-7 years.

Development of Virginia & Tobacco  The first African laborers go to Virginia in When they first arrived they were treated as indentured servants instead of slaves. As time would go on the number of indentured servants would decrease as they were released from their contracts the demand for cheap labor increased. This demand would be filled with slaves.

Relations with Native Americans  When settlers arrived to Virginia, Native Americans had already been living there for centuries. Specifically the Powhatan tribe. Once the settlers arrived they forced the Powhatan off of their land so they could use it for agricultural purposes, specifically the growing of tobacco.  While some Native Americans fled, tensions come to a breaking point when Chief Powhatan ’ s kidnapped daughter, Pocahontas, married John Rolfe. o The Powhatan ’ s respond by killing 340 colonists and the Virginia Colony is forced to send more troops and supplies to Virginia, nearly bankrupting it. o The situation in Virginia causes King James I to revoke the Virginia Companies charter and turns Virginia into a royal colony. o King James I begins to send more colonists to Virginia and with these increases the Powhatan population decreases.

Bacon’s Rebellion  While tensions arose between the colonists and Native Americans many colonists remained poor and did not own land. The governor, Sir William Berkeley, instituted new taxation policies that relied heavily on support from poor colonists.  In 1675, local Native Americans and poor English settlers got into a bloody clash. Which only spiraled out of control until the colonists asked Governor Berkeley for military support. Berkeley, working on behalf of the wealthy planters, refused to fund a war to help the poor settlers.

Bacon’s Rebellion  Nathaniel Bacon, a poor planter, was not pleased with Berkeley ’ s decision for inaction. Bacon ’ s detest for Native Americans culminated with him forming an army to fight Native Americans on the Virginia frontier. o Governor Berkeley declared that the army was illegal and Bacon decided to march to Jamestown in September of 1676 to declare his problems to the House of Burgesses. o The march turned violent as rebels set fire to Jamestown as Berkeley and other planters fled by ship. o The rebellion was put down, and the Virginia House of Burgesses passed laws to regulate slavery so poor white colonists would no longer side with slaves against rich white colonists. o Bacon died a few months later from an illness, which allowed Berkeley to come back into power and subdue the rebels.

Bacon’s Rebellion  Bacon ’ s actions did draw the attention of King Charles (King of England) and he began to investigate Berkeley ’ s actions. King Charles recalled Berkeley to England to explain his actions but died before the meeting could occur.  Significance: The rebellion showed the increasing power of former indentured servants.

House of Burgesses  The Virginia Company established a legislative assembly that would become similar to England ’ s Parliament known as the House of Burgesses. This was the first representative body in colonial America.  The House claimed the power to do things like make laws and raise taxes. While the House had these powers the English governor could veto any legislation the House passed.  The House did represent all colonists-only white male landowners could vote.